May 8
1 Sam 2:22-4:22 | PS 106:1-12 | Prov 14:30-31 | John 5:24-47
The topic of abortion has been made more complex than it truly is. While speaking recently to a couple, who for the most part agreed with my views on this topic, they raised the typical objections: rape, incest, and birth defects. To clarify from a statistical standpoint these represent the indications for less than 1% of all abortions. I used to feel the necessity to get into the trenches and defend these objections. As I've gotten older I see things much more simplified. I explained to them that though we can scientifically explain things such as proper pH, proper mucus in the cervix, proper environment to allow impact of sperm and egg, etc. This simply explains basics. Truthfully, many more sperm fail to hit the target than reach the target. I explained that God is Creator. That He divinely watches over every aspect of His Creation. And yes, I believe it is Him that unites that sperm with that egg. Therefore, my role as an obstetrician is either to serve as a vessel to be used in assisting that which He created, or in the case of abortionists they place themselves in positions to oppose that which God created. Yes, it really is that simple. It doesn't minimize the evil that surrounds incest and rape, for God never stands for evil. It doesn't minimize the difficulties surrounding birth defects. But, again simply, He is God, and none of us are Him. This truth holds true with everything that God created. We now see people identifying as things other than their birth genders. Males identify as being female, and females as males (recently a high school worker told me of 2 students in her school who identified as a bird and a kitten). We can get into feelings and upbringings and reasons, but if we simply keep this as simple as it needs to be, God arranged that sperm to reach that egg, which assigned that child to be that specific gender. If you doubt the simplicity of this, simply check the blood of any who claim otherwise and it will reflect the gender (XX, or XY) assigned at birth by God.
God's Word is straightforward. Eli knew God's Word. He was placed in a position to teach it and reflect it. We read in 1 Samuel 2:22-25, "Now Eli was very old; and he heard everything his sons did to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who assembled at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. So he said to them, “Why do you do such things? For I hear of your evil dealings from all the people. No, my sons! For it is not a good report that I hear. You make the Lord’s people transgress. If one man sins against another, God will judge him. But if a man sins against the Lord, who will intercede for him?” Nevertheless they did not heed the voice of their father, because the Lord desired to kill them." Yes, he reprimanded them. But he certainly knew of how God dealt with the sons of Aaron who were guilty of the unholy fire in Leviticus 10. So, Eli recognized the disobedience and the depravity, but failed to really do anything about it. This point is clarified when God speaks to Samuel concerning Eli in 3:13, "For I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knows, because his sons made themselves vile, and he did not restrain them." God also tells Eli directly in 2:35, "Then I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest who shall do according to what is in My heart and in My mind. I will build him a sure house, and he shall walk before My anointed forever." Realize God is here referring to a Priest that would come through the order of Melchizidek (Hebrews 7), not from the Levitical line of Aaron, who is none other than Jesus, our Christ, our Anointed One, our Great High Priest.
Now we read the words of our Great High Priest in John 5:24, "“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life." Can it really be this simple? Yes! So, when it is coming to faith, or even explaining abortion or transgender, we would do well to adopt the simplicity of Jesus' words in 5:30, "I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me." Jesus was never opposed to His Father, He was always in concert with His Father. He goes on further in 5:38-40, "But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe. You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life." We need the Bible to speak for itself. It describes our Creator God and His characteristics very clearly. It describes our Savior in vivid detail. Nowhere does it demand to get into the trenches and act as God and have explanations that only God can explain, the so-called "Why God" questions. No, He is God, and if we are willing, we are simply His vessels to be used by Him according to His will. This might mean that our debates will appear less profound, but our purpose should never be to glorify ourselves, but instead to give glory to Him. As Pastor Chuck Smith put it, "Living for Jesus is a daily, hourly, minute-by-minute experience. It is yielding your life to Him and walking in fellowship with Him. It is falling in love to the point where He becomes the very center and focus of your life."
Messages from Pastor Lloyd Pulley: