sanctity
• noun (pl. sanctities) 1 holiness; saintliness. 2 ultimate importance and inviolability: the sanctity of human life.
— ORIGIN Old French sainctite, from Latin sanctus ‘holy’.
On this past Sunday, January 24, 2010, my church observed Sanctity of Human Life Sunday. The main scripture my pastor used is Psalm 139. I would like to share the Amplified translation with you.
1O LORD, you have searched me [thoroughly] and have known me.
2You know my downsitting and my uprising; You understand my thought afar off.(A)
3You sift and search out my path and my lying down, and You are acquainted with all my ways.
4For there is not a word in my tongue [still unuttered], but, behold, O Lord, You know it altogether.(B)
5You have beset me and shut me in--behind and before, and You have laid Your hand upon me.
6Your [infinite] knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high above me, I cannot reach it.
7Where could I go from Your Spirit? Or where could I flee from Your presence?
8If I ascend up into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol (the place of the dead), behold, You are there.(C)
9If I take the wings of the morning or dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10Even there shall Your hand lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me.
11If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me and the night shall be [the only] light about me,
12Even the darkness hides nothing from You, but the night shines as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to You.(D)
13For You did form my inward parts; You did knit me together in my mother's womb.
14I will confess and praise You for You are fearful and wonderful and for the awful wonder of my birth! Wonderful are Your works, and that my inner self knows right well.
15My frame was not hidden from You when I was being formed in secret [and] intricately and curiously wrought [as if embroidered with various colors] in the depths of the earth [a region of darkness and mystery].
16Your eyes saw my unformed substance, and in Your book all the days [of my life] were written before ever they took shape, when as yet there was none of them.
17How precious and weighty also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them!(E)
18If I could count them, they would be more in number than the sand. When I awoke, [could I count to the end] I would still be with You.
19If You would [only] slay the wicked, O God, and the men of blood depart from me--(F)
20Who speak against You wickedly, Your enemies who take Your name in vain!(G)
21Do I not hate them, O Lord, who hate You? And am I not grieved and do I not loathe those who rise up against You?
22I hate them with perfect hatred; they have become my enemies.
23Search me [thoroughly], O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!
24And see if there is any wicked or hurtful way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
The pastor made the following points:
(Psalm 127:3, Gen 20:18, Gen 17:16)
2. We are valuable because God knows us.
(Psalm 139:1)
3. We are valuable because God never leaves us.
(Psalm 139:7, Prov. 18:24, Psalm 127:3)
4. We are valuable even before we are born.
(Psalm 139:13, Jer. 1:5, Eph. 2:10)
5. To God we are priceless because Jesus died to save us."
(1 Peter 2:24, Acts 4:19, ! Peter 1:18-19)
Here are some disturbing facts....
*Since Roe v. Wade was heard before the United States Supreme Court and abortion was made legal (1973) nearly 40 million babies have been aborted in America.
*When the terrorist-controlled planes flew into the Twin Towers nearly 3000 valuable human lives were lost. America aborts approximately the same number of babies every day.
*You may believe abortion is justified in some cases...maybe one of these.
~ A 13 year old African American girl living in Chester, PA is raped in 1895. Her family lives in poverty, violence, and general despair. Should she do "something" to rid herself of this baby? If she had "taken care of the problem," one of the greatest jazz, big-band, and spiritual singers would have never been born. That baby grew up to be Ethel Waters. She is best known for her recording of the spiritual, His Eye is on The Sparrow.
~A French-Canadian couple discovers they are pregnant with their 14th child. They are devout Roman Catholics but...another baby? How will they feed one more mouth. It is hard to find work and difficult to make ends meet. The doctor advises the mother to abort. Really, she has 13 other children...everyone will understand. But the parents fall back on their faith and know that God is the only one who can decide life and death. Thank goodness they made that decision or the world would have been deprived of the talented Celine Dion.
~A syphilitic father and a tubercular mother are pregnant for the 5th time. Two of their children have been born blind. One has had tuberculosis. 2 are stillborn. Surely abortion is justified. The child will most likely die anyway. And if the child survives...what kind of life can it possibly have? This child was born into the world in December 1770. He went on to compose some of the most well-known and loved classical music. His name was Ludwig van Beethoven.
If you don't believe life begins at conception...
Dr. Jerome Lejeune of Paris, France, was a physician and Doctor of Science and Professor of Genetics for 25 years. Dr. Lejeune discovered the genetic cause for Down’s Syndrome. He received awards such as the Kennedy Prize and the Memorial Allen Award Medal; he was a member of The American Academy of Arts and Science, the Royal Society of Medicine of London, and the Royal Society of Science in Stockholm. Dr. Lejeune died April 3, 1994.
Dr. Lejeune noted that the very first cell, the fertilized egg cell or zygote, is "the most specialized cell under the sun".
In the words of Dr. Lejeune: "Each of us has a very precise starting moment which is the time at which the whole necessary and sufficient genetic information is gathered inside one cell, the fertilized egg, and this is the moment of fertilization. There is not the slightest doubt about that and we know that this information is written on a kind of ribbon which we call the DNA…Nature has used the smallest possible language to carry the information from father to children, from mother to children, from generation to generation…At no time is the human being a blob of protoplasm. As far as your nature is concerned, I see no difference between the early person that you were at conception and the late person which you are now. You were and are a human being."
When Dr. Lejeune testified in the Louisiana legislature he stated, "Recent discoveries by Dr. Alec Jeffreys of England demonstrate that the information (on the DNA molecule) is stored by a system of bar codes not unlike those found on products at the supermarkets…it’s not any longer a theory that each of us is unique."
In 1989, during testimony on The Seven Human Embryos in Tennessee, Dr. Lejeune made the following observation:
"...as soon as he has been conceived, a man is a man."
If you have suffered the pain of abortion, whether personally or someone you love, please remember that there is forgiveness in Christ Jesus. He died for everyone and for every one of their sins.
John 3:16 (New International Version)
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,[a] that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life"
If you would like to talk to someone about issues of abortion, here are some organizations that can help.
Pregnancy Care Center of the Northcoast (you can find these centers throughout the U.S.)
Hope After AbortionChristiaNet.com
I would like add that if anyone has had an abortion - there is forgiveness and healing. And to the men who are fathers to aborted babies there is forgiveness and healing when you bring it to the cross.
ReplyDelete