Prayer Requests:

Shut In: Willie Sain,  Freddy Hobbs,  Sarah Hoover, English Hobbs
Treatments: Charles Stubblefield, Butch Bess, Roxie Nunley

Personal Requests: Billy and Nancy Stubblefield, Betty Hoover Smith, Andy Dunn


       evin's                orner        

Abortion. Without Natural Affection        August 31, 2008

In the first chapter of Romans the apostle Paul listed the sins of the Gentiles. In this heinous list of
crimes we find the phrase "without natural affection" (Rom. 1:31, KJV). This refers to those who do
not possess the love and attachment which nature teaches all mothers to have for their young.
"This expression denotes the want of affectionate regard towards their children. The attachment of
parents to children is one of the strongest in nature, and nothing can overcome it but the most
confirmed and established wickedness. And yet the apostle charges on the heathen generally the want
of this affection. He doubtless refers here to the practice so common among heathens of exposing their
children, or putting them to death. This crime, so abhorrent to all the feelings of humanity, was
common among the heathen, and is still. The Canaanites, we are told, (Psa. cvi. 37, 38) 'sacrificed
their sons and their daughters unto devils, and shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and
daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan.' Manasseh, among the Jews, imitated their
example, and introduced the horrid custom of sacrificing children to Moloch, and set the example by
offering his own, 2 Chron. xxxiii. 6. Among the ancient Persians it was a common custom to bury
children alive. In most of the Grecian states, infanticide was not merely permitted, but actually
enforced by law" (Barnes' Notes On The New Testament).

Abortion is sinful because it is the willful taking of human life. Under the Mosaic Law, God said, "If
men fight, and hurt a woman with child, so that she gives birth prematurely, yet no lasting harm
follows, he shall surely be punished accordingly as the woman's husband imposes on him; and he shall
pay as the judges determine. But if any lasting harm follows, then you shall give life for life, eye for
eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe"
(Exodus 21:22-25). If the accidental interruption of a pregnancy was to be punished, what about the
one who deliberately murders the unborn?

The Psalmist David thought of himself as being alive while in his mothers womb. "For You have
formed my inward parts; You have covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise You, for I am
fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. My
frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts
of the earth" (Psalms 139:13-16). Though his body was not totally developed, David affirmed that the
Lord knew him! The only real difference between an unborn child and a newborn baby is the way
they feed and obtain oxygen.

Abortion is no worse than the other sins listed in Romans 1:26-32. All sin is terrible. But, thanks be to
God, there is a remedy: repentance. David spoke of it so eloquently in the 51st Psalm when he prayed,
"Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to
hear joy and gladness, that the bones which You have broken may rejoice. Hide Your face from my
sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit
within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me with Your generous Spirit. Then I will teach
transgressors Your ways, and sinners shall be converted to You."