O Lord, you have searched me and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise.
You perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down.
You are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue, you know it completely, Lord.
You hem me in, behind and before.
You have laid your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
Where can I go from your spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there.
If I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me.
Your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, surely the darkness will hide me and the light will become night around me.
Even the darkness will not be dark to you.
The night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.
For you created my inmost being.
You knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Your works are wonderful.
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
How precious to me are your thoughts, O God.
How vast is the sum of them.
Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake, I am still with you.
If only you would slay the wicked, O God.
Away from me, you bloodthirsty men.
They speak of you with evil intent.
Your adversaries misuse your name.
Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord,
and abhor those who rise up against you?
I have nothing but hatred for them.
I count them my enemies.
Search me, O God, and know my heart.
Test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me.
And lead me in the way everlasting.
Amen.
A couple of things before we start.
To look at this subject this morning.
Firstly, pens are being passed around.
There aren't little sheets.
You can use the back of your notice sheet.
That may help.
And it's to say that through this talk,
it's not that we'll get to cover everything.
You may find that there's questions that you have
that you want to ask afterwards.
Please feel free to do that.
But what we do want to do this morning
is to hear what God's word has to say.
So let us pray.
Let us talk to God and ask for his help.
Our Father God, we come to you.
For you are the creator of life.
You are the Lord of life.
And you are the one who alone can change a life.
And so we ask that through your word this morning,
you would cause each one of us
to surrender all our opinions,
all our thoughts, and all our ideas,
and submit them to the authority
of your word and your truth.
And we ask that your truth,
your word, which is living and powerful,
would change us
and show us the meaning of life
and our response to the subject of abortion
and the right to life.
We pray this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Well, in 1983,
the Eighth Amendment was introduced
into the Constitution of Ireland.
It states,
the state acknowledges
the right to life of the unborn
and with due regard
to the equal right to life of the mother
guarantees in its laws to respect
and as far as practicable
to defend and vindicate that right.
I'll read it again.
The state acknowledges the right to life
of the unborn
and with due regard
to the equal right to life of the mother
guarantees in its laws to respect
and as far as practicable
by its laws to defend
and vindicate that right.
It was inserted
in response to the growing demand
for abortion
following the legalization
of abortion in the UK
in 67
and in the US
in 73.
Over the years in this country,
it's been challenged.
The X and Y case
of the 90s
and the tragic death
of Savita Halapanavar
and her 17-week-old baby
in 2012
who had died
have all added
to the calls
to repeal
the Eighth.
However,
our present constitutional position
is that both the right to life
of the mother
and the unborn
are protected
and that the life of the mother prevails
wherever a continuation of the pregnancy
poses a real
and substantial risk
to the mother's life.
If the Eighth Amendment
is repealed,
there will be no restriction
on the mother's constitutional rights
in relation to her decision
to terminate her pregnancy.
Effectively,
it will mean abortion on demand.
In practice,
that means abortion becomes
a personal
and social choice.
It simply does not suit
to give birth.
And with advances in screening,
that means a baby
with any medical defect
can be aborted
at will.
In Italy,
a baby very recently
was aborted
at 22 weeks
because of a cleft palate.
In the UK,
the majority
of the 180,000
annual abortions
are for minor defects.
In Russia,
there are more abortions
than there are births.
And in Ireland,
ten women travel every day
to another country
seeking an abortion.
We should be very clear.
Repeal the Eighth
is not about a mother's right.
It's about personal choice.
It's about abortion
on demand.
It's about deciding
what I want,
even if that means
taking the life
of an unborn child.
Growing pressure
from our TDs,
the media
and various lobby groups
has resulted
in the government
establishing
what's called
the Citizens' Assembly.
It's a group
of about 100 people
which was chosen
by poll representative
of the country.
They will listen
to various debates
and opinions
of medical
and social experts
and then they will
publish their findings
and give their
recommendations.
And this is due
to be finished
in the summer
of 2017.
But whatever
the findings
and the opinions
and the recommendations,
as Christians,
I believe
that we should listen
not to the voice
of the world
but to the voice
of God.
It's not about
what I want
but about what
God
has said.
It's not about
my personal choice
but it's about
what God
commands.
Our ultimate
authority lies
not with our government
or with the courts
but with Scripture,
with God's
spoken word
to us.
So what does
God
have to say?
Well, first,
God
creates
all
life.
God
creates
all life.
The beginning
of the Bible
story
introduces us
to the creator
of all
life.
The Lord
God
formed the man
from the dust
of the ground
and breathed
into his nostrils
the breath
of life
and the man
became
a living
being.
A mother
may produce
an egg,
a father
may produce
the sperm,
fertilization
may take place
but it is
God
who creates
and gives
life.
David
understood
this when
he wrote
Psalm
139.
He says
for you
created
my inmost
being.
You knit
me together
in my
mother's
womb.
I praise
you
because I
am fearfully
and wonderfully
made.
Your works
are wonderful,
I know that
full well.
My frame
was not
hidden from
you when
I was made
in the
secret place.
When I
was woven
together in
the depths
of the
earth,
your eyes
saw my
unformed
body.
Before
medical
technology,
before scans
and ultrasounds,
here we are
given a
picture of
unborn
human life.
God
knitted
us
together.
God
wove us
into a
human being.
just as
a tailor
would knit
and weave
together
the most
beautiful
of Persian
rugs
with
intricate
and
detailed
design,
so God
is
personally
and
intimately
involved
in the
designing,
creating,
forming,
and fashioning
of life.
Medical
doctors talk
about the
early
development
of human
life.
At
conception,
a ball
of cells
develops
that carries
with it
all the
information
to sustain
and grow
life.
The ectoderm
from which
develops skin,
nerve,
and tissue.
The endoderm
from which
develops liver
and intestines.
The mesoderm
from which
develops bone
and muscle,
all of which
is no bigger
than a
poppy seed.
The human
individual
comes into
existence
as a
minute
informational
speck.
His
subsequent
prenatal
and postnatal
development
may be
described
as a
process of
becoming
what he
already is
from the
moment he
was
conceived.
Poetically,
Job put
it like
this,
did you
not
clothe
me
with skin
and flesh
and knit
me together
with bones
and sinews?
Life
begins
at
conception
and that
life
begins
with
God.
So
God
creates
all
life.
God
sustains
all
life.
When
Job
had heard
that his
children
had been
killed
when their
house
collapsed
in a
tornado,
he fell
to the
ground
in worship
to God
and he
said
these
words,
naked
I
came
from my
mother's
womb
and naked
I shall
return.
The
Lord
gave
and the
Lord
has
taken
away.
Blessed
be the
name
of the
Lord.
The
Lord
sustains
life,
the
Lord
starts
life,
and the
Lord
alone
takes
life.
We
have
no
power
over
life.
we
don't
get to
decide
when we
are born
or when
we die.
God
sustains
and God
rules
all
of life.
Later
on,
Job,
as he
reflected,
would say
this,
if it
were his
intention
and he
withdrew his
spirit and
breath,
all mankind
would perish
together and
man would
return to
the dust.
we live
as if we
have the
self-ordained
power to
maintain our
life.
But if God
should decide
to remove
his sustaining
hand from
us,
our life
would end
at this
very
second.
Psalm
104.
How many
are your
works,
O Lord?
In
wisdom
you made
them all.
The earth
is full
of your
creatures.
When you
hide your
face,
they are
terrified.
When you
take away
their breath,
they die
and return
to the
dust.
Medical
science
tells us
that by
week
seven,
we are
no more
than five
millimeters
long,
not much
bigger than
a simple
grain of
rice.
And yet,
my arm
and my
leg buds
protrude
more,
the beginnings
of my
elbows appear,
and my
hands and
feet are
paddle-shaped.
Internally,
my brain
has divided
into distinct
segments,
and my
cerebral
hemispheres
are growing
fast,
as are my
muscle fibers.
My heart,
which bulges
out,
is becoming
a four-chambered
organ,
and is
beating
150 beats
a minute.
My
intestines
are developing,
and my
internal sex
organs are
now nearing
completion.
In five
more weeks,
you will
know if I
am a boy
or a girl.
Our life
is so
fragile,
but we
live as if
we are
immortal.
We make
decisions as
if we
controlled our
destiny,
but it is
God who
gives us
the very
breath that
we breathe.
It is
God who
makes the
heartbeat
and sends
oxygen running
through our
veins.
God
sustains
all
life.
God
creates
life,
God
sustains
all life,
life,
and God
values
all life.
There is
not one
life on
planet
earth that
God sees
as inferior
or superior.
All are
valuable in
the sight of
God.
Job again
understood this.
He knew
that his
life was no
greater than
one of his
servants,
and his
servant was
no less
than Job's
life.
Job 30.
If I have
denied justice
to my
men servants
or maid
servants when
they had a
grievance
against me,
what will I
do when
God confronts
me?
What will I
answer when
called to
account?
Did not
he who
made me in
the womb
make them?
Did not
the same
one who
formed us
both within
our mothers?
You see,
in a culture
as Job
was writing,
where servants
were thought
of as
sub-human
and at
times not
worthy of
life,
Job makes
the case
that all
life is
valuable and
we are all
created by
God.
Except for
we live in
a society
where life
has been
devalued.
where those
still in
the womb
are not
worthy of
life.
In the
recent BBC
documentary,
A World
Without
Down
Syndrome,
it was
revealed that
100% of
expecting
mothers in
Iceland
terminate
their
pregnancies
when they
discovered
their baby
was Down
Syndrome.
In
Denmark,
it is
98%.
In the
UK,
it is
90%.
In the
Netherlands,
not only do
they perform
late abortions,
they terminate
the life of
a baby
after they
are born
in cases
of serious
malformation.
In Sweden,
abortion is
allowed even
if you do not
like the
sex of your
baby.
For countless
more,
the baby is
disposed of
simply because
it does
not
suit.
God values
all
life,
especially
those who
are weak
and most
vulnerable.
In fact,
God demands
the protection
of all
life.
Proverbs
24,
rescue
those
being led
away to
death.
hold back
those
staggering
towards
slaughter.
If you
say,
but we
knew
nothing
about
this,
not he
who
weighs
the
heart.
Can he
sorry,
but we
knew
nothing
about
this,
he
who
weighs
can
the
rescue
those
being led
away to
death.
Hold
back
those
staggering
towards
slaughter.
if you
say,
but we
knew
nothing
about
this,
does
not
he
who
weighs
the
heart
perceive
it?
Does
not
he
who
guards
your
life
know
it?
Will
he
not
repay
each
person
according
to what
he
has
done?
God
so
values
the
life
of
each
and
every
human
being
that
he
demands
that
we
protect
the
unborn,
that
we
provide
justice
for
those
still
in
the
womb.
So
God
creates
all
life,
God
sustains
all
life
because
there
is a
purpose
to
all
life.
The
Bible
reminds
us
that we
were
created
by
God
in
the
image
of
God
and
for
the
glory
of
God.
Revelation
4
You
are
worthy
our
Lord
and
God
to
receive
glory
and
honour
and
power
for
you
created
all
things
and
by
your
will
they
were
created
and
have
their
being.
From
the
very
second
of
our
conception
to
our
last
and
dying
breath
our
purpose
the
very
reason
for
our
existence
is
to
bring
glory
and
honour
and
praise
to
God.
That
is
why
you
live.
That
is
why
we
breathe.
Our
life
is
to
reflect
and
display
the
majesty
the
beauty
and
the
glory
of
our
creator
God.
the
formation
of
a
baby
in
the
womb
the
birth
of
a
child
is
to
display
the
power
and
the
might
and
the
excellence
of
an
amazing
God.
In
fact
God
gave
us
physical
life
that
we
might
know
him
love
him
and
enjoy
him.
God
chose
us
in
Christ
before
the
creation
of
the
world
to
be
holy
and
blameless
in
his
sight.
In
love
he
predestined
us
to be
adopted
as
his
children
through
Jesus
Christ
in
accordance
with
his
pleasure
and
will.
Before
you
and
I
were
even
conceived
before
the
creation
of
the
world
before
God
spoke
light
into
the
darkness
God
knew
us
and
loved
us.
Before
our
unformed
body
saw
the
light
of
day
God
valued
and
treasured
us.
He
gave
us
physical
life
so
that
we
might
grow
to
know
him
reflect
him
and
display
his
glory
to
the
world.
Jeremiah
the
prophet
knew
this.
God
speaking
to
Jeremiah
said
this
before
I
formed
you
in
the
womb
I
knew
you.
Not
just
I
knew
about
you
but
I
knew
you
relationally.
Before
you
were
born
I
set
you
apart.
I
appointed
you
as a
prophet
to
the
nations.
God's
purpose
for
our
life
begins
before
our
very
life
begins.
As
David
reminds us
in
Psalm
139
when
I
was
woven
together
in the
depths
of the
earth
your
eyes
saw
my
unformed
body.
All
the
days
ordained
for
me
were
written
in
your
book
before
one
of
them
came
to
be.
Before
we
even
breathe,
before
our
very
conception,
our
life
is
planned,
governed,
designed
by God.
Every
second
of your
life,
every
minute
that we
live
is all
ordained
by
God.
We
live
today
with
the
purpose
of
bringing
glory
to
the
God
of
life.
That
is
why
you
have
breath
in
your
lungs
today.
But
God
also
commands
do
not
kill.
In
Exodus,
God
gives us
the
command,
you
shall
not
murder
or
you
shall
not
kill.
Murder
or the
violent
intentional
killing
of another
person
is
always
wrong
and
never
tolerated.
This
isn't
talking
about
war,
it
is
talking
about
the
intentional
taking
of an
innocent
life.
Expanding
on this
very
command,
Jeremiah
spoke
against
those
who
acted
unjustly
towards
the
most
vulnerable
in
society.
This
is what
the Lord
says,
do
what is
just
and
right.
Rescue
from the
hand of
the
oppressor,
the one
who has
been
robbed.
Do
no
wrong
or
violence
to
the
alien,
the
fatherless
or the
widow,
and
do
not
shed
innocent
blood
in
this
place.
To
take
the
life
of
the
unborn
is
to
shed
innocent
blood.
It's
to
murder.
It's
to
kill.
Practically
every
abortion
is carried
out
after
eight
weeks.
At
eight
weeks,
no
more
than
20
millimeters
long,
my
facial
features
continue
to
develop.
I
have
a
rudimentary
nose
with
nostrils
and
my
jaw
is
fusing
to
shape
my
mouth
in
which
I
have
a
tongue.
My
eyes
are
open
and
my
inner
but
not
outer
ear
is
developing.
Most
of
my
internal
organs,
heart,
brain,
liver,
lungs
and
kidneys
have
developed
in a
basic
form.
My
arms
are
longer
and
project
straight
forward
and
my
hands
can
bend
at
the
wrist.
I
am
sensitive
to
touch.
Abortionists
choose
eight
weeks
and
older
because
it
is
simply
easier
to
do.
The
baby
is
more
visible
and
it
becomes
less
complicated.
But
if God
has
created
all
life,
if God
sustains
all
life,
if God
values
all
life,
if God
has a
purpose
for our
life,
what
right
have we
to take
this
life?
What
right
have we
to end
the life
of an
unborn
child?
Who
are we
to decide
mere
mortals
that we
are,
who
lives
and
who
dies?
No
one
has
the
authority
to
maim
or
dismember
limb
by
limb
or to
stop
the
heart
beating
by
some
lethal
injection
while
still
in the
womb
or induce
birth
and
gradually
let
the
still
developing
baby
breathe
out.
It is
not
my
body,
it is
not
your
body,
it is
a gift
from
God.
Our
government
does not
have the
right to
decide who
lives and
who dies.
Our
laws do
not have
the right
to make
the killing
of an
unborn
child
legal.
We
are not
God.
We do
not get
to make
up the
rules.
We
obey
the
rules
because
God,
the
Lord of
life,
commands
it.
But
this
God of
life,
the
God who
creates,
sustains
and values
and gives
purpose to
life,
and the
God who
commands
do not
murder,
is the
God who
responds.
in
grace.
Abortion
is always
wrong,
and it
is a
terrible
evil.
However,
in response
to the
killing of
unborn
children,
God
offers
grace.
Incredibly,
the creator
and the
sustainer
of all
life
has been
born into
this world.
John 1,
14,
the
word,
the
word that
spoke
creation
into
existence,
the
word that
sustains and
controls all
things,
the word
became
flesh
flesh,
and made
his dwelling
among us.
Philip
Yancey
writes,
the God
who came
to earth
came not
in a
raging
whirlwind
or in a
devouring
fire.
Unimaginably,
the maker of
all things
shrank down,
down,
so small
as to
become an
ovum,
a single
fertilized
egg,
barely visible
to the
naked eye,
an egg
that would
divide and
re-divide
until a
fetus took
shape,
enlarging
cell by
cell
inside a
nervous
teenager.
God
entered
life.
Malcolm
Muggeridge,
who was a
journalist
who since
died but
became a
Christian
in his
later years,
observed,
and I
quote,
he says,
in our
day,
with family
planning clinics
offering
convenient ways
to correct
mistakes
that might
disgrace a
family name,
it is,
in point of
fact,
extremely
improbable
under
existing
conditions
that Jesus
would have
been permitted
to be born
at all.
Mary's
pregnancy
in poor
circumstances
and with
the father
unknown
would have
been an
obvious
case
for an
abortion.
And her
talk of
having conceived
as a result
of the
intervention
of the
Holy Spirit
would have
pointed to
the need
for psychiatric
treatment
and made
the case
for her
terminating
her
pregnancy
even
stronger.
Thus,
our
generation
needing
a saviour
more,
perhaps
more than
any other
has ever
existed
would be
too humane
to allow
one to
be born.
And yet
it was
God's
plan
that the
saviour
would be
born.
Against
all odds,
the saviour,
God
almighty,
became a
human being
in the
person of
Jesus Christ.
And he
came into
the world
not to
take
life,
but to
give
life.
He
came not
to
condemn,
but to
forgive.
Jesus
said,
I tell
you the
truth,
whoever
hears
my
words,
believes
him who
sent me,
has
eternal
life,
and will
not be
condemned.
He is
crossed
over from
death
to
life.
When
Jesus
came into
this world,
he walked
this earth
innocent
of any
crime,
never
spoke
a hateful
word to
another
human being,
never
acted
unkindly
to another
person,
valued
every
life
as
precious,
but in
love and
grace,
he came
to take
the blame
and the
judgment
of God
for every
abortion
that has
ever
taken
place.
As
Jesus
died on
the cross,
he gave
up his
life so
that we
might be
forgiven for
all the
wrong things
that I
have ever
done,
the things
that I
have ever
said,
for every
abortion
that has
taken
place and
for every
thought of
every abortion
that might
take place.
He came
to take
the judgment
of God
and offer
life and
forgiveness
in its
place.
Through
his
resurrection,
he now
reigns as
the Lord
of all
life.
And he
lives today
ruling
and reigning,
healing the
brokenhearted,
covering the
guilt and
the shame,
restoring
life,
bringing
wholeness,
restoration
and renewal.
He is
reigning in
heaven.
And one
day the
risen Lord
Jesus will
come again
and he
will put
all things
right.
Justice
will be
done and
he will
establish the
new heavens
and the
new earth
where
there will
never be
the death
of another
one ever
again.
Not for
an old
person,
not for
a young
person,
but life
will reign
and Christ
will rule.
May we
as God's
people
speak
this
truth
and may
me
and may
kingdom
speak this
peace
to
die
of another
life
.
T
living in the
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Europe
and may
we
speak this
grace to
our society
that seeks to