Abortion is legal and Christians should submit to the government

by Matt Slick

Just because something is legal doesn't mean it's right. If a government were to declare that Jews were a danger to society and that all Jews should be killed, I would not obey that law because it would be immoral.  It would be wrong.  Likewise if prostitution became legal, prostituion would still be wrong. So, just because something is legal doesn't mean that it is right and should be obeyed.  After all, many atrocities have happened with the excuse that "I was just following orders," correctio, "The government said it was okay, so it was okay."

But what you do with the verses in the Bible that say to obey your government?

"Let every person be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. 2 Therefore he who resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves," (Rom. 13:1-2).

There are those who would insist that because the government has made something legal, and because the Bible also says we are to support the government and obey its laws, that we should not then oppose abortion.  Unfortunately, those who use the Scriptures in such a way fail to consider the rest of the Scriptures which teach us that we are not to murder (Exodus 20:13) and that we are to obey God rather than man (Acts 5:29).  Therefore, we are not to murder children in the womb who have committed no crime. 

The Life in the Womb isn't Human

If you don't think the life in the womb is human, then we must ask what is it?  It's alive and has human parents.  If it is not human, then what is it?  If you say it's prehuman, that hasn't explained what it is.  How can you have something that has human parents and human DNA, not be human but be pre-human?  It makes no sense.  What happens to the baby that changes its nature from non-human to human, and when does this occur?  You cannot escape the fact that the life growing in the womb of the mother is both alive and human in nature.  What crime has been committed that would justify killing it?

The Bible also says,

• "Rescue the weak and needy.  Deliver them out of the hand of the wicked," (Psalm 82:4).
• "Deliver those who are being taken away to death, and those who are staggering to slaughter, O hold them back," (Prov. 24:11).

Righteous men stand up for the needs of the weak and seek to save the helpless.  Weak men hide behind the excuse that the law makes it okay to kill.  Doing what is right is not always easy, but using the law as an excuse to do nothing is!