Today we continue our series of bulletin articles looking at why abortion is wrong. This week I want to show it is sinful because killing of infants was condemned by God in the Old Testament.

There are a number of reasons why parents today want to kill their unborn child. And the desire to kill one’s own child is not a new situation. Since mankind fell into sin, murder of infants has been practiced again and again. In the Old Testament parents murdered children to serve false gods and obtain blessing: ‘When the king of Moab saw that the battle had gone against him, he took with him seven hundred swordsmen to break through to the king of Edom, but they failed. Then he took his firstborn son, who was to succeed him as king, and offered him as a sacrifice on the city wall.’ (2 Kings 3:26-1).’  Even the Israelites practised such despicable worship, led by kings like Ahaz who ‘sacrificed his sons in the fire, following the detestable ways of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites’ (2 Chronicles 28:3).

But God never condoned such activity. In the law of Moses God said: ‘Do not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molech, for you must not profane the name of your God. I am the LORD’ (Leviticus 18:21). And if that wasn’t enough, God sends his prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel to condemn such false worship: ‘And you took your sons and daughters whom you bore to me and sacrificed them as food to the idols. Was your prostitution not enough? You slaughtered my children and sacrificed them to the idols’ (Ezekiel 16:20-21).

And, sadly, this still happens today. No, children may not be aborted to serve pagan gods. But the reasoning for aborting an infant is always performed for sinful motivations that are connected with human pride and a desire for pleasure at the expense of obeying God’s law.

So is the abortion of an infant to satisfy one’s own desires 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 performed through sinful desires to serve someone or something other than God?

Joel Radford.