Makes Men Forget All Pity

GoodEvilLast night I presented this question to my social media followers and blog email list:

    “What does the Bible think about social issues? Is it inclusive and welcoming? Is it concerned with limiting its ability to attract young people and others, including many women, who agree with the Bible on some but not all issues?”

This question was generated from something I read on the Republican Party’s much heralded “autopsy report” titled, “Growth and Opportunity Project”. Under the section titled “Messaging,” the report says in its subsection titled “The Way Forward:”

    “When it comes to social issues, the Party must in fact and deed be inclusive and welcoming. If we are not, we will limit our ability to attract young people and others, including many women, who agree with us on some but not all issues.”

I asked my readers what came to mind as they read this. The answers were very revealing, of which I’ll share in a video blog tonight. But this morning I want to get back to my opening question. What does the Bible think about social issues? If you ask any American today what comes to mind when they hear the term “social issues,” I am confident the two most given answers would be abortion and homosexual marriage. Let’s concentrate on these two and shine the light of God’s Word on them.

We find two instances of a pogrom of infanticide in the Bible; one in the Old Testament and the other in the New Testament. This first instance is found in Exodus 1:

    “Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, ‘Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we; come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and it happen, in the event of war, that they also join our enemies and fight against us, and so go up out of the land.’ Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh supply cities, Pithom and Raamses. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were in dread of the children of Israel. So the Egyptians made the children of Israel serve with rigor. And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage—in mortar, in brick, and in all manner of service in the field. All their service in which they made them serve was with rigor. Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of one was Shiphrah and the name of the other Puah; and he said, ‘When you do the duties of a midwife for the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstools, if it is a son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.’ But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the male children alive.” (Exodus 1:8-17)

Some abortion supporters may say, ah but those were babies being born. Yes, it is what we call today partial-birth abortion. Whether it be in the womb, out of the womb, or partial-born, it is all infanticide. Can we please have that bit of intellectual honesty?

Commenting on this passage in Exodus, Matthew Henry wrote:

    The Egyptians tried to destroy Israel by the murder of their children. The enmity that is in the seed of the serpent, against the Seed of the woman, makes men forget all pity. It is plain that the Hebrews were under an uncommon blessing. And we see that the services done for God’s Israel are often repaid in kind. Pharaoh gave orders to drown all the male children of the Hebrews. The enemy, who by Pharaoh, attempted to destroy the church in this its infant state, is busy to stifle the rise of serious reflections in the heart of man. Let those who would escape, be afraid of sinning, and cry directly and fervently to the Lord for assistance.

The other instance of government infanticide is found in Matthew 2:

    “Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying: ‘A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.’” (Matthew 2:16-18)

There are instances in the Old Testament of child sacrifices and be it that or infanticide, it is always considered hellishly wicked. There is no room for inclusiveness or welcoming if you are going to support abortion for any reason. You cannot make the Biblical case, period.

What about homosexual marriage? The Bible is clear on homosexuality and the only way it is not is if someone contorts and corrupts the Scriptures to make their demented case. So let’s talk marriage. Where is the first instance of marriage? We go to the second chapter in the Bible for that:

    “And the Lord God said, ‘It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.’ Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him. And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. And Adam said: ‘This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.’ Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.” (Genesis 2:18-25)

Well how about that? It was God who instituted marriage. And it is clear that God brought together a man and a woman and they were brought together and called “man and wife.” God did not bring together man and man or woman and woman. Marriage is between a man and a woman, one each for life.

Now be there no doubt that there is some exclusivity to that and it is very unwelcoming to anyone who would pervert it. But if you have a problem with that, your problem is not with me or even the GOP. Your problem is with G-O-D.

There are no gray areas in life. There is black and white, and there is “I don’t know.” This is a case of crystal clear black and white. There is no confusion; there is only political and moral clarity from what the Bible teaches.

The question we must answer as Christians, Americans, and citizens is to where will we turn for our answers? Will we turn to a panel of five men and women or the time-tested truth of the Bible? That is our choice; there is no middle ground. If we pass a law that violates God’s law it is in fact an unlaw. It is to be disobeyed.

The only way we as Christians can support any type of abortion or homosexual relationship is to do as the Egyptians did, to be swayed by the enemy, and forget all pity.

In Christ
Dave
Ps. 37:4

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    Copyright © 2013 David Jeffers

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