Is the Bible Pro-Life?
by: Scott Klusendorf
What the Bible Doesn’t Say
Abortion-choice advocates with the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice and Planned Parenthood Federation of America contend that the Bible is silent on abortion, and that none of the Scriptures traditionally cited by pro-life advocates establishes the humanity of the unborn. “One thing the Bible does not say is ‘Thou shalt not abort,’” writes Roy Bowen Ward, professor emeritus of comparative religion at Miami University of Ohio. His advice to pro-life Jews and Christians is simple: speak where the Bible speaks, and be silent where it is silent.
Reverend Mark Bigelow, member of Planned Parenthood’s Clergy Advisory Board, writes, “Even as a minister, I am careful about what I presume Jesus would do if he were alive today, but one thing I know from the Bible is that Jesus was not against women having a choice in continuing a pregnancy. He never said a word about abortion (nor did anyone else in the Bible), even though abortion was available and in use in his time.”
Paul D. Simmons, former professor of Christian ethics at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, finds the Bible’s silence on abortion “profound,” and he remarks that not once does the subject appear in the apostle Paul’s lists of prohibited actions. We can sum up the thinking of all three men this way: If the Bible doesn’t explicitly condemn abortion, pro-life advocates shouldn’t either. We should trust each woman to decide the issue according to her own personal faith.
Suppose we grant that Ward, Bigelow, and Simmons are correct: Scripture is silent on abortion. Let’s further suppose that none of the specific passages cited by pro-life advocates (Ps. 51:5, Ps. 139:13–15, and Luke 1:41–44, to name a few) demonstrates conclusively that the unborn are human. What follows? Are we to conclude from the alleged silence of Scripture that women have a God-given right to abort?
Read More – Go to Source
This article is adapted from The Case for Life: Equipping Christians to Engage the Culture by Scott Klusendorf.
Scott Klusendorf (MA, Biola University) is the president of Life Training Institute, where he trains pro-life advocates to persuasively defend their views. A passionate and engaging platform speaker, Scott’s pro-life presentations have been featured by Focus on the Family, Truths That Transform, and American Family Radio.
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