THE SLIPPERY SLOPE OF ABORTION PROHIBITION CONTINUED

Prohibitions in general have had a long and colorful history. The very first one according to scripture was given to Adam and Eve while they dwelt in the Garden of Eden. We all know exactly how that prohibition turned out. Nothing was wrong with the restriction itself because both people were sinless until that divine prohibition was violated. All subsequent prohibitions were given to sinful people with crooked and depraved natures. While working in Jamaica I periodically ran into people who smoked marijuana or who used it for medicinal or for religious sacramental purposes. Many of them were arrested, prosecuted, and imprisoned. Their families suffered in a myriad of different ways. While the breadwinner languished in a place of solitary confinement, as he served out his period of incarceration. But despite this seemingly harsh punishment, there were many subsequent offenders.

There are many prohibitions in scripture. Let us look briefly at the one Joshua gave to Israel just before the City of Jericho was conquered. “Now the city shall be doomed by the Lord to destruction, it and all who are in it. Only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all who are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent. And you, by all means, abstain from the accursed things, lest you become accursed when you take of the accursed things, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it. But all the silver and gold, and vessels of bronze and iron, are consecrated to the Lord; they shall come into the treasury of the Lord.” Joshua 6:17-19 (NKJV). Everyone in the Israeli camp heard this extremely onerous prohibition. One person, however, Achan, thought he didn’t have to take it seriously. He casually violated it and never gave it a second thought until everything started to go wrong for the nation in its entirety.

The soldiers sent to Ai to take the city were defeated and driven before their enemies. The inhabitants of Israel were plunged into consternation and dismay at this development. The prophet Joshua spent the whole day lying face down before The Ark of the Covenant. Israel was accused by her Protector of stealing and dissembling. Thereafter, an investigation was initiated to determine who was guilty. Achan was taken and after he acknowledged that indeed he had stolen a Babylonish garment and a wedge of gold. He and his whole family, along with their animals, were stoned and then burned in the Valley of Achor. What a tragedy? The prohibition was good and righteous. But it also exposed the wickedness and depravity of Achan and his family. Who were all aware of his transgression but nevertheless conspired with him to defraud The Lord Almighty. A futile plot. History, both sacred and secular, has clearly demonstrated that people are absolutely rotten at adhering to laws, period. Whether human or divine.

National prohibition of alcohol (1920–33) — the “noble experiment” — was undertaken to reduce crime and corruption, solve social problems, reduce the tax burden created by prisons and poorhouses, and improve health and hygiene in America. The results of that experiment clearly indicate that it was a miserable failure on all counts. The evidence affirms sound economic theory, which predicts that the prohibition of mutually beneficial exchanges is doomed to failure. The lessons of Prohibition remain important today. They apply not only to the debate over the war on drugs but also to the mounting efforts to drastically reduce access to alcohol and tobacco and to such issues as censorship and bans on insider trading, abortion, and gambling. (CATO INSTITUTE: Alcohol Prohibition Was A Failure, By Mark Thornton, July 17, 1991).

The problem is not so much with this or any other prohibition/law. As it is with human nature. As the apostle, Paul observed, “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good.” Romans 7:7-12 (NKJV).

Generally speaking, laws are the highest epitome of virtue. They represent what perfect people would aspire to become. The problem, however, is that all of us humans are sinful, erring mortals. By nature, we are so depraved and crooked that it’s virtually impossible for us to keep any law perfectly.

The only solution is salvation. People need a Saviour. They need Christ. As Paul said to the Phillipian Jailer. When he called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. And he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house.  And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized. Now when he had brought them into his house, he set food before them; and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household. Acts 16:29-33.

That is the point. No amount of human/governmental intervention can secure salvation for anyone. To adhere to any law, human or divine, we need external, supernatural, higher power assistance and downright help. As we read in scripture, “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” John 1:10-13