By: Obed Pineda
It is written: “He who justifies the wicked, and he who condemns the just, both of them alike are an abomination to the LORD” (Proverbs 17:15). In the days of Jeremiah, God lamented that His people no longer knew how to feel shame for their abominable acts (cf. Jeremiah 6:11-15, 8:8-12). In other words, they no longer knew the difference between moral and immoral because of their habitual practice of sin. God declared from His holy dwelling that He would punish the impenitence of His people, and this came to pass in 586 B.C. when His servant Nebuchadnezzar sacked Jerusalem and destroyed the temple (cf. Jeremiah 25:1-11, 2ndChronicles 36:11-21). It is commonly accepted that the reason God punished Judah was because they bowed down to false gods (i.e. idols). Although this is correct Biblically, it is necessary to go into a little more detail to better understand why God abhors idolatry. The ceremonies performed to worship idols usually involved immoral acts such as fornication, body mutilation, and even human sacrifices. God made it clear to the children of Israel that they, as His chosen people, would completely turn away from such practices, commanding, “You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations which you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and on under every green tree. And you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and burn their wooden images with fire; you shall cut down the carved images of their gods and destroy their names from that place” (Deuteronomy 12:2-3). There is no doubt that the Heavenly Father was demonstrating to them the meaning of true holiness as He set them apart from false religion; yet, at the same time, He was showing them how deeply He loathed the rites associated with idolatry. It is not difficult to empathize with our God when we learn that one form of human sacrifice involved the slaughter of innocent children (cf. Leviticus 20:1–7). It is irrefutable that the man or woman who is willing to give up their child to be burned alive as a sacrifice to a false god, has lost their use of reason and all sensitivity (cf. Ephesians 4:17-19). Lamentably, this is what the prophet Jeremiah alludes to when he says that Judah had lost the ability to “blush” from its evil actions. The inspired scribe of the book of Kings declares that God sent Babylon to destroy Jerusalem “to remove them from His sight, because of the sins of Manasseh, according to all that that he had done, and also because of the innocent blood that he had shed; for he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, which the LORD would not pardon” (2nd Kings 24:3-4). The innocent blood to which the inspired scribe refers is that of the children who were sacrificed on the altar of the god Moloch (cf. 2ndKings 21:1-16, 2ndChronicles 33:1-6). Let us note that what God calls the “shedding of innocent blood,” the wicked termed a “necessary sacrifice” to worship their idols. The aim was to change the reality of what was being practiced by masking this deplorable deed with words. Today, the terms “abortion” and “euthanasia” serve as masks to hide that same abomination: the shedding of innocent blood. Even though they try to embellish this atrocious sin with words that want to lessen its severity, they will never succeed in erasing its true nature as a cruel sin. Both abortion and euthanasia are declared by the Almighty to be the shedding of innocent blood, and He hates the one who does such things (cf. Proverbs 6:16-17). Furthermore, we can observe that the deception that seeks to confuse the mind of man is that in abortion the mother has the right to decide what to do with her body if she did not choose to become pregnant, and that euthanasia is a type of “merciful death” that is provided so that the sick person does not have to suffer any more pain. Note that in both cases the possessor of that life is completely disregarded. In both circumstances a decision is being made about what to do with the life that God granted to another, whether it is the life of the baby or the sick person. When we speak of taking another person’s life, our minds immediately think of homicide and associate it with a crime. However, let us note that the same is not true when talking about abortion and euthanasia. On the contrary, rather than triggering an immediate rejection of such actions, a conversation ensues to determine whether or not they are right (cf. Ephesians 5:5-12). It is wise to remember the heavenly exhortation, “Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil” (1stThessalonians 5:21-22). Let us not lose sight of the fact that our adversary is the father of lies, and for this reason we must not ignore his schemes (such as wordplay) to cause confusion (cf. John 8:44, 2ndCorinthians 11:3, 13-14). While it is true that these topics are typically deemed “controversial,” the reality is that this is just further proof of the high level of corruption in our current society. As the Church, we must not fear discussing these matters with our neighbors in a spirit of gentleness and love (cf. 1stPeter 3:13-16). Our motivation should not be to win an argument, but rather to allow the Word of God to provide the correct answer that all men ought to obey. We should learn from the example of the Hebrew midwives who “feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the male children alive” (Exodus 1:17). As children of light, we must expose the harm that comes from supporting the shedding of innocent blood. By inciting Judah to make their children pass through the fire, Manasseh provoked the Lord to anger, and his sin paved the way for the destruction of Jerusalem at the hands of Babylon. It is no secret that in recent times governments have encouraged their respective people to shed innocent blood by legalizing abortion and euthanasia. We repeat the example of the Hebrew midwives, who, although they had Pharaoh’s order to kill all children under two years old, chose to obey God rather than men. Let us heed the voice of Wisdom, which proclaims, “forsake foolishness and live, and go in the way of understanding” (Proverbs 9:6). It is wise to recognize abortion and euthanasia by their true name: homicide. Let us understand that circumstances do not justify neither abortion nor euthanasia, because giving life belongs to God as does taking life. Let us not allow the deceptive language of sin to cloud our understanding through emotion; instead, let us remember Solomon’s inspired counsel to “keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life” (Proverbs 4:23