Bible Guidelines

INTRODUCTION: Many persons search The Holy Bible to solve life's issues, including whether to have an abortion. The following Scriptures are provided to assist your search of The Bible for God’s views about life and children:

• Genesis 1:1, 26-28a: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.... Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them....
• Genesis 2:7,22: And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.... Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.
• Isaiah 42:5: Thus says God the LORD... Who gives breath to the people on it, and spirit to those who walk on it....
• Acts 17:28: [Paul said] “... for in Him we live and move and have our being,... ‘For we are also His offspring.’”
• 1 John 3:1a, 2a: Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!.... Beloved, now we are children of God....
• Matthew 10:30: [Jesus said] “But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.”
• Acts 17:25b: ... [God] gives to all life, breath, and all things.

GOD KNOWS AND LOVES US AND HAS PLANS FOR US TO WORK FOR HIS KINGDOM, EVEN BEFORE WE ARE BORN: Our Heavenly Father knows all of His children before their birth, and He has plans for their lives even while they are in their mothers’ wombs. Note that these Scriptures call the unborn offspring a “child” or “children.”

• Psalm 139:13-16: For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them.
• Jeremiah 1:4-5: Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.”
• Isaiah 49:1b, 5a: “... The LORD has called Me from the womb; from the matrix of My mother He has made mention of My name.... And now the LORD says, Who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant....”
• Genesis 25:22-23a: But the children struggled together within [Rebekah]; and she said, “If all is well, why am I like this?” So she went to inquire of the LORD. And the LORD said to her: “Two nations are in your womb, two peoples shall be separated from your body....”
• 1 John 3:1a, 2a: Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!.... Beloved, now we are children of God....
• Matthew 1:18b, 22-23: ... After [Jesus’] mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit.... So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: "Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel," which is translated, "God with us."
• Luke 1:44: [Elizabeth said to Mary] “For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe [John the Baptizer] leaped in my womb for joy.”
• Luke 2:21: And when eight days were completed for the circumcision of the Child, His name was called JESUS, the name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb.

GOD FORBIDS US FROM SHEDDING INNOCENT BLOOD; PUNISHMENT WILL FOLLOW: God forbids us from committing murder (one of the Ten Commandments- Exodus 20:13). Murder is the shedding of innocent blood. God instructs that He should decide when a life ends. Punishment will follow disobedience to God’s Word.

• Exodus 20:1, 13: And God spoke all these words, saying:... “You shall not murder.”
• Psalm 31:15: My times are in Your hand; deliver me from the hand of my enemies, and from those who persecute me.
• Exodus 21:22-23: [The LORD said] “If men fight, and hurt a woman with child, so that she gives birth prematurely, yet no harm follows, he shall surely be punished accordingly as the woman’s husband imposes on him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. But if any harm follows, then you shall give life for life....”
• Exodus 23:7b: [The LORD said] “...do not kill the innocent and righteous. For I will not justify the wicked.”
• Psalm 106:36-42: They served their idols, which became a snare to them. They even sacrificed their sons and daughters to demons, and shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and daughters to demons, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; and the land was polluted with blood. Thus they were defiled by their own works, and played the harlot by their own deeds. Therefore the wrath of the LORD was kindled against His people, so that He abhored His own inheritance. And He gave them into the hands of the Gentiles, and those who hated them ruled over them.
• Proverbs 6:16-17c: These six things the LORD hates, yes, seven are an abomination to Him: ...[one of which is] hands that shed innocent blood....

JESUS LOVED AND PROTECTED CHILDREN: Jesus had a loving, tender heart for children. He compared those who would find God’s kingdom to little children. Although in the cited Scripture He warned against leading children into sin, surely His compassion would extend to their lives as well.

• Matthew 19:14 (similar verses in Mark 10:14 and Luke 18:16): But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.”
• Matthew 18:6 (similar verses in Mark 9:42 and Luke 17:2): [Jesus said] “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.”

IN CONFLICTS OF LAW AND CONSCIENCE, FOLLOW GOD’S LAW: Every American would agree that abortion is legal in America. However, God’s law supercedes man’s law. In case of conflict, God’s law should be followed.

• Acts 5:29: But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: “We ought to obey God rather than men.”

BEWARE OF FALSE KNOWLEDGE: Some scientists argue that human life begins at some arbitrary point after conception, rather than conception. Such argument is sophistry, and should be rejected. There is only one Truth, that of God (which He has given to us in The Holy Bible), and any “knowledge” which contradicts God’s law is dangerous wandering from the Truth.

• 1 Timothy 6:20-21: O Timothy! Guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge– by professing it some have strayed concerning the faith.

“MY BODY, MY CHOICE”– WHO OWNS YOUR BODY? Feminists may use the slogan, “My body, my choice.” This slogan advances an argument that a woman may do anything she wishes with her body because she owns it. According to The Bible, however, her body– and anything growing in it (an unborn baby)– belongs to God. Anything a woman does with her body (and an unborn baby in her womb) should pay honor to God and be in obedience with His Word.

• Romans 12:1: I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
• 1 Corinthians 3:16-17: Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.
• 1 Corinthians 6:19-20: Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.

SHOULD A CHRISTIAN SPEAK OUT FOR UNBORN LIFE? The Bible commands God’s people to defend those in need. Jesus came as the Light of the world, a Light to dispel the darkness of sin. He transferred His Light to His followers, that they might dispel the darkness of sin in His physical absence from the world. A church is depicted in The Bible as a lampstand- not to create Light, but to elevate Jesus' Light and spread it over a wider area to reach more people living in darkness. Speak out boldly and pray.

• Jude 3: Beloved,... I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.
• Psalm 82:3-4: Defend the poor and fatherless; do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and needy; free them from the hand of the wicked.
• Proverbs 24:11-12: Deliver those who are drawn toward death, and hold back those stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, “Surely we did not know this,” does not He who weighs the hearts consider it? He who keeps your soul, does He not know it? And will He not render to each man according to his deeds?
• Proverbs 31:8-9: Open your mouth for the speechless, in the cause of all who are appointed to die. Open your mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.
• Isaiah 5:20: Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
• John 8:12b: ... [Jesus said] “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”
• Matthew 5:14a: [Jesus said] “You are the light of the world....”
• James 4:17: Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.
• James 5:16b: ... The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

ABORTION FOR A PREGNANCY RESULTING FROM RAPE: A pregnancy resulting from rape certainly tugs most at the heart, but consider God's Word about innocent life being punished for the sins of the father.

• Genesis 50:20a: [Joseph said] “But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good....”
• Exodus 23:7: [The LORD said] “Keep yourself far from a false matter; do not kill the innocent and righteous. For I will not justify the wicked.”
• Deuteronomy 24:16: [Moses said] “The fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall the children be put to death for their fathers; a person shall be put to death for his own sin.”
• Proverbs 6:16-17c: These six things the LORD hates, yes, seven are an abomination to Him: ...[one of which is] hands that shed innocent blood....
• Ezekiel 18:4, 17c, 20: [Says the LORD God] “Behold, all souls are Mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine; the soul who sins shall die. ...He shall not die for the iniquity of his father; he shall surely live!... The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.”

LOVE– THE NECESSARY INGREDIENT OF ANY PRO-LIFER’S MINISTRY: If you are working for pro-life issues, you have a pro-life ministry! Even though you may oppose abortion, you must always clothe actions and words in genuine love. Jesus commanded His followers to love all persons, which would include abortionists and women who have had abortions. Hatred and violence are unacceptable in a Christian’s stand against abortion.

• Matthew 22:39: [Jesus said] “And the second [greatest commandment] is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”
• John 13:34-35: [Jesus said] “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
• 1 Corinthians 13:1-3, 8a, 13: Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.... Love never fails.... And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.