John Powell has referred to the widespread practice of abortion in our own day as “the Silent Holocaust”. This description is tragically apt, as the treatment of the unborn children in the Western democracies can indeed be compared with the treatment of Jews in Nazi Germany. Most significantly, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the Lutheran pastor whom Hitler sent to the scaffold in 1945, spoke as strongly against abortion as ever he did against Nazism. His views are worthy of quotation:
Destruction of the embryo in the mother’s womb is a violation of the right to live which God has bestowed upon this nascent [beginning to develop] life. To raise the question whether we are here concerned already with a human being or not is merely to confuse the issue. The simple fact is that God certainly intended to create a human being and that this nascent human being has been deliberately deprived of his life. And that is nothing but murder.
As early as 1933, as Nazi persecution of the Jews gathered momentum, Bonhoeffer saw clearly the duty of the Christian. He turned to the Word of God, and Proverbs 31:8 was often on his lips: “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves…” This same duty rests upon the Christian in our own day as increasingly abortion is practiced and accepted.
Taken from the Free Grace Broadcaster‘s issue on Abortion (opens as pdf file), the article written by Peter Barnes.
The reason I choose to speak up for the unborn is, I believe, God is passionately interested in His children caring for the defenseless. It’s a theme I cannot escape in Scripture. Since I believe that life begins at conception, and that no unborn child has a voice of their own, I will continue to find ever increasing ways to be passionate about what God is passionate about: speaking up for those who cannot speak for themselves.
To my Calvary Baptist Readers, Eric Metaxas‘ book, Bonhoeffer, is now available for check out in our church library. I wholeheartedly encourage you to read it. And, I am always looking for companions to pray with, standing outside Warsaw’s Planned Parenthood during this 40 Days for Life prayer vigil. Let me know if you’re interested.
