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Abortion has gained a stigma in the United States that it well deserves. It
is both an offense to God and a tragedy for the mother and child. The social
disdain for the act reflects the knowledge of the sin and shines a painful
spot-light on stinging guilt that often accompanies the horrific act. Although I
do not claim to know any part of the pain and emotions that surrounds abortion I
do know that God offers full-forgiveness to the hurting mothers grieving from
the intentional loss of their child. As always, using the Bible as the source of
the final Truth, we can see that even in the most heinous cases of persecution
and murder God does not discriminate with his forgiveness. In fact, in the
instance we are about to examine, God turned the self-admitted chief of all
sinners to one of the most important, influential, and knowledgeable Christians
of all time.
During the early church there was extensive persecution from both the Jewish
and Roman quarters. One representative of the Jewish desire to remove
Christianity through persecution was Saul of Tarsus. Saul is specifically
mentioned in the Bible as one who committed many atrocities against the early
Christians by zealously pursuing their death and extinction. He was present at
the stoning of Steven and consented to his death (Acts 7:59 – 8:1) and actively
pursued the Christians so that he might bring them back to Jerusalem for
punishment (Acts 9:1). In his work Saul was “ravaging the church, and entering
house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.”
(Act 8:3) Saul was driven by his desires to forcefully single-out Christians and
bring them to their death or to the denouncement of Christ. In short, Saul was
killing anyone who held to their Christian beliefs.
Saul was indeed a chief of sinners. He had attacked and killed many of the
early Christians solely because of their faith. He was partly responsible for
the scattering of the church (Acts 8:1) and was zealous about his acts of
violence (Acts 9:1). Although we don’t know exactly how many people died under
the hand of Saul it was certainly enough to cause panic in the Christian
community and to spread his reputation as a Christian killer across the country
(Acts 9:21). Saul had directly attacked the chosen of God causing the death of
those who believed or the denouncement of Jesus Christ by those who would not
die for their convictions. This is a man that was forgiven for all he had done.
Saul, on the road to Damascus, met Jesus Christ and his life changed from
that moment forward. God chose the chief of all sinners to be both saved and to
save thousands of others. It is through Saul’s leadership that the early
Christian church flourished and laid the foundations for Christianity as we know
it today. Saul’s previous guilt and sin were washed clean by Jesus taking on his
sin.
If Saul, a man of such destruction and death to so many Christians, could be
forgiven and used by God how much more can women who have had abortions be
welcomed into the Christian family? Abortion is certainly a sin in the eyes of
God but it is also certainly forgivable.
Through Jesus Christ’s death after a perfect life he is allowed to be our
intercessor when we are judged for our all our actions; even those as humanly
horrible as abortion.
For more information on the Salvation and Forgiveness available through Jesus
Christ please see:
Salvation /
Forgiveness
An
Explanation of Man’s Separation from God
For more information on abortion and healing, please visit the sites below:
Silent No More
Awareness
NOPARH.org
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