Thinking about Abortion - Part 2 - The Bible and Abortion

I understand why many Christians push to ban abortion.  That is what many institutional Christian organizations have taught for decades.  Abortion is at best a tragedy.  But when I turn to the words of Jesus the notion that we should give government the right to ban abortion begins to feel like it has more in common with the views of the Jewish leaders that pushed to have Jesus crucified than with the love and tolerance Jesus taught.

Here are my thoughts on a couple of questions that seem to me to be pertinent:  

1.  Do the 10 Commandments Justify a Government Ban on Abortion?

In the Biblical book of Leviticus Moses brought the 10 commandments to his people as a message from God.  One of the 10 commandments says we should not kill another, so abortion opponents say abortion violates the 10 commandments, so we should ban abortion.  

For me that interpretation does not seem consistent with the language of the Commandment.  That interpretation makes the same mistake the Temple priests who pushed to have Jesus crucified made.  The 10 Commandments were explicitly a message from God to each of us saying what we must do to remain in God's good graces.  But the 10 Commandments don't say  "..you shall not allow others..."   The Commandments are not a delegation of authority to judge and punish sin.  

As a parent when you make a rule for your children are you automatically delegating the authority to the kids to judge and prevent violations of your rule?  To me that's an invitation to chaos.  I retain the authority to judge and punish because the kids do not have the depth of understanding I have as the person who made the rule.

2.  What did Jesus think about the idea central to Leviticus that we are deputized to judge the sins of others?

After Moses brought down the 10 Commandments folks started coming to Moses saying we should judge and punish this behavior, and that behavior.  Moses went along.

It seems to me Jesus's entire ministry was a rejection of this idea rooted in Leviticus that God deputized us to judge and punish the sins of others.  Jesus's ministry was about love, tolerance and taking care of people.  He pointedly said we should not judge others, and directly debunked many of the petty rules that Leviticus imposed.  He drew a distinction between laws of God that only God can judge, and laws of man that we create to define the boundaries of interpersonal relationships.

But Jesus could not say outright that Leviticus was wrong, that would have been heresy, punishable by death.  So Jesus focused on being positive, preaching what we should do, and only indirectly suggesting the inherent falseness of the idea that God delegated the right to judge and punish sin to man. 

That is explicit in the events described in the first four paragraphs of the 8th Chapter of John.  Temple representatives set a trap for Jesus.  They brought a woman who had been caught committing adultery to Jesus and asked Jesus what they should do with her.  Jesus recognized the trap.  Leviticus says she should be stoned to death.  If Jesus said she should be treated otherwise he would be committing public heresy and subject to a death sentence.

At first Jesus just looked down and scratched around at the dirt and would not answer.  I imagine trying to figure out how to deal with this trap.  But the Temple folk kept insisting he answer - they were sure they had him cornered.  He either had to renounce the principles of his ministry, or commit heresy.

When Jesus finally spoke he did not say Leviticus was wrong.  Instead he said why Leviticus was wrong.  He said the person who was without sin should cast the first stone.

Why is abortion different?  Why are we authorized to pre-judge abortion as a sin and then stop it from occurring?  Abortion opponents say it is about the sanctity of life.  Sometimes those abortion opponents are fine with government executing criminals or killing civilians in our effort to bomb enemies.  They may also be dedicated meat eaters or hunt for sport.  So what is it exactly about the life of a fetus that makes it different?

Part 3 will discuss the Soul and the Sanctity of Life.