Ask C3

Session #11: The Law of the Land

Posted by James Reimer on

Session #11: The Law of the Land

AC3 Question:

Pastor Jason,  Crosspointe regularly participates in Sanctity of Life Sunday and supports pro-life ministries. Also, Pastor Matt recently preached on scripture’s pro-life worldview. Yet, abortion has been the “law of the land” for 44 years. Why is C3 preaching and teaching otherwise and what response does C3 hope to generate in doing so?


AC3 Response:

Well, apart from the law itself, just because something is legal doesn't mean it is moral. Just because something is permissible under our legal system, that doesn't make it right. Abortion is an example.

 We, ultimately, don't find our definition of what is moral and what is good based on human law—because humans are fallible. We have good laws. We have bad laws. As a case in point, for a long time in this country it was legal for a person to own another person. That did not make it right, but it was the law of the land.

Because of that, many Christians operated, in various ways, outside of laws that allowed slavery because they knew that law to be immoral and unethical.

 Whether it is the law of the land is not our primary concern. Rather, our concern is what does God saw about something, and does it honor or dishonor Him?

 And the Bible is clear on a number of levels that abortion is not just something we should avoid participating with ourselves but, because it is an act of violence against another human being, it is something we should actively oppose.

 The Bible teaches that God’s followers are to stand up for the widows, the orphans, the sojourners, the aliens. It points us to the principle that Christians are supposed to stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves. We are supposed to be a voice for those who cannot be heard.

 And, really, that is a whole-life issue. We are to care for the person abandoned in the nursing home just as the child who would be abandoned. Neither one of those has a voice. So, we are called to stand up for them.

 In fact, that is what the church has always done. It was common in the Roman Empire for children who were deformed or unwanted to be abandoned. The church took those children in and raised them. Christians did that because they knew that child was created in God’s image.

 That is something that Crosspointe holds to strongly: that God’s image rests in these unborn, pre-born children. So, when we apply that concept to the situation of abortion, we can see that we are called to stand up for the unborn. We are to see them as persons, to see them as real people.

 Psalm 139:13-16 says God knit us together in our mother’s womb, and Jeremiah 1:5 says that before God formed us, He knew us. Those are powerful reminders that God works in our lives even before we are born. 

Because God knows these individuals, because they are created in His image, they have great worth. So, when we stand up for unborn children, we are not trying to denigrate the mother, or father, or family that finds themselves in often difficult situations. 

Rather, we want to champion the life of the child. We want to see them as people. That is also why we resist certain language like fetus or embryo which, even if scientifically accurate. We want to emphasize that we see a baby, a child. Language is important. 

Beyond that, it is a matter of intellectual honesty to describe that life as a person, as a human being. Science has shown us way too much to argue that a child in the womb is anything less than a child. We have all types of technology that shows a heartbeat and life. We have babies born at 22-weeks. Those are children that could be legally aborted. 

The danger is that we allow society to determine when someone becomes a person—and when they have value. That is a horrible situation and leads to all sorts of evil. There will always be a desire to eliminate the unwanted. 

So, we will continue to speak out. We want people to see not just that Crosspointe values life and people, which it does. Rather, we want people to see that this message is coming from God. We want our speaking out to bring Him glory in some way.

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