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Is God Pro-Life or Pro-Choice?
Confusion and misunderstandings often occur over the definitions of words and terms. What does "pro-life" mean? What does "pro-choice" mean? Let's consider these words from a biblical viewpoint.
To say God is pro-life is an understatement. God is the Creator, Sustainer and Protector of life. One of His Ten Commandments prohibits taking life (Exodus 20:13).
God is also pro-choice in the sense that He created human beings with freedom of choice. He does not control us in a way that robs us of the freedom to choose our own way. Human life is an ongoing series of choices.
But choices are not all equal. There are wise and foolish, good and bad, and right and wrong choices. Some would have us believe that one choice is as good as another and merely a matter of personal preference. Such thinking is based on the idea that there are no absolutes.
But there is absolute truth. The Bible is God's revelation of ultimate truth. Jesus Christ said of God the Father, "Your word is truth" (John 17:17). The Ten Commandments summarize God's standards of right and wrong.
God doesn't force His standards on anyone. He does, however, reveal what is right, show some of the consequences for our actions and exhort us to choose what is right. But then He leaves it up to us to choose.
For example, God instructed Adam and Eve, forewarned them of consequences and allowed them to make their own choice-and then they paid the penalties for their wrong decision.
God inspired Joshua to tell the Israelites, ". . . Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve"-whether the false gods of the pagans around them or the one true God (Joshua 24:15). In Isaiah 65:12 God pronounces judgment on the Israelites "because, when I called, you did not answer; . . . but did evil before My eyes, and chose that in which I do not delight."
For unborn babies, parents should choose life rather than death. Abortion is the wrong choice. God is pro-life. He abhors killing, including killing unborn babies.
The terms pro-life and pro-choice have taken on an additional meaning in many countries. Politically speaking, pro-life refers largely to people seeking legislation and the help of courts to outlaw or restrict abortion.
Pro-choice refers largely to people seeking the opposite-to remove restrictions on abortion. Though God is pleased with the goal of saving babies, one must be careful not to assume God approves of every pro-life tactic, especially when they involve physical harm or destruction of property. Nor should we assume He is behind every pro-lifer's efforts or various legal and political actions.
Legislation, you see, will not be the ultimate solution for the evil of abortion or any of the other evils of society.
What this world so desperately needs is a change of the human heart from selfish to selfless, from carnal to caring. What we need is a change from spiritual blindness to a clear understanding of right values.
Rather than a philosophy of hedonism ("If it feels good, do it"), we need to consider the long-term results of sexual promiscuity-rampant venereal diseases, broken homes, shattered relationships, drug abuse, suicide and, yes, the continuing slaughter of the innocents conceived from such unions. They have certainly done nothing that deserves one of the most nightmarish deaths one could imagine.
We desperately need to learn God's perspective of right and wrong. For most of mankind, this will not happen until Jesus Christ returns to establish His Kingdom on earth.
In all our thinking, God encourages us to choose life-life in general as well as the way that leads ultimately to eternal life. He tells us: "I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live" (Deuteronomy 30:19, emphasis added).
-Don Hooser
© 2000-2022 United Church of God, an International Association
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