What does the Bible Say about Mothers Murdering Children?

 (Part Four in a Series on the Fifth Commandment)

by Pastor Paul Wolff

In this article:
What is happening?
How could such things happen?
What does the Bible say about murdering children?
Biblical Examples
What does this mean for the future?

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these." Mark 10:14

What is happening?

There is something happening now in our society which has rarely happened in the history of the world. It is certainly not unknown, or unprecedented, but in the history of civilization it is extraordinarily rare. It may be more well known among uncivilized (or under civilized) societies, but that it is happening in what was once a civilized, Christian nation, like the United States of America (and others), is heartbreaking. What is happening is that there seems to be a trend recently of mothers murdering their children in cold blood.

Recently there was a trial of a woman in the U.S. who confessed to strangling her three young children, but which ended in a mistrial. It should have been an easy conviction, as evidence showed that she planned the murder, and conspired to get her husband out of the house while she killed their children. After the trial it was revealed that eleven of the jurors wanted to acquit her of murder (likely by reason of insanity), but only one juror would not be persuaded nor bullied into joining that decision, but held fast that it was not beyond reasonable doubt that the mother was guilty of first degree murder. During the trial, groups of women organized public protests advocating that the mother should be excused for murdering her children. Since the mistrial was declared several more women have also killed their children in the following few weeks.

How could such things happen?

What is more sad than all of this, is that this is not at all surprising to anyone who has been paying attention! Over 20 years ago I observed that the leading cause of death in the United States was abortion – the murder of children. In 2002 (the latest year that information was available when I wrote the 2005 article) there were 1,300,000 abortions. Since 1973, when the Supreme Court illegally made abortion “legal” in all 50 states, there have been over one million abortions each year on average. This has continued, even after the Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade. The problem with the Dobbs vs. Jackson was that the Supreme Court did not ensure that all unborn children of U.S. citizens were protected from murder.

What this means is that every year, for over 53 years, a million mothers have murdered their children. This does not mean that each of these million mothers are different people – many of them are repeat offenders. Also, not all of these murdering mothers are willing participants. It is well documented that a fair number of abortions are coerced by the fathers of the unfortunate children (boyfriends or husbands to the child’s mother). The Abortion Industry (as it is called) has repeatedly shown that it does not care about whether the women who seek their services are raped, abused, enslaved, or are otherwise molested, as long as they get paid. Nevertheless, what this shows is that there are tens of millions of women in the United States alone who have murdered their children. 

I must also recognize that not all of these women advocate for allowing abortion and infanticide. Many women have repented of this wickedness and found forgiveness in Jesus Christ, and others have also recognized that what they did was wrong, and should not be done. Yet, that probably still leaves tens of millions of women (and others) who refuse to repent and think that they have every right to murder their children, either before their birth or after. This happens because murder is such a horrible sin that, when someone commits murder they will go to great lengths to justify it to themselves. Since these people convince themselves that they had good reason for murder, they cannot admit to themselves or others that it was wrong – because to do so would be to admit that they are as wicked as other murderers, but murderous desires lead to murder, unless reversed by repentance and trust in God through Jesus Christ.

What does the Bible say about murdering children?

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these." Mark 10:14

In Leviticus 18:21 God told the Israelites, “Do not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molech, for you must not profane the name of your God. I am the Lord.” I am sure that at the time the Israelites thought that this was one of the easiest commandments to keep. After all, what kind of a person would even consider killing their children, much less, offering their dead children to a false god like Molech? Such things are absolutely unthinkable for any godly person. The idol, Molech, was created to give parents a way to get rid of their children which would ease their guilty conscience (and maybe make some money for false priests during hard times). You can read an article I wrote here about how the ancient practice of child sacrifice corresponds to similar practices in our society. Yet, God knows the wickedness in our hearts more than we do, and when the tribe of Judah fell into the practice of child murder (after God had already destroyed the Kingdom of Israel for doing the same thing) God condemned them, saying, “They built high places for Baal in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to sacrifice their sons and daughters to Molech, though I never commanded, nor did it enter my mind, that they should do such a detestable thing and so make Judah sin.” (Jeremiah 32:35) This practice was a large part of the reason why God sent the Babylonians to conquer Judah, destroy Jerusalem, and take the survivors as slaves in exile to Babylon.

God also demonstrated that He values the lives of even the most humble people, though the world may think they are expendable. In Exodus 22:22-24 God says, “Do not take advantage of a widow or an orphan. If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry. My anger will be aroused, and I will kill you with the sword; your wives will become widows and your children fatherless.” The consequences of taking advantage of the lowest in society (whom some might consider “burdens”) was that God would raise up enemies against them who would kill the men so their wives would be widows, and their children orphans. 

We should be aware that all that is going on does not escape the notice of God. In Deuteronomy 10:17-18 God tells His people, “The Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing.” This was both a blessing and a curse (as these are frequently joined together in Holy Scripture). It was a blessing because God would protect His people if they fell on hard times or experienced disaster. It was a curse if the people disobeyed God and took advantage of the weak in society – then God would punish the wrongdoers. 

Biblical Examples

God tested Abraham, but did not let him kill his son. Yet, God did not spare His Son, but let Him be sacrificed  to save us from sin and death.

Abraham and Isaac
There are some examples in the Bible of the murder of children which can give us instruction. The first one is in Genesis 22 where God uncharacteristically tells Abraham to kill his son, Isaac, as a sacrifice to God. Abraham does not openly question God, but prepares to do as God commanded him to do. The New Testament book of Hebrews explains to us that, because God had already promised that Isaac would be the ancestor of a great nation and many kings, Abraham trusted that if he did as God commanded, God would raise his son from the dead so that Isaac could fulfill what God promised. Here we should note that God did not allow Abraham to kill Isaac, but called to him to stop when the knife was in his hand ready to do what God told him to do. 

This story is in contrast to its fulfillment in Jesus Christ. God would not allow Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac, but God offered His son, Jesus, as the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the whole world, and did not stop it from reaching its fulfillment. Isaac was likely an unwilling sacrifice (though he apparently did not fight Abraham, nor seem to hold any hard feelings against his father later in his life), but Jesus was the perfectly willing sacrifice. God did not force Jesus to sacrifice His life against His will, but made it clear in the Holy Scriptures that He wanted Jesus to freely offer His life in payment for the sins of the world, so that we may be forgiven and rescued from sin and death. Because Jesus loved God perfectly, He was willing to do what God wanted, and let sinful men put Him to death. In doing this, Jesus offered His innocent life to pay for the sins of the whole world, and God accepted His sacrifice, so that all who believe in Jesus have full forgiveness of all their sins, and full salvation through Him.

Pharaoh’s Command to Kill Baby Boys Before the Exodus
In Exodus 1, we are told that a Pharaoh in Egypt came to power who forgot about Joseph and why all the Israelites were living in Egypt, and saw them as a potential threat. He feared this, even though the descendants of Israel had been living in Egypt for 400 years, they had done nothing against their Egyptian hosts. The King first commanded the Egyptian midwives to kill the male Israelite babies they delivered, so that they would not grow up to be a military threat to Egypt. The midwives did not obey this command because they were in the business of delivering babies, not killing them. Only in the past 50 years or so have doctors and nurses become active agents of murder instead of healing. 

The oppression and murderous commands of the Pharaoh led the Israelites to cry out to God to send them a deliverer. God heard their prayers, and sent them Moses. When the Egyptian midwives failed to do as the Pharaoh decreed, he commanded all Israelite baby boys to be thrown into the Nile River to be drowned. Moses’ mother complied with the letter of the law by putting her baby in the river, but she placed him in an “ark” made of woven reeds, and waterproofed with tar or asphalt so it would float, and he would not be drowned. Pharaoh’s daughter found the “ark” and took pity on the child, and adopted him as her son, though she knew that he was from an Israelite family. Moses was the deliverer whom God sent to lead the Israelites out of Egypt toward the Promised land of Canaan, though he would not accomplish this until he was 80 years old.

The Tenth Plague in Egypt

God called Moses to lead the children of Israel out of slavery to the land He promised to give to Abraham

As a counterpoint to the Pharaoh’s command to kill the Israelite baby boys, when God sends the plagues on Egypt in Exodus 7-12, the tenth and final plague was that God killed all the firstborn of men and livestock in Egypt. However, God spared the firstborn of the Israelites by having them sacrifice a male lamb or goat without blemish and put the blood of the sacrifice on their doorposts so that God would pass over their homes when He came to kill the firstborn of Egypt. There was death in every household in Egypt that night, but none of the Israelites died because God accepted the lambs as substitutes for the firstborn of the people. This caused Pharaoh to send the Israelites out of Egypt, and was God’s main salvation event of the Old Testament. 

The tenth plague and Passover showed how God would save all people by the coming of the Messiah, or Christ. Jesus would be the substitute who would die for the sins of the whole world, so that everyone who believes in Him would be rescued from sin and death, just as the Israelites in Moses’ day believed in God and did as He directed. Here we see God’s justice. As Egypt’s Pharaoh tried to subdue God’s people by killing their children, God came to rescue His people. The Pharaoh of 80 years later, suffered defeat and the loss of his firstborn son in the plague, along with every household in Egypt. God showed that He has mercy on His people, and, although He is patient (wanting all sinners to come to repentance and be saved), He is not unwilling to bring vengeance on those who persist in evil. When God does act in this way He is always just and right in His actions. When it seems He is slow to act, it is not because He is uncaring, or unable to do anything, but it is because He is patient and merciful.

Prayer for Vengeance in Psalm 137
The Psalmist’s lament in Psalm 137 is a difficult one for many people, because in this Psalm, the writer is praying that God would bring retribution on the Babylonians for their conquest of Judah, the destruction of Jerusalem, and the many thousands of people killed in that war. Though God had enabled the Babylonians to do this, they did not acknowledge God, nor do it for God’s glory, but did it for their own glory. The Psalm ends with the writer praying that God would bless those who take the Babylonian children and “dashes them against a rock.” (Psalm 137:9) It sounds cruel, but those taken into captivity likely had witnessed the Babylonians doing just that to their children, and the Psalmist is only asking for similar justice to be done – no worse than what was done to them. God answered their prayer later when the Persians conquered Babylon, and God moved the Persian king to let the people of Judah return and rebuild Jerusalem. God did this so that His promises to Abraham, Jacob (Israel), and David would be fulfilled, and the Messiah would come from their descendants in the land that God had set aside for it to happen there. 

Jesus loves the little children

Herod’s murder of infants in Bethlehem
We see another tragic mass murder of infants in Matthew 2 when King Herod heard about a sign proclaiming the birth of a future king in Judah. Though the child was less than two years old, Herod was so paranoid that he ordered soldiers to kill all the children in the Bethlehem area under two years old. This story parallels closely the story of Moses and the Exodus from 1,500 years earlier. Also, as the person of Jesus is a greater savior than Moses, so also is the salvation won by Jesus greater than the freedom to which Moses led the people of Israel. Christ’s salvation is for all people who trust in the true God for salvation, not just one small nation on earth. 

What does this mean for the future?

In Biblical history, when there is a mass casualty event involving children, it is often associated with God’s judgment against idolatry, wickedness, and violence. Such things only happen in times of great apostasy and rebellion against God, because a godly society would treasure and protect their children, and such things would not happen. Such tragedies as: abortion, infanticide, mutilation and abuse of children for the sake of sexual fantasies, and more, all show us that we live in an era of great apostasy and wickedness. This calls for likewise great repentance and a swift punishment of all who carry out and support such evil. 

If Christians are unable to address and correct the evil, then God will find someone else to do it. However, as Judah was apostate in the times of the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah, and God empowered the pagan Babylonians to carry out His justice, we see that the cure may be worse than the disease – though God does work everything out for good for those who love and trust in Him above all things. If Western Christian nations cannot turn back to Christ, and bring to justice those who murder and mutilate children, then God could very well empower Islamic Jihadists to conquer and enslave Western nations and bring a temporal order. The “cure worse than the disease” in this is that Islamic Jihadists in the past two centuries have adopted a Marxist Gnosticism which is much more radical than many eras of past Islamic conquests.

There have been times in history when Christians have lived with a fair bit of autonomy under Islamic rule. However, much of radicalized Islam these days is much more extreme. Although a conquering Islam would bring a semblance of order in what is now a chaotic world, and would forbid societal evils such as sexual perversion, general infanticide, abortion, and several other plagues endemic to Western Marxist Liberal Progressivism, such a government would harshly persecute Christianity and all other religions. It would also enslave all women and girls under strict Sharia submissive rules, and mandate universal general conversion to the false religion of Islam, with severe penalties for all who refuse to submit. 

The Holy Family is an image of God’s relationship with His people.

Such a future is not necessarily imminent. No one knows except God, alone. Such things are likely to happen in the very last days before Christ’s return, however. These days may not be those days. It could be that a general repentance and return to Christ may mean that several generations may still live under God’s grace, and many more will be added to the number of blessed Christians who find salvation in Jesus Christ. Either way, now is the time for repentance and prayer, trusting in Jesus alone for our forgiveness and salvation. 

The world seems hell-bent on destruction, and Christians should not get caught up in the chaos – neither in going along with the world’s apostasy, nor in reaction against it. Jesus Christ is Lord of all, and He has already won the victory. We dare not panic, lest we lose sight of Jesus Christ and His salvation. All that is left is for history to play out as it must. As for Christian believers, we should continue steadfast in the True Faith, no matter what else is going on in the world, as we await our salvation in confident, patient trust that Jesus will rescue us from all harm and evil, and that all things will work out to the glory of God – our savior and redeemer.

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Articles in this series:

You Shall Not Murder

The True God Cannot Murder

The Opposite of Murder

Related Articles:
Why Does God Condemn Unbelievers to Hell?
A Biblical Argument for Self Defense
Anger
Why Christians Condemn Abortion but Support the Death Penalty
The Good Samaritan
Is it Easier to Heal, or to Forgive?
Christ Has Done All Things Well
The Promise of Christ in Water And Light
Modern Molechianism
“Let His Blood be on Us and on Our Children”
The Passion of Christ
The Slaughter of the Innocents
Friends and Murderers
The Promise of the Rainbow
The True Story of a Terrorist Turned Christian
The Morality of War
Rejecting the Survival Instinct
The Leading Cause of Death in America

 

The Holy Family

by Pastor Paul Wolff

The Holy Family Window from Epiphany Lutheran Church, Detroit, Michigan (Now closed)

This past year (2022) my wife and I have been blessed to see our extended family grow. On the day of Epiphany we rejoiced at the birth of our fifth granddaughter. Then, not quite eleven months later, we rejoiced again at the birth of her niece, our first great-granddaughter. I don’t know what the deal is with all the girls. Statistically, you would expect out of six children born to the younger generations three would be girls and three would be boys. Children, aren’t born by statistics, however, and our grandchildren are all beautiful women and girls, and we thank God for all of them.

Children are truly a blessing from God, despite what the world may think of them. King Solomon wrote, “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them!” (Psalm 127:3-5) This blessing goes all the way back to the creation of the world where God created mankind as a husband and his wife and blessed them, saying “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Genesis 1:28) This blessing was given before the fall into sin, but God blessed Adam and Eve with children even after they rebelled against Him, but He also promised to send a Savior to rescue them all from their sin. God also repeated His blessing to Noah and his sons after God rescued them from the great flood, saying“Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” (Gen 9:1) Even though every person ever born on earth (except Jesus) has been born a sinner, God still blesses families with children, and has provided salvation for all of us through Jesus. This is the reason why we celebrate with joy the birth of Jesus, and why it is also important to remember the Holy Family at Christmas (and at other times when we celebrate God’s gifts of new members to our family).

 

The Holy Family at the Nativity of Christ This is not the real Holy Family, but a lifelike representation (compared to the other images in this article).

It is significant that when God became incarnate He came into a young family. In American culture, we would say today that Mary and Joseph were engaged to be married, because the marriage had not been consummated. In Jewish culture of that time, respectable people (like Joseph and Mary) would be legally married for a year – while living apart – before they consummated the marriage. You should note, too, that this practice was not only for prominent wealthy people, but also for laborers, like carpenters. It didn’t matter if Joseph was a skilled master carpenter or an unskilled laborer. People of all social classes would demonstrate their integrity by waiting a year before consummating the marriage, thus showing that they had not engaged in physical intimacy with each other. This not only gave them time to prove they were chaste and hadn’t been unfaithful, but it also gave them time to solidify their lifelong commitment to one another, and to the new family that they were creating.

God could have chosen an unmarried virgin to bear God’s Son, but that is not how God works. God, in His wisdom, created marriage and family for a purpose and He blesses families. In an intact family, the children know the love of both their father and their mother (see the Fourth Commandment – Exodus 20:12). This is God’s good plan, and though in this sinful world, this is not always possible, it is what we should strive for at all times. Besides, as God planned it, we have the “holy family” to look up to and try to make our own families holy also. We do this through repentance and forgiveness of one another when we sin against one another – as we inevitably will. If God had become incarnate through an unmarried woman, then Christians would idealize unmarried mothers and that would necessarily result in all kinds of chaos, like we see in pagan America today: children growing up in broken families feeling unloved and disobeying authorities and getting involved in drugs and crime. Our prisons are overwhelmingly populated with children of broken families.

The Holy Family Window from Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Detroit, Michigan (Now closed)

As it is, Joseph and Mary belong together, and we ought to try to emulate their purity and faithfulness. Though, I should say here that the “pious” idea of Mary’s lifelong virginity is pure wickedness. That would make her a lousy wife to withhold herself from her husband (see 1 Corinthians 7:1-5). Mary is perpetually a virgin in our memory because we perpetually remember her as “the blessed virgin”, or the “virgin mother”. We do this because Mary was still a virgin until after Jesus was born (see Matthew 1:18-25). This is important because it testifies to the fact that Jesus is the Son of God, not the physical son of Joseph or any other sinful man, though Jesus lived as the son of Joseph, and was named as such (see Luke 2:48; Luke 3:23; Luke 4:22; Matthew 13:55; John 1:45; and John 6:42). There is no confusing the Blessed Virgin Mary with anyone else because never before and never again will a virgin conceive and bear a child. We also see in Matthew 13:55 and Mark 6:3 that the brothers of Jesus are named and the Gospel writers make note that they have sisters, also. The most plain (and best) interpretation of this is that these are the natural children of Joseph and Mary. There is no reason to doubt that – either historically, or exegetically, or theologically.

The “holy family” is considered holy because Jesus is holy. Joseph and Mary were sinners in need of Jesus to save them from their sins. In the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55) Mary calls God, “my savior” (v. 47). Yet, despite the fact that Joseph and Mary were just like everyone else, they were also faithful, pious believers. As a young married couple, they were chaste and pure. When Joseph learned Mary was pregnant, he knew he was not the father, and though he was not (at first) willing to believe what Mary must have told him about what the angel said, he could have intended to have her stoned for adultery, but instead he planned on divorcing her quietly and not subjecting her to public disgrace. Then, when God told Joseph in a dream that all Mary had told him was true (see Matthew 1:20), he believed and kept the family intact. Joseph later protected Mary and Jesus by taking them to Egypt after Herod sought to kill the child, who was the true King of Judah (see INRI).

The Holy Family Window from Emmanuel Lutheran Church, Dearborn, Michigan

The world despises children because it takes sacrificial love to properly raise a child. Selfish pagans idolize themselves and do not care to expend the love and time and money it takes to provide for a child’s needs of body, soul, and mind. Parents must sacrifice to provide for their children’s needs, but that is what people were made for. It is very rewarding to raise a child and give him or her the necessary skills and resources necessary to become a respectable, productive member of society. It is even more rewarding for Christian parents to raise a child who loves God and his neighbors, and trusts in Jesus to save him from his sins. Parents who have done a good job raising children can be justifiably proud that their children are admired and respected by their neighbors and friends, and are valued members of society who care for those whom they deal with every day. This is something that selfish unbelievers who despise and murder their children (see my article on Molechianism) will never fully know because they idolize themselves, and they are unfulfilled because sooner or later their false gods will fail them.

No family is perfect, however, because all members of families are sinners. Even the holy family must have had its struggles and difficulties. The presence of Jesus did not change the sinful nature of Joseph and Mary, nor of His brothers and sisters. The story of the boy Jesus in the temple at age 12 (Luke 2:40-51) shows us that as the years went by, Joseph and Mary seem to have taken for granted that Jesus was the Son of God, and just thought of Him as a normal boy – which He was. There seems nothing out of the ordinary in the way that they deal with Him, as their son. They do show a high level of trust in Him, as they weren’t particularly worried that He wasn’t with them for a time. They assumed that Jesus was with others in their group (v. 44) as they traveled back up north, and they trusted Him not to be disobedient. Jesus always obeyed them perfectly, as an obedient son, but somehow not in a way that drew attention to Himself – so they trusted Him. Though, Mark 3:20-34 describes a situation where Christ’s family (specifically, His mother and brothers) thought Jesus was out of His mind, but Jesus kept teaching what He had been teaching because He was doing what He was supposed to do, and few others understood what it was all about. They thought Jesus suicidal for calling the leaders to repentance, and not heeding the threats against His life. Jesus was not suicidal, and at various times had to walk away from imminent threats to His life before His work was finished (See John 6:15 and Luke 4:24-30), but neither did He try to save Himself when the time came for Him to give His life to pay the price for the sins of the world (see Matthew 27:12-14). Some of the people who heard Christ’s teaching understood after He died and rose to life again, but others never did.

Glory to God in the Highest Jesus is born in Bethlehem (I forget where this window is from. This is a scan of an old film photograph.)

It seems strange to the world that God would become a man simply for the purpose of suffering and dying a shameful death on a cross. It is no wonder that Christ’s family thought Him out of his mind. That kind of love doesn’t make sense to our selfish, sinful flesh, but God’s love is perfect, and we see perfect love in the life and death and resurrection of Jesus. That is why we celebrate Christmas, and why we celebrate more on Good Friday and on Easter Sunday. God is the only one who can save us from the guilt of our sin, and rescue us from sin’s consequences. So God became a man in Jesus to redeem us from sin and death. This is perfect love in action – that God would live and die to save His disobedient people, so that He could make us holy to live with Him forever.

 

This Christmas may Christ bless your family as you contemplate the Holy Family. May you love one another as Christ has loved you. May you forgive the sins that your family members commit against you, as Christ has forgiven all your sins. May father and mother be strengthened in love and commitment to one another, and may children give thanks to God continually for the blessings of their family.

 

 

Psalm 144:9-15 (NIV)

I will sing a new song to you, O God;

on the ten-stringed lyre I will make music to you,

to the One who gives victory to kings,

who delivers his servant David from the deadly sword.

Deliver me and rescue me from the hands of foreigners

whose mouths are full of lies, whose right hands are deceitful.

Then our sons in their youth will be like well-nurtured plants,

and our daughters will be like pillars carved to adorn a palace.

Our barns will be filled with every kind of provision.

Our sheep will increase by thousands,

by tens of thousands in our fields;

our oxen will draw heavy loads.

There will be no breaching of walls,

no going into captivity,

no cry of distress in our streets.

Blessed are the people of whom this is true;

blessed are the people whose God is the Lord.

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Here are my other Christmas-themed articles from this blog:

What was Jesus like as a Boy?

Come, Lord Jesus! 

God’s Justice and Mercy at Christmas 

Justice at Christmas 

Christmas Peace is Forever 

Is Christmas Offensive? 

Christ is for You 

God is With Us 

Does Jesus Sing? 

The Incarnation of God

Magi

Shepherd Visitors

Don’t Make Me Come Down There!

Why Christians Condemn Abortion but Support the Death Penalty

by Pastor Paul Wolff

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”

Christians are sometimes called “hypocrites” when they oppose the killing of babies while at the same time also support the death penalty for convicted murderers. The argument says that if Christians (and like-minded people of other beliefs) were consistent in their “pro-life” belief they would oppose all killing. Those who promote this argument think themselves quite clever that they have uncovered this supposed flaw in the logic and reasoning of people who are pro-life. They might be considered clever, except for overlooking one important thing: Justice.

The argument for the hypocrisy of people who are in favor of pro-life policies can be somewhat convincing to some people who don’t consider all the issues involved. The argument is so appealing that some pro-lifers actually do begin to oppose the death penalty for convicted murderers. This, however is not really what their opponents want. No one cares that murderers are spared the death penalty for a life imprisoned. What the critics of pro-lifers really want is for people to support abortion so that they may live an adulterous lifestyle without having to deal with the consequences.

The single reason why pro-life supporters are in favor of killing murderers, but not babies, is justice. This is not some cruel “social justice” which twists right and wrong to achieve a desired outcome, but real, true, justice where the innocent are spared and the guilty are punished. Unborn babies are innocent of any crime, and are deserving of life, while properly convicted murderers have, by their crimes, forfeited their right to life. It is that simple. This is the consistency of the Christian (and like-minded) arguments. We do not believe it is right to kill the innocent, but it is right to punish lawfully convicted murderers for taking the lives of innocent people.

Daniel was condemned to die in the lions’ den but God kept him from all harm.

The Biblical basis for the support of a lawful death penalty is found in many places in Holy Scripture. God sanctioned a proper administration of death penalty justice shortly after the great flood when He told Noah and his sons, “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man.” This is further confirmation of the authority which God gave Adam before the fall into sin to rule over the administration of the earth. In the creation account in Genesis 1, God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” As God rules over all creation, man (who was made in God’s image) is given authority to rule over the earth in God’s place. This is done in accord with God’s Law, of course, which is perfectly good and right. Even though the perfect image of God was corrupted in us by the fall into sin, God still gives mankind authority on earth to administer justice to curb man’s murderous sinful tendencies. Man is not given authority to make up his own rules which oppose God’s laws. That is, by definition, injustice, and not justice. “Social justice” is just another example of injustice, not justice, because it not only makes distinctions which God does not make (such as a multiplicity of “races” rather than the one created by God, and a multiplicity of “genders” rather than the two created by God), but because it also picks winners and losers based on arbitrary characteristics rather than on the merit and worthiness of the individual apart from any unrelated characteristic.

The Holy Bible also reinforces God’s allowance of a death penalty in the laws for the Israelites that God gave Moses after the Exodus from Egypt, and in the directions that God gave to Joshua 40 years after the Exodus to take the Promised Land and destroy the pagan peoples living there. Some allowances were made for mercy, however, as in the case of the Gibeonites (see my article on God’s Promises) and a select few others. The merciful nature of God is shown in the fact that God does not say that the authorities of all nations must execute murderers in every instance, but can determine how it is carried out according to their laws. God, Himself, spared the murderers Cain (though he was unrepentant) and King David (who was repentant after confronted by the prophet Nathan).

Here I would also point out the qualifications that I have noted above regarding the capital punishment of convicted murderers. It is important to note that God does not sanction vigilante justice. It is not given to individuals to determine who should die for their (supposed) crimes. The death penalty is only to be carried out by the proper authorities after a proper trial where evidence is given and justly considered. This is good in that the earthly authorities can carry out justice in support and recognition of the sanctity of life, but it is not good when wicked authorities sometimes misuse justice by killing the innocent or by letting the guilty get away with murder. In 1 Kings 21, King Ahab stole Naboth’s vineyard after wicked Queen Jezebel had a couple false witnesses tell lies about Naboth so that he was falsely accused and put to death. God later arranged that Jezebel died a just (and shameful) death, but Ahab was spared the indignity of his evil wife’s death because he humbled himself and repented before the Lord.

God blessed Adam and Eve with children, and told them to multiply and fill the earth. From them come all people on earth.

Likewise, God’s desire for the protection of babies both before and after birth is well attested in Holy Scripture. At the creation of man in Genesis 1 Scripture says, “God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.’” It is a great blessing that God gives children to parents to care for and to raise. It is only man’s sin which complicates the conception of new life and new people on the earth. Sinful man despises God’s gift of marriage and so engages in illicit intimacy apart from marriage, and despises the miracle of life which results according to God’s blessing. Bastard children who are unwanted by their parents (though not unwanted by God, nor unwanted by childless families looking to adopt) are still a blessing from God and deserve care and protection and love.

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” (Matthew 19:14) When Jesus said this His disciples had thought that His time was too valuable to waste on children as if they were worth less than adults. Jesus, however, corrected them. God loves children no less than adults, and there is much about a childlike faith that adults would do well to emulate. In Luke 18:17 Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” It is quite telling that while Jesus exalts children and a childlike faith, the world despises children and wishes to kill them in order to satisfy their selfish desires.

In Jeremiah 7:30-31 God tells the prophet, “The people of Judah have done evil in my eyes, declares the Lord. They have set up their detestable idols in the house that bears my Name and have defiled it. They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to burn their sons and daughters in the fire – something I did not command, nor did it enter my mind.” Here God is very clear that He detests abortion and infanticide. His people’s idolatry has led them to kill their children, and God strongly rebukes them. Not only did God NOT command nor allow the killing of children, but such wickedness never even entered His mind. It is not that God lacked imagination, but that children are a blessing from God, not a curse. This wickedness of the people of Judah was one of the contributing reasons why God sent the Babylonians to conquer and destroy Judah and take the few remaining survivors into captivity. The only reason why God allowed some to survive was on account of His promise to David that one of his descendants would be the Messiah who would redeem the world from this gross wickedness. Since God does not change forever, may He have mercy on those societies which mercilessly practice abortion and infanticide. God does have mercy, but his patience has its limits, and those wicked societies will face God’s wrath and destruction if they continue in sin without repenting (and that includes the United States of America).
 

John the Baptist worshiped Jesus before either was born. Babies deserve protection from conception.

On the other hand, God shows the value of even the smallest people when He told the prophet Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” (Jeremiah 1:5) Here God not only states that He knew Jeremiah and had a purpose in life for him before he was born, but God states that He is the one who formed Jeremiah in the womb. Children are not “accidents” at any time, but they are formed according to the blessing that God gave Adam and Eve at the beginning. From the moment of conception, children are precious to God and it is not up to us to decide whether they should live or die based on the whims of their parents, or worse, just on the wicked desire of the mother or father apart from the wishes of the other.
 
Now, just because I noted above that babies are innocent of any crime and not deserving of death any more than any other innocent person, that does not mean that they are without sin. King David wrote in Psalm 51:5 “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” Remember that although at the time he wrote this David had committed terrible sins worthy of temporal punishment, he was still the man who God chose to be the ancestor of the promised Messiah. Jesus was, and is still, known as the “Son of David”. If the great King David, whose descendant is the world’s savior, was sinful from the time of his conception, then we are no better. Babies in the womb need Christ’s salvation just as much as the most revered and respected adult. This is why when Jesus instituted Holy Baptism in Matthew 28 He told His disciples to baptize and teach “all nations” which includes everyone, even infants. This is why the Christian church has baptized infants as well as adult converts from the very beginning. This also carried on a similar practice to the Old Testament Israelite practice of circumcising the baby boys on the eighth day after birth. Even babies need the redeeming power of God to be saved. Christ’s practice of Baptism replaced the practice of circumcision and made it universal for boys and girls, and men and women. 
 

Jesus said, “Whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.” (Matthew 18:5-6)

Jesus once called a little child and had him stand among His disciples and He said, “Whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.” (Matthew 18:5-6) We do children no favors by aborting them in the womb. Not all aborted children will go to heaven. Many aborted souls will be in hell to torment their murderers. Some aborted children may be in heaven. Just as the infant John rejoiced in the presence of Jesus in Luke 1:41, though both John and Jesus were still in their mothers’ wombs, so some unborn children may believe. The Holy Spirit calls all people to faith, and some may believe, even though they may not yet be fully formed. We also do them no favors in depriving them the joys (and the struggles) of life as believers in this sinful world. 
 
Christians are not hypocrites for trying to save the lives of innocent babies, while at the same time calling for the just punishment of convicted murderers. Christians are not opposed to giving some time for the guilty murderer to repent (such as the time to conduct a fair trial), because Jesus died to pay for the sin of murder as well as all sins. Because Jesus died for all people, there is no reason why the murderer should not be forgiven and receive eternal life, yet, in order to uphold the value of life in our societies, those who wrongly take life forfeit their own. The repentant murderer may die confident that his sins are forgiven by Christ, but for order and justice here on earth, it is sometimes necessary to put people to death for their crimes.