I have been reading, as I am sure you have, the public comments as well as editorials concerning the SCOTUS ruling on abortion in America. Several thoughts come to mind, which I would like to share with you.

IF you are not a student of the Bible, the Christians guidebook on how to live and how we got here, it will not hurt you to do so, and as a free thinker, you may find it interesting.

The question that was posed in the media and from the “free” thinkers in the 1960’s and 70’s was, if a woman got pregnant, she should have the right to dispose of the “tissue” that was starting to develop in her body, after all, it was her body! At the time, I was in my 20’s and 30’s and really didn’t pay much attention to the discussion, and pretty much said, “Whatever.”

Then, as technology developed and we learned that by the time the woman realized she was pregnant, that piece of “tissue” had a heartbeat, and was in fact a living person! Our opinions changed. If that was a living person, who did we think we were to kill it? And that is the basic issue today.

Of course, the people who had started businesses that profited from removing the “tissue” were not willing to give up their profit for the sake of some crazy religious people who had weird beliefs.  From their standpoint, the women should have the right to determine whether they should carry the life within them to term or abort it and go on with their lives as if nothing had happened.

Here is the problem as I see it. There was a change in the educational system, and the culture, for that matter, when conception could be avoided by using readily available condoms and/or birth control pills, so men and women could safely, (that means the women should not get pregnant,) have all the sex they wanted, with anyone they wanted, and not have to worry about getting pregnant!

Well, what if, because of not being careful, they did get pregnant? They had the right, (after all it was their body), to eliminate the problem. Another way to look at this is, they wanted to be the god of their own lives.

Wait, (if you check out the historical writings in the Bible,) this is nothing new! It started in the first book of the Bible, Genesis.

You will read of the perfect place, the Garden of Eden, created by God for His new creation, mankind, male and female, the spirit of whom would be made in His likeness and image, then given a body created from the “dust of the earth”, made to live, and thrive in that particular environment. You say that is just a made-up story. Would you believe it if archologists gave some secular evidence?

Scientists have determined that there are 7 basic elements in dirt that also make up our bodies. And secondly, recent archaeologists have discovered that Humanity suddenly appeared around where scripture places the Garden of Eden. Not evolving into, but suddenly as if created and placed there for a purpose. Question. Why is it that some people find it easier to believe that aliens, beings from another planet, (or some original slime? Wait, who made the slime?), came to earth and placed some of their kind here to evolve into the people of today, yet find it hard to believe there might be a real creator God?

Just bear with me for a moment and let’s see what happened after mankind was given  a “tent” (read Psalms chapter 91, vs 10), or body prepared to live, thrive and accomplish duties or activities, in this new environment, and  had daily conversations with their  creator,  then one day thought, “I wonder what it would be like to be God? What if I/we did whatever we wanted even if it goes against the instructions we have been given? We could and would be almighty God!” They were tricked!

Wait! That reasoning sounds familiar? Oh yes! Those were the words and opinions of the most beautiful and most talented of God’s angelic creation, known as Lucifer, which means “light”! Who tricked him?

Ezekiel 28:15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. 

Proverbs 16:18 Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. 

What is so evil about pride? After all, God Himself takes pride in a job well done!

Genesis 1:31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

There is a good, or godly thing, as well as an evil thing, about almost everything in this world. Think about it. You can LOVE your wife or husband with all your being and would be willing to give your life for them! I felt that way about my wife Nita Raye, and I know from her sacrifices for me over the years, she felt the same way toward me. Bad side. You could LOVE drugs or alcohol so much that you would sacrifice your life for them! Bad love!

And sometimes God will use love in a negative way to bring about a positive result. Look at these words of Jesus to the priests and powerful religious leaders of His day to try to turn them from self to God.

John 8:44  Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. 

I have said it before, but it bears repeating. These are some of the most scathing words to say to or about anyone, but to the “preachers”, or ministers of His day? Wow! What if you or I were to say these words to a well-known and respected preacher in our day? Yet, Jesus had a purpose, and that was, as it always was as He walked this earth, to turn the people back to God! Did it work? From the perspective of the priests, not much yet, but two of them that we know of, did believe, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea. But look what happened to the ordinary people who, after the resurrection and ascension of Jesus and after the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit, preached that Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah.

Acts 2:41  Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. 

Let’s get back to the issue of abortion. Scientific fact. By the time a woman realizes she is pregnant, the baby within her is well on the way to becoming a person. The timeline of when the heart begins to beat, pumping blood through the baby’s body occurs on day 21 or 22. Think about it, that is before the mother has missed her period, which is usually the time she says the words, “I am pregnant!” the baby already has a heartbeat! That must mean it has a heart! That means we have a new human being in the process of developing into a fully formed person with all parts fully developed!

Why is it that people would never say about a newborn baby, or even a 1-year-old child, that they can’t possibly be a person, why he/she can’t even drive a car or earn a living, yet they will say an embryo with a heartbeat is just a piece of tissue?  I believe that the answer lies in the lies told to the pregnant woman. And prides ugly head pops up and says, “Not yet! Not now! I am not ready!” What if your mother had said that when she realized she was pregnant with you?

When a woman is shown an ultrasound of the living baby in her womb, almost every time she will choose life.

Let us look at this issue from God’s standpoint.

Jeremiah 1:5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. 

If this was true of Jeremiah, it is true of you, me and everyone ever conceived. That means that God has plans for each person’s birth and life. Abortion stops God’s plan for that life and plan B comes into play. What are we doing? Playing God! Shame on us! True, God is not deterred by our actions, but He withholds the blessings He had in mind for you if you had not stopped Him.

In closing, I am going to show what just 3 decisions for life have done for families and the world.

#1 A 17-year-old very talented and energetic girl who we will call, Christine, got pregnant. Her options were to have an abortion or have the baby. She chose to have the baby. Hard times were ahead as her boyfriend left her, and for 12 years she has been a single parent, I must say greatly helped by her parents. God honored her choice and helped her move from a menial job to a better job and now has a position that pays 3-4 times the national average for income. She is a friend, as is her son, and when someone asked her about her decision 12 plus years ago, she is adamant as she says she cannot imagine life without her son. He is a jewel!

#2 A 15-year-old girl got pregnant by a 16-year boy. The year was 1956. What were they going to do? She could have gone to a relative’s home, have the baby, give it up for adoption or as the boy’s mother said, they will get married. Period!  Are you kidding? What is he going to do for a living? He hasn’t finished high school, has no real skills, what to do? Trust God. Was it hard? Yes. But from that beginning came 4 more children who all have succeeded in their life’s work and are good Christian adults.

#3 As far as we know the mother in this case was a teenager, espoused to an older man, yet before they came together, as they said in those days, she was found to be pregnant!

If they had had the option of abortion in those days, and if she had been forced into having one, they would have killed, Jesus!!

Lastly, let us look at this from an economic standpoint, we have killed, just in America since abortion was deemed to be legal:

630,000 doctors!1 percent of the population become Doctors.

5,040,000 medical workers 8%

4,586,400 military personnel 7.28%

2,520,000 business owner 4%

If the number of abortions is what they say it was, 63,000,000.

And we have not begun to look at the other demographics, or how many offspring they would have produced. If all they did was replace themselves, that would add an additional 63,000.000 people!

People who say we must have abortion for the economic benefit of the people, do not understand economics. The more people we have in our country who produce goods or services, the greater the economy and the better their lifestyle will become. Period. The only people who profit from abortions are the abortionists.

You say, “What about the instances of pregnancy from incest or rape?”

Just 1.02% of women obtain an abortion because they became pregnant through rape, and less than 0.5% do so because of incest, according to the Guttmacher Institute.

I am not saying that these women with the trauma they are going through should be ignored, but rather the decision of what they should do, or must do, needs to be made by the woman, her doctor, her parents, and God. There are many stories of heroic women who under these circumstances did what they believed was right for the sake of the child and were greatly blessed of God and the people who knew them. The situation was not the fault of the child, so what gives us the right to kill them?

So, what is this all about? It is a political maneuver, trying to divert the attention of the people away from the failures of this administration. The right to an abortion was not terminated, rather it was put into the hands of the people by returning the option back to the states.

If SCOTUS can not reverse an earlier decision because of more in-depth knowledge, then the Dred Scott decision must be voided! No one is in favor of that! The truth is, times, information, and values change, and we need to correct the errors of the past, or we will never grow as a people.

John H Dumke, Sr   Christian