A Long Road Yet

A Long Road Yet

Introduction:

Today, we are observing Sanctity of Human Life Sunday along with thousands of other churches across America.

I’m not preaching a traditional sermon this morning. By that, I mean I am not going to be examining a particular passage of Scripture and then applying it to daily life, however we have heard numerous Scripture verses read earlier in the worship service that clearly speak about one’s responsibility to others around us.

I just want to share with you various kinds of information regarding the sacredness of human life, and where we are in the fight against the destruction innocent babies. A lot of the information and material that I will be sharing today was provided in a resource booklet provided by Focus on the Family organization for pastors and churches.

I chose the title that I have used for this message because, although we have seen significant progress and positive changes, our task is not finished. There is still a long road ahead of us yet.

Let me begin by just giving you an idea of what we plan to talk about this morning.

I want to start by sharing a few statistics that would indicate some of the progress that has been made in recent months or years.

Secondly, I want to talk about other human life issues, which are included when we speak about the sanctity of human life. Is it just about abortion, or does it include a lot more than that?

Finally, I want to emphasize our ongoing responsibility to rescue the unborn and others threatened with death, while offering hope and healing to those who may be hurting over decisions they’ve made in the past.

Signs of Hope

From PA Family Institute:

January 8, 2015

As we approach Sanctity of Human Life Sunday (January 18th) and the March for Life (January 22nd), everyone should be aware of two facts related to abortion in Pennsylvania:

1. Abortions performed in our state have dropped in each of the last six reporting cycles (by more than 6,000 babies).

2. The latest yearly number of abortions performed in PA is the lowest amount on record (32,108). That’s less than half of the highest total ever in a given year (in 1980 it was the highest at 65,777).

While we are still witnessing far too many babies being killed every year, there is some encouragement in seeing that we’re getting closer [to ending the practice of abortion]. [It took nearly 33 years for the figure to be reduced by half, and hopefully it can be entirely eliminated well before another 33 years go by.] 

National Right to Life Issues New Report: “The State of Abortion in the United States”

● January 21, 2014

WASHINGTON – Today, the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the federation of 50 state right-to-life affiliates and more than 3,000 local chapters, issued a new report…. 

“While the most recent data indicate a decrease in the annual number of abortions, tragically, more than 3,000 unborn children are still killed every day in the United States ….

(That means, since we left church last Sunday, more than 21,000 babies lost their lives across America. This is just a little less than the population of the city of New Castle, PA.) 

As noted in the report, on the basis of the most recent reports from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and by the Guttmacher Institute (originally founded as a special research arm of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America), National Right to Life estimates that there have been more than 56 million abortions in America since 1973, the year that the U.S. Supreme Court legalized abortion on demand.

(This is approximately equal to the combined populations of Texas, New York and Georgia.)

The report also observes that after reaching an all-time high of over 1.6 million in 1990, the number of abortions performed annually in the U.S. appear to have dropped to around 1.1 million a year.

(Which is like losing all the people in Rhode Island every year.)

Still Vanishing: 73 Abortion Facilities Shut Down in 2014

December 29, 2014

An Operation Rescue Exclusive Special Report - By Cheryl Sullenger

Washington, DC – A new survey conducted by Operation Rescue of all abortion facilities in the United States has confirmed that the abortion clinic closure trend continued strongly in 2014. Operation Rescue is the only pro-life organization that maintains a listing of abortion facilities and tracks clinic closures and its extensive research has provided the most accurate accounting of abortion facilities known to exist.

In all, 73 abortion facilities shut down for all or part of the year. The total number of all remaining abortion clinics in the US is currently 739. Surgical abortion facilities account for 551 of that total while the number of medication-only abortion facilities stands at 188.

Out of 60 surgical abortion clinic closures, 47 were permanent. This represents a 23% decline in surgical abortion facilities over the past five years.

Thirteen surgical facilities were allowed to reopen after initially closing, primarily due to court action that enjoined abortion safety laws that had shut down the substandard facilities.

Thirteen facilities that provided only medication abortions account for the remaining closures in 2014.

There are even more indications that fewer abortions can be expected in the future as states and courts allow legislation to stand which put more restrictions on abortion. A major piece of legislation that is pending now is based on recent scientific evidence that babies in the womb can indeed feel pain. The new law would focus on that fact as a point of protection for the unborn.

What does Sanctity of Human Life involve?

If we truly believe that human life is created by God in the image of the Creator, then how does that fact shape our ideas about human life?

Does it only refer to protecting human life before natural birth?

No. On the basis of Scripture, it clearly includes all other phases of life as well. It affects our view of and treatment of every human being regardless of race, age, abilities, or any other characteristics that has been used as a reason for discarding humans.

If we, who call ourselves Christians, are truly pro-life, then what are the other problems besides abortion that we should be concerned about? Listen to these examples and the statistics they involve.

Orphans / Adoption

Globally: There are more than 150 million orphans around the world.

In the USA: On any given day, more than 450,000 children are in the U.S. foster care system.

More than 100,000 children in the U.S. are waiting to be adopted—just waiting for the right family to find them.

The average length of stay in foster care is nearly 22 months, and a child in foster care can wait five years or more to be adopted.

Each year, 20% of children exit foster care at age 18 without an adoptive family.

The U.S. also has more than 300,000 churches, and God has given clear commands for Christians to take care of His orphan children.

So if the command is clear and the need is apparent, why are these kids still waiting?

Not everyone is called to adopt, but helping support adoptive families is nearly as important as welcoming a child into your home.

Disabled

Just one category of disability is Downs Syndrome. Approximately 1 out of every 691 babies is born with Down Syndrome.

Research indicates that between 50% and 93% of babies in the U.S. that are prenatally diagnosed with Down syndrome are aborted.

This same trend is no doubt present with prenatal diagnoses of other disabilities as well.

To be pro-life means that we believe disabled people are just as valuable in God’s sight as anyone else is.

Human Trafficking

More children, women and men are held in slavery right now than over the course of the entire trans-Atlantic slave trade. Millions toil in bondage, their work and even their bodies the property of an owner.

• After drug dealing, human trafficking (both sex trafficking and trafficking for forced labor) is tied with the illegal arms industry as the second largest criminal industry in the world today, and it is the fastest growing.

• Worldwide, there are nearly two million children in the commercial sex trade.

• There are an estimated 600,000 to 800,000 children, women and men trafficked across international borders annually.

• Approximately 80 percent of human trafficking victims are women and girls, and up to 50 percent are minors.

I think I mentioned last year that Super Bowl Sunday is one of the “biggest days of the year” for sex trafficking. The justice department reports that the average age for those entering into child prostitution is 13 years of age.

The Elderly

• Research of 16,000 care facilities shows that approximately 85 percent of the residents of skilled-care centers never have visitors, not from family, friends, clergy or anyone from a church.

• Only about five percent of those same facilities had chaplains.

• Per capita, those over age 65 have the largest suicide rate of any other age group in America.

Just reading the statistics regarding these several social problems makes my heart heavy with sorrow and grief.

Before I close I want to read a very gripping story that occurred in our nation’s history.

Scott Klusendorf (The Case for Life: Equipping Christians to Engage the Culture, Copyright © 2009, Crossway Publishing, p. 242-243.)

In 1955, Emmett Till, a 14-yearold black youth, traveled from Chicago to visit his cousin in the town of Money, Mississippi. Upon arrival, he bragged about his white girlfriends back in Chicago. This was surprising to his cousin and the cousin’s friends because blacks in Mississippi during the 50s didn’t make eye contact with whites, let alone date them! Both actions were considered disrespectful. Later that day, Emmett, his cousin, and a small group of black males entered Bryant’s Store where, egged-on by the other males, 14-year-old Emmett flirted with a 21 year-old white married woman behind the counter. After purchasing candy, he either whistled at her or said something mildly flirtatious. (Reports vary.) The cousin and the others warned him he was in for trouble.

A few days later, at 2 A.M., Emmett was taken at gunpoint from his uncle’s home by the clerk’s husband and another man. After savagely beating him, they killed him with a single bullet to the head. Emmett’s bloated corpse was found three days later in the Tallahatchie River. A cotton gin fan had been shoved over his head and tied with barbed wire. His face was partially crushed and beaten almost beyond recognition. The local Sheriff placed Emmett’s body in a sealed coffin and shipped it back to his mother in Chicago.

When Mamie Till got the body, she made a stunning announcement: there would be an open-casket funeral for her son Emmett. People protested and reminded her how much this would upset everyone. Mamie agreed, but countered, “I want the whole world to see what they did to my boy.”

The photo of Emmett’s mangled body in that open casket was published in Jet magazine and it helped launch the Civil Rights Movement in America. Three months later in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks refused to go to the back of the bus when ordered to do so. She said the image of Emmett Till gave her the courage to stand her ground.

It’s time for pro-life Christians to open the casket on abortion. We should do it lovingly but truthfully. We should do it in our churches during the primary worship services, comforting those who grieve with the gospel of forgiveness. We should do it in our Christian high schools and colleges, combining visuals with a persuasive defense of the pro-life view that’s translatable to non-Christians. But open the casket we must. Until we do, Americans will continue tolerating an injustice they never have to look at.

This story is gripping and revolting. Yet, it presents a valid point… for the most part; church-going Christians have been insulated against the horrors of abortion and what it does to innocent, pain-sensitive babies.

Maybe it’s time we quit worrying about shocking our sensibilities and “open the casket” on all kinds of injustices that goes on in our society for the whole world to see the truth.

Conclusion:

It’s hard to talk about all the facts we’ve talked about today without getting a little angry and even more sorrowful.

But we need to remember that there is a real possibility we all know someone or will meet someone who is guilty of one or more of these gross injustices we’ve spoken about today.

As followers of Jesus Christ, we must be constantly praying and ready to offer hope and the loving grace of Jesus to those who are broken and hurting.

Remember what God said to Israel through the prophet Isaiah?

“…though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”