“Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” - Proverbs 22:6
Recently, RETA’s Advancement Director Rod was invited to teach a group of high school leadership interns at Harvest Community Church about what it means to have a biblical worldview in regard to the issue of life. Beginning with foundational scriptures about being made in the image of God, God forming us in our mothers’ wombs, and citing the equal retribution of injury for injury or life for life when one harms a woman causing her to give birth early, Rod helped the students understand what the Bible says about the sanctity of pre-born life.
After starting with Scripture, Rod then moved on to the science of life - beginning at conception and talking about the development of babies. He brought up everything from the humanity of all stages of life from zygote to elder, to baby’s heartbeat starting in the first 24 days of life, to citing studies showing pain centers are in place within the first three months of life.
Next, Rod brought up several arguments advocates of abortion typically use and broke them down. “Poverty or lack of money is one of the top reasons women choose abortion. Is that really ok to end a child’s life because you don’t feel you have enough money to raise them? If you had a two-year old and suddenly found yourself without a job, unable to care for them, is it ok to kill your two-year old? Absolutely not. How do you know circumstances won’t or can’t change? There are free pregnancy resource centers to help mom get the resources she needs and a mentor to walk beside her from pregnancy and beyond. There are also sliding scale fee, low cost federally qualified health clinics to get the medical help they need.” He also addressed several other topics from “my body, my choice” and babies with disabilities, to women’s empowerment and unequal women’s health care access to minorities/racism.
The students asked several great questions, from how to help friends who find themselves in an unplanned pregnancy to how to speak with those who have already made abortion decisions. Rod closed their time with the charge to speak up on behalf of those who can’t speak for themselves.