Can You Love the Sinner and Hate the Sin?

 Short answer: Yes.

    When I was a kid I did some pretty awful stuff. I used to argue with my mom over everything, I talked back to both of my parents, I cursed at them only once, I kicked my older brother and hit my younger sister, I lied, I cheated on HW, quizzes and tests, I forged my mom's signature on those HWs, quizzes, and tests, and definitely a lot more stuff that I'm just not remembering.

    Sometimes I got away with it - my mom didn't find out about me forging her signature until I told her years later. Usually, though, I got caught and was punished. If the bad thing involved my words, I got my mouth washed out with soap. If it involved physical violence, I got spanked. I got spanked a lot. And if it involved something else, I would get sent to my room or wouldn't be allowed to watch TV or play videogames. The points is my parents disciplined me when I did something bad.

    Now, why am I telling you this? Because my parents loved me. A lot. And they still love me a lot. If I got hurt, even from doing something bad, they bandaged me up. They cared for me. They loved me.

    A phrase that gets used a lot in the church today is "Love the sinner, hate the sin". Recently, our culture has been arguing against this phrase, claiming that it does more harm than good. They claim that if you love someone, you have to accept them for who they are and what they do. They claim that you can't separate these things, so if you "love the sinner" you must also "love the sin". But this isn't what biblical love is. This isn't what we're talking about when we say to love the sinner and hate the sin. Let's dive into the classic "love" passage of the Bible, 1 Corinthians 13, and see what God has to say about what biblical love is.

“If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

We can learn three basic lessons of biblical love from this passage:

1. Biblical love surpasses everything else we can do.

    Love is more important than knowledge, more important than prophecy, more important than spiritual gifts, more important than faith, more important than generosity, and more important than sacrifice. All of these things are good, but if they do not drive you to a love for God and a love for others, then you have missed the point. If you are lacking in love, nothing else matters.

2. Biblical love looks to the ultimate benefit of others.

    If we were to restate the middle part of this passage as a summary of what love is, it would read like this: Love is patient, kind, content, humble, respectful, selfless, slow to anger, and forgiving. A biblically loving person protects others, trusts others, maintains a hope for others, and perseveres through hardship (caused by others). These characteristics have the best needs and interests of others at heart.

3. Biblical love lasts forever.

    Love is not a feeling that comes and goes with our emotions - it lasts into eternity. Eventually all prophecies are going to be fulfilled, eventually all knowledge will be complete, but beyond those things are faith, hope and love - with love being the greatest of the three. Biblical love lasts forever because it comes from God. We love Him and others because He first loved us:

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God's one and only Son." John 3:16-18

    God's love for us prompted Him to come to the earth as a man and die for our sins so we could be reunited with Him forever. He took our punishment on Himself so that we could have everlasting life. And this is a FREE GIFT to everyone who believes in Jesus. This is the Gospel. This is the love of God. This is biblical love.

Biblical love is a choice that we make to put the needs of others before ourselves.

To put the needs of others before ourselves.

What are the needs of others?

    Let's look back at my childhood self. I was doing some pretty awful stuff - perhaps characteristic of most kids, but awful nonetheless. Disobeying my parents, harming my siblings both verbally and physically, and all around just being dishonest. What I needed was exactly what my parents gave me: correction. They disciplined me to show me that those behaviors were unacceptable and that I needed to change.

1 Corinthians 13:6 says, "Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth."

    My parents loved me, and because they loved me they did not affirm my evil behaviors. Instead, out of love for me, they corrected those evil behaviors. They loved me, but hated what I was doing. And that involved correction. It involved speaking the truth of God's Word into my life and showing me what was right and good and what I ought to do - they didn't delight in evil; they rejoiced with the truth.

    We see this same concept all through the Old Testament between God and the nation of Israel. Israel was His chosen people, and yet they didn't always follow Him. Quite often Israel rebelled against God and did what was evil in His sight. He hated what they were doing, but as you read the Old Testament, did He ever stop loving them? No. Sure, He punished them for their evil deeds, but His love for them never ceased. He loved them, all the while hating their sin.

    What I needed as a child was correction, and what the Israelites needed was correction, too. People today need correction. Even many Christians have fallen far away from God's will of what is right and good. But each person's first and foremost need, above everything else, is the Gospel. They need the everlasting life that comes by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. In Jesus we have forgiveness for our sin, restoration in our relationship with God, and everlasting life. Correction and life transformation come after that need for life is met, through the working of the Holy Spirit.

    I'd like to clarify quickly that there is a difference between our biggest need and our immediate needs. If we come across someone dying of thirst, but instead of offering them water we only share the Gospel with them - and they die before we even finish sharing - we have not met their needs and we have not loved them. In a situation like that, the loving thing to do would be to meet their immediate need and then share the Gospel. But, if we only meet the immediate need (giving them water) and don't share the Gospel, then once again we have not loved them because while they may live a little longer, they will die without forgiveness for their sin, restoration in their relationship with God, and everlasting life. They will go to eternal torment. Neglecting to share the Gospel is not loving.

    When we see people living in sin - sexual immorality, addictions, idolatry, dishonesty, lust, greed, etc. - we are NOT called to affirm those people in their sin. No. We are called to LOVE those people. And what that requires is that we speak the truth - in love - to them. 

"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." Romans 3:23-24

    They are sinners, in need of a Savior. We, too, were once sinners in need of a Savior. And by His grace, we are justified through the redemption that came by Jesus. They need to know that regardless of their sin, they can be forgiven and saved through faith in Jesus Christ. He is the way and the truth and the life. To not share this truth with them is to truly hate them.

    Now, if you're sitting there and you're thinking "this is too hard" or "it's really intimidating to share the Gospel", here are three things you can do to prepare to love others the way God has called to:

1. Lean into your personal relationship with Jesus.*

    Through your faith in Jesus you are connected to God's unconditional love for you. His love has changed you and is continually making you more and more like Jesus. Embrace that.

2. Develop a desire for making disciples.*

    Just as you have been changed to be more like Jesus, grow a desire to see others become more like Jesus. Pray that they would see the truth of God's Word and respond with faith.

3. Believe that Jesus can change anyone.*

    If He can change you, and if He can change me, then He can change anyone - you have to believe that He has the power to radically change anyone. What God has done for you and me, He can do for others. Believe it.

    As you prepare in these ways, continually pray for God to bring the right people into your life to support and encourage you in your Christian walk. Then go, live as God has called you to live, and share the truth with the people around you. In this way you will demonstrate love to the sinner, all the while leading them from their sin to their Savior.

Amen.

*These points are borrowed (and reworded) from Steve Schramm's article "How to Love Others Without Condoning Their Actions" which is a good read and helped me formulate my thoughts in this post.

Biblical Sexuality: Setting the Foundation

 This is a touchy subject in our culture today. Over the last two decades we have seen a massive shift in the cultural understanding of sexuality and gender identity. This shift has taken our culture very far from the biblical view of sex, marriage, and identity, and it has caused a lot of arguments within the church - to the point that many professing Christians have either walked away from the church or changed their beliefs to conform to the culture around them.

Before we get into what the Bible says on this topic, let me first say that whatever you choose to believe, I can guarantee that a quick internet search will find plenty of people who agree with you. It doesn't matter what stance you take, there are people out there who believe the same. Some of them even have nice-sounding arguments to back them up. Some point to science, some point to the Bible, some point to other religious texts, and some stick with feelings as their "proof". But as Christians (if you call yourself a Christian), we find our primary source of truth in the Bible, and we have to do everything we can to make sure we are reading and understanding it properly.

In this post I am going to go through some Old Testament passages that will show us God's original design of sexuality and marriage as well as some of the things God specifically condemned as wrong and immoral. From there we will look at the New Testament and see if there is continuity in what is taught there, or if God's plan for sexuality changed. Let's get started:

Genesis 1:1 - "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth..."

This is a critical passage for the entire Bible. It establishes God's existence before the creation of the world, as well as His power and ability to create all things. It also establishes God's sovereignty over everything - that He is allowed to make the rules and decide what is good or not because He is the maker of it all.

Genesis 1:26-27 - "Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.' So God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them. God blessed them and said to them, 'Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.'"

Here we find that God specifically created mankind differently from all the other creatures of the earth - in His image. We call this the "Imago Dei". The verse follows with "so that they may rule..." which tells us that the Imago Dei gives us some kind of authority over the rest of creation. We are higher than them. Additionally, we see that God specifically makes them "male and female". They are commanded to be fruitful, which means to have productive work (as opposed to be lazy and not doing anything), and increase in number, meaning to procreate, and finally to fill and subdue the earth. So mankind is given this mission to work faithfully, grow the population and act as stewards over God's creation, and all of this they are to do as male and female. Its not like its just "men's work" or "women's work". They are to work together toward these goals.

In Genesis 2 we get a more elaborate picture of God's creation of mankind. God made Adam first ("Adam" means "man" and also could mean "ground", which is interesting because God forms Adam out of dust from the ground), and as Adam was working in the Garden of Eden, God noticed that it was not good for Adam to be alone. PLEASE notice, this is before sin enters the world, and God is saying that already something is not good - Adam's aloneness. So, God goes about searching for a suitable partner for him.

Genesis 2:20-24 - "So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals. But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, He took one of the man's ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib He had taken out of the man, and He brought her to the man. The man said, 'This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, for she was taken out of man.' That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh."

"Suitable helper" is not the same thing as a sidekick, let's get that out of the way. The woman was made as a complement to the man. Adam was incomplete without Eve, and they were made to work together, alongside each other, in the commands God had given to them (be fruitful, increase in number, subdue the earth). If we lived in an all-male society, we would be incomplete. If we lived in an all-female society, that would also be incomplete. The biblical foundation for marriage and sexuality, at the beginning, was between a man and a woman, a male and a female. Their union as "one flesh" describes the original design of marriage - that a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. Adam started out as one flesh, then woman was made from his rib, so that in marriage man is made whole again through unity with his wife.

Genesis 1:31 - "God saw all that He had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning - the sixth day."

God looks over all of creation, including Adam and Eve and their union, and He declares that it is all very good. This is the natural order of things as instituted by God.

Moving forward, a lot happens between the Fall of man (chapter 3 of Genesis) the giving of the Law of Moses at Mt. Sinai (Exodus 19-20). Adam and Eve sin and are kicked out of the Garden of Eden, bringing both sin and death into the world - corrupting everything. People become totally depraved and wicked and God brings judgment against them with the Flood. He saves Noah's family in the Ark, along with the animals. He makes a covenant with Abram (Abraham) and his son (Isaac) and grandson (Jacob/Israel) to make a great nation from which will come salvation for the world. Jacob's descendants become enslaved in Egypt for 400 years, after which God delivers them to Mt. Sinai where He gives the Law to Moses to pass on to them, that they should live by these laws and decrees.

Most of us know the 10 commandments pretty well, but there were a lot of other commands regarding a wide variety of issues. In Leviticus 18 we see a long list of sexual sins that God found utterly detestable, including adultery.

Leviticus 18:22-25 - "You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination. And you shall not lie with any animal and so make yourself unclean with it, neither shall any woman give herself to an animal to lie with it: it is perversion. Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things, for by all these the nations I am driving out before you have become unclean, and the land became unclean, so that I punished its iniquity, and the land vomited out its inhabitants."

The practices listed there, as well as the other listed earlier in the chapter, were common in the nations that lived in Canaan (the Promised Land that later became Israel). These nations saw nothing wrong with these actions, and they probably taught that they were good and acceptable. Yet we see that God finds them to be an abomination - one of the strongest words for condemnation found in the Old Testament. God judged these nations and drove them out of the land because of their sin and wickedness in practicing these things, and He says that these actions were not only wrong, but they defiled the people and even the land.

Two chapters later, in Leviticus 20, we find the consequences for those who practice these things. The ones mentioned in the verses above brought death to the practitioners. That shows the seriousness of these commands. God wasn't kidding around, He took sexuality and marriage very seriously. Perverting His design was not tolerated.

Every part of the Old Testament teaches that God's norm was for there to be men and women, and that marriage relationships was to be between a man and a woman. Whenever there was a deviation from this norm, there were problems that resulted. Abraham had to deal with Sarah's jealousy. Jacob had issues between Leah and Rachel. Samuel's mom felt neglected and outcast because her husband's other wife had many kids and she didn't. David was led to murder and adultery because of his lust for a woman other than his first wife, and the children he had from different wives caused a lot of trouble for the whole nation. Solomon's many wives led him away from God and into idolatry, which caused judgment on the whole nation. Whenever people deviated from God's design, it ended poorly and caused major problems. Did God outright condemn them for these choices? No. But they certainly faced consequences for deviating from God's design, and that is clear throughout the Old Testament.

Now let's move into the New Testament. Jesus, being the Son of God as well as a Rabbi, ought to have a similar idea about sexuality as we see in the Old Testament, right? He does.

Mark 10:2-9 - "And the Pharisees came up and in order to test him asked, 'Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?' He answered them, 'What did Moses command you?' They said, 'Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away.' And Jesus said to them, 'Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.'"

This teaching is dealing primarily with the idea of divorce, but it nevertheless gives us insight into Jesus' perspective on marriage and sexuality. He even takes us directly back to the Mosaic Law AND creation! He points back to the Law of Moses to show that divorce was permitted only because of the hardness of peoples' hearts. Then He takes it back to the beginning when God first created male and female. His teaching clearly shows that a godly marriage relationship is between a man and a woman, as ordained by God at creation. The way He talks about marriage, being between a man and his wife, also demonstrates that this was the "norm". There is never a positive mention of same-sex relationships, in official marriage or otherwise. So we have male, and female, and them uniting together to form one flesh.

Finally, let's look at one of the major contributors to the New Testament, the apostle Paul. In the fifth chapter of his letter to the Ephesians, we get a clear understanding of his views of marriage. This is already a long post so I won't go through the whole chapter here, but I encourage you to go and read it. At the end of the chapter he says this: "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband."

Paul also reaffirms God's original design for sexuality and marriage. There is a continuity throughout the whole Bible that the natural order of creation, the original design, was for sex and marriage to be between a man and a woman. Deviations from this design go against God and result in judgment. This includes things like incest, adultery, sex outside of marriage, looking at porn (lust), bestiality, and homosexuality.

My goal in this post was to establish a biblical view of sexuality - how God originally designed it. Over the next few posts we will look more specifically at what the Bible has to say about homosexuality and gender identity, how that affects us, and how we should interact with the world in light of this truth. It is important that we learn how to accept the the truth of God's written Word and share it with others without being hateful or judgmental (because it is not our place or our job to judge those outside the church). Instead, we need to learn how to speak the truth in love and with gentleness.

If any or all of this message has challenged you, upset you, or sparked questions for you, please share in the comments below and we can discuss it. Those of you who know me personally can also text, call, or message me on social media to discuss this further.

This is a huge issue in our culture right now, and the Bible teaches something that goes directly against what our culture believes. That means you are left with a choice - there is no middle ground - are you going to believe the Bible, or the culture?

God bless and His peace be with you all.

The Value of Life - A Biblical Perspective

 Last night we touched on a sensitive topic, abortion. Now, we didn't go into the political arguments of "Pro-Life vs. Pro-Choice" or into whether or not abortion should be legal in America. No, our focus was simply on getting a biblical perspective on human life. While the Bible does not ever use the word "abortion", by spending time studying His Word, we can get an idea of God's view of human life and allow that to color our perspective on the issue of abortion. So, as we dive into Scripture we're going to attempt to answer 4 questions from a biblical perspective: 1) When does human life begin? 2) What is the value of human life? 3) What constitutes murder? and 4) Who has the authority (right) to take human life and under what circumstances?

Each question is bolded and I have included a summary answer to each question toward the end. My hope is that as you read God's Word you will come to an understanding of how He views human life and allow that to transform your thinking.

When does human life begin?

Genesis 2:7 - "...then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature."

This is the go-to verse for people trying to say that human life begins at first breath - Adam wasn't considered a living creature until after God breathed life into him. The argument then goes for everyone else, we aren't considered fully alive (or having a soul) until we take our first breath after being born. However, we need to remember that Adam is a special case. No other person alive since Adam has been made of dust from the ground - we were born from our mothers. Since Adam is a special case, we cannot base the beginning point for every human life on the example of his creation. So let's keep looking.

Isaiah 44:2 - "Thus says the Lord who made you, who formed you from the womb and will help you: Fear not, O Jacob my servant, Jeshurun whom I have chosen."

Jeremiah 1:5 - "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were even born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations."

Job 31:15 - "Did not he who made me in the womb make him? And did he not fashion us in the womb?"

Psalm 139:13-16 - "For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them."

What do all of these verses have in common? They all speak of an individuality, a specialness, a foreknowledge of God of each person in the womb. God formed them, hand-crafted them, and in Psalms it mentions that God knew of all of the days of David's life before he was even formed in the womb. These verses point to there being human life before birth, and depending on how you want to interpret God's foreknowledge, human life even before conception (I don't take it that far personally, but I will share my personal views below). What we can say definitively in answer to the question is that the Bible views human life as beginning before birth.

What is the value of human life?

Genesis 1:27 - "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them."

This is the description of God's creation of mankind. It is starkly different than His creation of any of the other animals, as He definitely sets mankind apart from the rest of creation. He goes so far as to give mankind dominion over the earth as stewards (caretakers) of His creation. Now, when it says mankind is made in God's image, it does not mean that we somehow look like Him physically. God is not a physical being (although He can enter the physical world). God is spirit, which means we also have a spirit, a soul. That is my interpretation of being made in the image of God - we have a soul. Animals do not have souls, we do. That sets us apart from the animals and establishes a unique relationship with our Creator.

As the Creator of all things, God has a the highest view of Himself (and He is worthy of the highest view, for everything else, being made by Him, is beneath Him). If He has such a high view of Himself, and we are made in His image, what does that mean for us? It means He has a high view of us as well.

Luke 12:24 - "Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouses nor barns, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds!"

This supports the view that we are of a higher value to God than the animals.

This high view of the value of human life is reflected in all of the laws that God established for Israel to protect human life. Murder was a big no-no, and made the top 10 of God's commandments. This brings us to the next question:

What constitutes murder?

Exodus 20:13 - "You shall not murder."

Murder here is the intentional killing of an innocent person. The original Hebrew word for murder which is used in the commandment also includes accidental killing as a result of carelessness or negligence. Let me give you an example.

Say you are driving on the highway, paying attention to the road as you should, and huge gust of wind pushes your car into the car next to you, causing an accident. If the person in the other cars dies as a result, you are not at fault and you are not guilty of breaking the commandment to not murder. However, if you are driving on the highway and you're texting (or distracted in some other way) and your car drifts into the car next to you, causing an accident and killing the person in that car, then you are guilty of breaking the commandment. You were being careless as a driver and your carelessness caused that other person's death. You may not have intended to kill them, but they died as a result fo your carelessness - this breaks the commandment. And finally, of course, if you intentionally swerve your car into the other with the intent to kill the person in that car, and you succeed - you've broken the commandment.

So then, a biblical understanding of murder is not only the intentional killing of an innocent person, but also the unintentional killing of another person through carelessness or negligence. God does not want us going around killing people, on purpose or by accident, which is why He established this law.

Proverbs 6:16-19 - "There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers."

This is where we see the distinction about "innocent blood". But what does it mean for someone to be innocent? In Romans, Paul talks about how no one is innocent before God - we have all sinned and fallen short of His glory. However, when we talk about shedding innocent blood, we are talking about innocence in the eyes of man. Someone who has done you no harm is considered innocent - they aren't deserving of punishment because they haven't done anything wrong to earn punishment. They certainly don't deserve death. If, however, someone has wronged you in some way (say, they mugged you and stole your wallet), well then they are deserving of some kind of punishment (not death, but definitely recompense).

The next set of verses will help explain this, as well as answer the next question. As for murder, hopefully you have gotten the sense that biblical murder is the intentional taking of an innocent human life, and includes killing as a result of carelessness or negligence.

Who has the authority (right) to take human life and under what circumstances?

Leviticus 24:17, 21 - "Whoever takes a human life shall surely be put to death. ... Whoever kills an animal shall make it good, and whoever kills a person shall be put to death."

This law highlights two things: the idea of "a life for a life" and the affirmation that human life is of more value in God's eyes than animals.

Exodus 21:12-14 - "Whoever strikes a man so that he dies shall be put to death. But if he did not lie in wait for him, but God let him fall into his hand, then I will appoint for you a place to which he may flee. But if a man willfully attacks another to kill him by cunning, you shall take him from my altar, that he may die."

Here we get some clarifications for the "life for a life". There is a difference made between pre-meditated murder and what appears to be a crime of passion. If the murderer planned ahead of time to kill another, he must forfeit his life. If it was an accident or happened in the heat of the moment, then the killer could flee to a city of refuge for a time and be safe.

Exodus 21:22-25 - "When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman, so that her child come out, but there is no harm, the one who hit her shall surely be fined, as the woman's husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine. But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe."

Now we're seeing some specific examples. If a pregnant woman gets hit, even if there is no harm, the aggressor has to pay a fine. This demonstrates that even threatening the life of the woman or the child in such a way is not good in the eyes of God. And if harm comes to either the woman or the unborn baby, the aggressor has to pay in kind. If there is injury, he must suffer the same injury. If there is death, he must forfeit his life. Once again we see a high value placed on human life (and this time even on the lives of the unborn), so that those who disregard that value are punished in kind.

Genesis 9:5-6 - "And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning, for the life of man. 'Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.'"

First, we see here that each person will be required to give an account of his life and his actions before God. That's it means for God to require a reckoning. Second, we see why "a life for a life" is the way that it is - because every person, from the unborn to the elderly, is made in the image of God and therefore has a high value in God's eyes.

Now, who said these things and who made these laws? God. God created all life, and it is His right to take it away. He established these laws so to protect innocent lives from being trampled by evil people. If a person takes it upon themselves to decide who lives or dies, apart from the Word of God, they forfeit their own life.

So, to answer this last question: God is the one who has the authority/right to take human life, and He has established laws for specific circumstances when it is okay for humans to take the lives of other humans. In every case we've looked at so far, it is only okay for humans to take the life of someone who has unlawfully taken other human life. This is where find validation for the death penalty, but only in cases of murder and disregard for the value of human life. "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image."

To sum up:

1. When does life begin? Before birth - the unborn are considered human lives and are valued by God.

2. What is the value of human life? Extremely high. Every person, from the unborn to the elderly, is made in the image of God and therefore is highly valued by God.

3. What constitutes murder? The intentional killing of innocent people, or the unintentional killing of innocent people as a result of carelessness or negligence.

4. Who has the authority/right to take human life? God has the authority, and He has given this authority to mankind only in situations where someone is guilty of murder (or heinous sins against God Himself, which we did not discuss in this post). These situations require witnesses and judges to be involved, so that we can't just go around killing whoever we want just because we think they deserve it.

When it comes to issue of abortion, you will have to decide for yourself what you believe. However, I want to challenge you that whatever decision you come to, make sure that you can back up that belief with the Word of God. If we come to believe things that go against the Bible's teachings, then we are going against God, and that is the opposite of what Christians are called to do.

My personal conviction, and you do not have to agree with this 100%, is that human life begins at fertilization (when the sperm and the egg combine, and a new set of DNA is created). This would mean that any form of abortion (from "Plan B" to late-term termination of the pregnancy) is murder, because it is the intentional taking of innocent human life. I do not believe that rape justifies abortion, because the unborn baby, though a result of sin, is not deserving of the punishment for that sin. I do make a distinction in the case of medical emergencies/complications which put the life of the mother at risk, because God cares about both lives, and in those cases I think it is within the rights of the mother to decide which life to save if only one can be saved. Like any other sin, I believe abortion can be forgiven in Christ Jesus, but it has horrific consequences in this life (one being the killing of the unborn child). These are my convictions based on the verses above as well as other passages of Scripture, and I urge you to look at these passages and decide for yourself what to believe about this.

If you have questions, you can ask them in the comments below. Or, if you have my contact info, you can ask me directly and I would be more than willing to talk with you further about this.