Womb - or tomb? (Part 2).

This is the second of the brief series of posts that I published in Aug. 2014 and that I am now repeating in the light of the current controversy in the USA. Once again, I have not changed anything.

For a number of years I gave the opportunity, to my senior pupils, to choose a major topic for discussion.  One of the most popular was that of abortion!   However, one day I was summoned to the office of the head teacher.  He had received a telephone call from a parent, complaining about my having told his 16-year-old daughter what happened at an abortion (almost as if he thought that the rest of the class had not been present!).  I cannot now recall his exact words - as related to me by the head teacher - but the gist of them was that he didn't want his daughter, already able to legally engage in sexual intercourse, to know what happened, "in case she ever needed to have an abortion"!

That, I believe, is a major part of the problem about the procedure.  So many do not know - and do not wish to know - what actually happens.  They are content to believe that all that is removed from the female is a homogeneous bundle of cells, no more 'human' than an appendix or than tonsils.  That is why, I suspect, so many talk of the woman's body, as if that was all that was involved.

I'll explain a little about procedure in a subsequent post but, for now, let's determine exactly what it is that is being aborted.

It is safe to say that the female - girl or woman - does not know, for certain, that she is indeed pregnant until approximately seven to eight weeks after conception.  By that time, the embryonic heart is already beating!  I would suggest that it is also safe to say that, by the time a decision is made to seek an abortion, and arrangements made for the procedure to take place, another four to six weeks will have passed.  This means that the earliest stage at which an abortion would normally be carried out would about twelve to fourteen weeks after conception or, to put in another way, approximately one-third of the way through the pregnancy.

With the benefit of scans, we now have a clear picture of what the unborn child is like at that stage in its pre-natal life.  At twelve weeks, the foetus measures about 60 mm from crown to rump and weighs between 9 and 14 grams. It is fully formed, from tooth buds to toenails, and the baby's job now is simply to continue getting larger and stronger for the rest of the pregnancy. With the most critical development behind the foetus, the chance of miscarriage drops considerably after this week.  However, it is only at this stage that the possibility of an abortion becomes a reality!  This, it must be clear to any normal person, is no 'lump of cells'.  This is, unmistakably, a baby - a human being at an early stage of its development, but a human being nevertheless.

This little life is, of course, dependent upon its mother - but it is a totally separate being.   A unique individual, just waiting to be born.

Next time, we'll look at some of the methods used to kill this little life - and to turn the womb into, temporarily, a tomb.

Meet the Nativity - Ep.3

Not too many sleeps to go! Here is the third episode of Meet the Nativity,plus the "behind the scenes" clip.




For the free book offer, visit http://MeetTheNativity.com




Enjoy - and think!

Womb - or tomb? (Part 2).

For a number of years I gave the opportunity, to my senior pupils, to choose a major topic for discussion.  One of the most popular was that of abortion!   However, one day I was summoned to the office of the head teacher.  He had received a telephone call from a parent, complaining about my having told his 16-year-old daughter what happened at an abortion (almost as if he thought that the rest of the class had not been present!).  I cannot now recall his exact words - as related to me by the head teacher - but the gist of them was that he didn't want his daughter, already able to legally engage in sexual intercourse, to know what happened, "in case she ever needed to have an abortion"!

That, I believe, is a major part of the problem about the procedure.  So many do not know - and do not wish to know - what actually happens.  They are content to believe that all that is removed from the female is a homogenous bundle of cells, no more 'human' than an appendix or than tonsils.  That is why, I suspect, so many talk of the woman's body, as if that was all that was involved.

I'll explain a little about procedure in a subsequent post but, for now, let's determine exactly what it is that is being aborted.

It is safe to say that the female - girl or woman - does not know, for certain, that she is indeed pregnant until approximately seven to eight weeks after conception.  By that time, the embryonic heart is already beating!  I would suggest that it is also safe to say that, by the time a decision is made to seek an abortion, and arrangements made for the procedure to take place, another four to six weeks will have passed.  This means that the earliest stage at which an abortion would normally be carried out would about twelve to fourteen weeks after conception or, to put in another way, approximately one-third of the way through the pregnancy.

With the benefit of scans, we now have a clear picture of what the unborn child is like at that stage in its pre-natal life.  At twelve weeks, the foetus measures about 60 mm from crown to rump and weighs between 9 and 14 grams. It is fully formed, from tooth buds to toenails, and the baby's job now is simply to continue getting larger and stronger for the rest of the pregnancy. With the most critical development behind the foetus, the chance of miscarriage drops considerably after this week.  However, it is only at this stage that the possibility of an abortion becomes a reality!  This, it must be clear to any normal person, is no 'lump of cells'.  This is, unmistakeably, a baby - a human being at an early stage of its development, but a human being nevertheless.

This little life is, of course, dependent upon its mother - but it is a totally separate being.   A unique individual, just waiting to be born.

Next time, we'll look at some of the methods used to kill this little life - and to turn the womb into, temporarily, a tomb.

The Family Likeness.

It is more than six years ago that my elder daughter informed my wife and me that she was pregnant!  We were, of course, delighted with the news and wished her and our son-in-law well.  I also assured her that I would be praying for her and her unborn child, on a daily basis, throughout her pregnancy.

A few weeks later, a friend informed us that she, too, was pregnant.  I told her that I was already praying for my daughter, and that I would pray for her and her baby as well - on the same daily basis, right through her pregnancy.

That was the start of what became my "ministry to pregnant women", and I have long since lost count of the number of pregnancies that I have "prayed through".  Regretfully, there have been one or two miscarriages, a still-birth, and an infant death.  However, the vast majority have ended up with a sound and healthy child for which to give thanks.

Almost from the moment a child is born, they are welcomed with words such as "Oh, (s)he is so like his (her) dad/mum/uncle John/auntie Mary/etc., etc.  Sometimes such family likenesses - in both physical looks and mannerisms - are immediately obvious.  In other instances it may be years before a child is seen to look, or behave, like any of his/her relatives.  Occasionally, it may even be that no family characteristic becomes apparent.

The moment a person becomes a disciple of Jesus, having acknowledged their sinfulness, and accepted the salvation that He offers, they are said to have been "... born again ..." (John 3:3).  In some cases, the evidence for that new birth is instantly obvious; in others, it takes time before something of "the beauty of Jesus" is seen in the believer.  However, each one of us should be constantly striving, with His help, to become more like Him.  As children of God, and joint-heirs with our Lord Jesus, the Christ, we are to bear His image.  Our conduct, and Christian character, are features that should distinguish us as children of the King, and ensure that the world sees something of the family likeness in us.

We will not reflect His image perfectly in this life but, as we walk in "... the fear of the Lord" (Ps.43:11), we have the assurance "... that when He appears we shall be [fully] like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." (I John 3:2).

Abortion does not reduce mental health risks.

Professor David Fergusson of the University of Otago in New Zealand has published a research paper on abortion and mental health which has huge implications for abortion laws.

In it he re-appraises the research on this issue and concludes that there is no evidence that abortion reduces mental health consequences for women.

This is hugely significant for the abortion law in England, Scotland, and Wales. 98% of abortions are carried out on grounds that continuing with the pregnancy constitutes a greater risk to the mother’s mental health than an abortion does.

Professor Fergusson's research therefore suggests that these abortions are technically illegal!

Philippa Taylor of the Christian Medical Fellowship gives more detail on the CMF blog which may be accessed at:

http://www.cmfblog.org.uk/2013/04/19/does-abortion-reduce-mental-health-risks-for-women-the-very-latest-research/

For those who are concerned about the number of abortions that take place in the United Kingdom, this will be very interesting reading.

Whatever happened to just saying 'No'?!

Of course, the heading is a bit one-sided - but I didn't want it to be too long. The other half of the equation, as it were, is: "and to not asking in the first place?!"

The reference, not surprisingly, is to sex, and is in the light of news today that a survey of teenage girls in (I suspect, only) England and Wales, shows that one in eight has been pregnant by the time they have reached 18 years of age, with 3% claiming to have been pregnant at least three times.

The figures may relate, directly, only to England and Wales, but it is an apparent statistical fact that the U.K. as a whole has the highest teenage pregnancy rates in western Europe - even if they seem to have fallen to their lowest level for two decades.

The inevitable response from some is "... to maintain investment in young people's contraceptive and sexual health services." (Teenage Pregnancy Independent Advisory Group); and to "... continue doing what we know works to improve teenage pregnancy: improving access to sexual health services, good quality sex and relationships education in all schools, and supporting parents to talk to theor children." ('sexual health' charity, Brook).

Sadly, after many decades of following these policies, we still have the situation reported above. To give credit to some of the young girls involved, almost half of them went to full term with their pregnancies - but more than a third had abortions: little human lives snuffed out because a girl couldn't (or wouldn't!) say 'No' to a boy who was, in most cases, merely wanting to satisfy his own hormone-induced urges.

It all comes back to two old-fashioned ideas: purity and respect. Some girls don't seem to realise that they can only lose their virginity once; some boys have no respect for the girl whom they are dating, and see her simply as an object to be (ab)used. The end result is not only the statistics released by this Dept. of Ed. study, but also an ever-increasing incidence of sexually-transmitted diseases that have a longer-term effect on the recipients than most young people seem to realise; many girls who have abortions being less able to conceive in later adulthood; and, of coure, even in the cases of the girls who do have their children, another generation of youngsters with no wholesome male role model in their lives.

There is a lot to be said for the old-fashioned maxim of "Chastity before marriage; fidelity within it". Paul puts it like this: "Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body." (I Cor 6:18-19; NLT).

I have a cutting at home that contains some frightening statistics. I can't recall the exact figures, but the article shows how many sexual partners the average 'liberated' person really has. Not just the girl I was with last night - but every boy with whom she had previously had sex; and every girl with whom they had previously had sex; and so on, and so on! And it's not just the physical act that is involved. It's that passing on of chlamydia, genital herpes, gonorrhea, syphilis, and I don't know what else, that spreads such infections like wildfire.

The Bible may be old-fashioned to many, today. But its healthy attitude to sex (which was, after all, invented by God!) - that it be between one man and one woman, within the bond of a committed relationship - would, if followed, see a marked reduction in some of those horrifying statistics that we seem to now take for granted.