Today we continue our series of bulletin articles looking at why abortion is wrong. Last week we saw that the prophet Moses condemned abortion, this week we see that other prophets also condemned abortion.
In 2 Kings we read about the prophet Elisha meeting the future king of Syria (Aram), Hazael. During the conversation Elisha begins to cry at the thought of Hazael killing Israelites, including the unborn: ‘Then the man of God began to weep. “Why is my lord weeping?” asked Hazael. “Because I know the harm you will do to the Israelites,” he answered. “You will set fire to their fortified places, kill their young men with the sword, dash their little children to the ground, and rip open their pregnant women” (2 Kings 8:11-12). Hazael will murder many including the unborn and Elisha considers this a horrible thing to even consider, let alone witness.
And Elisha is not alone. The Ammonites were also long term enemies of the Israelites and were regularly involved in conflict with them. So Amos pronounces judgement upon them: ‘This is what the LORD says: “For three sins of Ammon, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath. Because he ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead in order to extend his borders, I will set fire to the walls of Rabbah that will consume her fortresses amid war cries on the day of battle, amid violent winds on a stormy day. Her king will go into exile, he and his officials together,” says the LORD’ (Amos 1:13-15). God considers Ammon’s behaviour atrocious. They killed the unborn so that they could prosper financially. Thus God punishes them.
And there is no reason to suggest God has changed his mind. Those who kill the unborn are not committing a decent act, or even a neutral act. God considers what they are doing as indecent and will ultimately punish them.
But is the abortion of an infant an unforgivable sin? No. Through repentance of your sin and trust in Jesus’ death for your sins you can be forgiven for any sin, including the wrongful termination of another human.
Do you recognise that abortion is wrong because it is condemned by the prophets and thus condemned by God?