A Life Set Apart Why wait until marriage? It’s MY body, isn’t it? It’s my money! What’s wrong with equal but separate? What’s the harm? Why can’t I love the way I want?

Abortion: What’s the Problem? It’s My Body, Isn’t It?” Psalm 139:1-10, 13-14

O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD. You hem me in-behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. (Psalm 139:1-10).

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. (Psalm 139:13-14)

1. The Problem of Abortion: * The arguments for or against abortion revolve around two primary issues:

Pro-ChoicePro-Life Emphasizes the rights of ______ - the right to choose Emphasizes the rights of the _______ - the right to live Many here see abortion as a retroactive ___________ Many here see abortion as prenatal __________ Appeal is to __________ - mother would suffer intolerably if forced to bring this child to full term Appeal is to _______ - stresses the need to defend the rights of the defenseless unborn mother contraception compassion unborn infanticide justice A. The issue of _____ _____.humanrights

B. The ______ of the ____ (Three primary positions) 1. It is little more than a ____ of _____. 2. It is _________ somewhere between _________ and _____. 3. It is humanized at _________. humanized blobtissue conceptionbirth conception naturefetus

II. The Arguments Regarding Abortion: A. Holy Scripture

Exodus 21: NIV (cf. NLT)NSRV (cf. NASV) “If men who are fighting hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely (literally: ‘and her children come out’) but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman’s husband demands and the court allows. But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot …” “When people who are fighting injure a pregnant woman so that there is a miscarriage, and yet no further harm follows, the one responsible shall be fined what the woman’s husband demands, paying as much as the judges determine. If any harm follows, then you shall give life for life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot…” * Yeled = child/children * Yatsa = come out (not Shachol = to miscarry, cf. Exodus 23:26)

Psalm 139: (Here the Psalmist affirms two important truths) * God’s creative _____ and __________ in the womb. “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” (Psalm 139:13-14) power involvement

* David’s belief that he was the same person _____ the womb as he was ______ the womb “You have searched me” v.1 (the past) inside outside “You know when I sit and when I rise … you are familiar with all my ways” vv. 2-3 (the present)

“Even there your hand will guide me. Your right hand will hold me fast” v. 10 (the future) “You knit me together in my mother’s womb” v. 13 (the prenatal stage)

“When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed in the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.” Luke 1:41-44 * Brephos = baby (used of unborn child (1;41,44) and newborn child (2;12,16; 18:15)

* Christian tradition affirms of Jesus Christ in the Apostles’ Creed that he was ‘conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontious Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried.. And on the third day he rose again.’ Throughout these events, from beginning to end, from conception to resurrection, it is the very same person, Jesus Christ in whom we believe.” (John Sott, Our Social and Sexual Revolution, p.168)

B. Medical Science * At three weeks the tiny heart begins to beat. * At conception the embryo is genetically distinct from the mother. * At four weeks the head and body are distinguishable, as are also the rudimentary eyes, ears, and mouth. * At six or seven week brain function can be detected. * At eight weeks all the child’s limbs are apparent, including fingers, fingerprints and toes. * At nine or ten weeks the baby can use her hands to grasp and mouth to swallow, and can even suck her thumb.

* By 13 weeks, the completion of the first trimester, the embryo is completely organized, and a miniature baby lies in the mother’s womb. (He can alter his position, respond to pain, noise and light, and even get the hiccups.) * From then on, the child merely develops in size and strength. * By the end of the fifth month and beginning of the sixth (before the second trimester is complete), the baby has hair, eyelashes, nails and nipples, and can cry, grip, punch and kick (which sometimes happens after an abortion has been performed by hysterotomy, much to the consternation of the medical team).

C. Personal Experience

III. The Challenge of Abortion A. Let us faithfully ______ the _______ of life. “Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.” (Psalm 82:3-4) upholdsanctity

B. Let us ______ ___________ to abortion. “Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter. If you say, ‘But we knew nothing about this,’ does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who guards your life know it? Will he not repay each person according to what he has done?’ (Proverbs 24:11-12) provide alternatives

C. Let those of us who have ______ abortion and are ________ from guilt and depression … 1. ____ our ________. tasted suffering 2. ______ God’s _________. ownmistakes acceptforgiveness

A Life Set Apart Why wait until marriage? It’s MY body, isn’t it? It’s my money! What’s wrong with equal but separate? What’s the harm? Why can’t I love the way I want?