Has anyone seen this article in the New York Times over the weekend: Scholars look between lines for Bible’s abortion stance.
I saw it because it was carried by my regional paper, the Denver Post.
The article opens by saying that if you look in the index of a Bible,
you won’t find the word “abortion” to find out what the Bible has to
say about the issue. Then it goes on to quote Michael Gorman, “a
professor of New Testament and early
church history and dean of the Ecumenical Institute of Theology at St.
Mary’s Seminary and University in Baltimore.” Here is the quote:
“I can’t take you to text that says, ‘Don’t commit
abortion;’ it just doesn’t exist.”
Hey, I have a text for you, Michael. How about, “Thou shalt not kill,” Exodus 20:13.
By using the word “kill” in the commandment, with one fell swoop God
covers euthanasia, abortion, homicide, suicide, genocide, and a whole
list of other “cides” so He wouldn’t have to repeat Himself over and
over again. Pretty brilliant of Him.
Two thoughts on
this story. Valiant try, New York Times, to justify a pro-abortion
stance using Scripture. It is a classic example of twisting Scripture
to get it to support a non-scriptural belief or practice. And the
second is that in my opinion, if Michael Gorman is the best our
seminaries have to offer, we are in trouble. It is more likely that the
venerable “Gray Lady” went fishing for their conclusion until they
found an “expert” to agree with them.
How completely ridiculous! And don’t forget that killing an unborn baby is just as wrong as killing one that’s already born…after all, God knew us while we were yet in our mother’s womb.
That’s even lower than my already extremely-low expectations of The New York Times!!!
Grrrrr….
Marsha