-- Thursday, 7/21/11 -- CHANGING ATTITUDES - Matthew 5:21-22
J.R. & Bonnie Ricks
Take a Minute is a daily devotional ministry of
Dogwood Ministries, Inc.
If you need prayer… contact our partners in ministry…
SJ Ministries - Ministry of Prayer
Or simply send your request to SJMini...@aol.com
All other requests, please see the end of the devotional
for Dogwood Ministries addresses
CHANGING ATTITUDES - Matthew 5:21-22
“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca,' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell.”
"You can't legislate morality." Have you ever heard anyone say that? Have you read it in the newspaper? More and more, this has become the resounding cry of those who defend a woman's so-called "right" to abort an unwanted child. If we use their reasoning, negating the necessity to "legislate morality", then all laws against rape, incest, child abuse, theft and murder would have to be wiped off the books! Because all of those laws "legislate morality". Using every method conceivable to try to cover up abortion and deny it for the heinous sin that it is, those who support the idea that it is every woman's right to choose whether to carry an unwanted child to term insist upon being called "pro choice". The truth is, by using their chosen misnomer, they are openly denying that what they are really advocating is giving all women the "right" to murder. Where did we ever get the idea that it’s all right to kill our children?
Some people try to justify abortion by calling the baby a “piece of tissue” or a “product of conception”. In truth, at the moment of conception, a new life has begun – a new life that has its own unique set of 46 chromosomes, totally separate from the mother. At 21 days, the baby’s heart begins to beat (right around the time the mother figures out that she’s pregnant). At 45 days, brain waves can be detected. By the ninth and tenth weeks, the thyroid and adrenal glands are functioning. And by 12 or 13 weeks, the baby has fingernails, sucks his thumb, recoils from pain, and has his own unique fingerprints.
The vast majority of abortions conducted inside the U.S. are used as just another form of “birth control”. According to Aida Torres and J.D. Forrest in their article, "Why Do Women Have Abortions?" (Family Planning Perspectives, Vol. 20, No.4, July/August 1988, P. 170), 93% of all abortions (in the U.S.) are done for social rather than medical reasons, i.e. because a woman doesn’t feel ready for a baby at the time, because her partner wants her to have an abortion, etc. Nearly half of all pregnancies among American women are unintended and unplanned, and four out of ten of these are terminated by abortion.[1] Twenty-two percent of all pregnancies (excluding miscarriages) end in abortion.[2] In 2005, 1.21 million abortions were performed, down from 1.31 million in 2000. From 1973 through 2005, more than 45 million legal abortions were performed in the U.S.[3]
Former Surgeon General Dr. C. Everett Koop agreed, stating that the most common reason for abortion in the U.S. is convenience. Only three to five percent of all abortions performed in the U.S. are for reasons of rape, incest, the possibility of a deformed child, or severe threat to the life of the mother. In the case of rape or incest, the mother has experienced a horrible trauma, one that she will live with the rest of her life. But does it lessen the violence committed against her to have her commit violence against an innocent child? And what about aborting a child because that child has physical or mental problems? Exodus 4:11 says, “The LORD said to him, ‘Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the LORD?’” So birth defects are NOT an accident of nature but are, instead, under God’s direct supervision! In fact, according to David in Psalm 139:13-16, the entire formation of each baby is performed by God:
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.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of
the earth,
your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
Within the womb of every pregnant woman, no matter whether she has been pregnant for nine months or nine minutes, is a living, growing human being. That child does not miraculously transform into a human being at birth. What is growing in the womb is not a kangaroo or an avocado. It is a living human child… a child created by God in His image… a life that is precious to God and which will begin to be precious to us if it is not already. As a bumper sticker I saw recently said, “If it’s not a baby, then you’re not pregnant.”
No matter whether that child is born whole or with birth defects, he or she has a right to live. No matter whether that child will be born into a home full of love or will face a life full of trials and pain, he or she has a right to live. No matter whether that child will live for five minutes or for 100 years, he or she has the right to live. The time of death for that child should only be chosen by God, and God alone.
Think about it.
_______________________________________
[1] Finer LB and Henshaw SK, Disparities in rates of unintended pregnancy in the United States, 1994 and 2001, Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, 2006, 38(2):90–96.
[1] Jones RK et al., Abortion in the United States: incidence and access to services, 2005, Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, 2008, 40(1):6–16.
[1] Jones RK, Darroch JE and Henshaw SK, Patterns in the socioeconomic characteristics of women obtaining abortions in 2000–2001, Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, 2002, 34(5):226–235.
All Bible quotes contained in these devotionals are from the New International Version 1984 (NIV1984), unless otherwise specified.
--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--
Find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/DogwoodMinistries and become a Fan!
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TakeAMinute" group.
To unsubscribe from this group, send email with “Unsubscribe” in the subject line to J-R-and...@dogwoodministries.org
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/takeaminute
General correspondence or to subscribe to Take a Minute: J-R-and...@dogwoodministries.org
Donations to Dogwood Ministries: http://www.dogwoodministries.org
Personal correspondence to Bonnie Ricks: bon...@dogwoodministries.org
Personal correspondence to J.R. Ricks: j...@dogwoodministries.org
--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--
[1] Finer LB and Henshaw SK, Disparities in rates of unintended pregnancy in the United States, 1994 and 2001, Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, 2006, 38(2):90–96.
[2] Jones RK et al., Abortion in the United States: incidence and access to services, 2005, Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, 2008, 40(1):6–16.
[3] Jones RK, Darroch JE and Henshaw SK, Patterns in the socioeconomic characteristics of women obtaining abortions in 2000–2001, Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, 2002, 34(5):226–235.