'He came to His own,
.. and His own received Him not.
.... But as many as received Him,
...... He gave to them authority to become the children of God,
........ to those who believe on His name,
who were born,
.. not of bloods,
.... nor of the will of the flesh,
...... nor of the will of man,
........ but were born of God.
And the Word became flesh,
.. and tabernacled among us.
.... And we beheld His glory,
...... the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,
........ full of grace and of truth.'
(
John 1:11-14)
Hello there,
@Wynona,
When the subject of abortion comes up, my mind always goes to the words of verse 13 in the reading above: which identifies those born from above, by the Spirit of God, ( ie., the children of God ) and those born of the flesh, by saying,
'who were born, not of bloods, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but were born of God. ''
'not of bloods'
'nor of the will of the flesh,'
'nor of the will of man'
I find these factors interesting, and the predominant point is that a child is born by the, '
WILL,' of those whose union in the flesh produce it. In the case of rape, the will of the woman is denied expression, and the will of the perpetrator of that crime is not to produce offspring, but to satisfy his own lust. Also in the case of an act of mutual sexual gratification on behalf of two individuals, again the will of both is not to produce offspring, but to gratify a basic need.
The introduction of, '
The Will,' brings responsibility, and accountability to what is otherwise an action born of mindlessness and lust driven desire. How important it is to think through the implications of our actions before contemplating engaging in them. The sexual act should be the consummation of the love expressed between two individuals, who are committed to one another and in a position to provide for the resulting outcome. It should be an act of will that brings forth a child, and not mindless self-gratification.
I believe that this should be expressed as part of an open and thought provoking discussion between young people and their peers, to impress upon them the need to take responsibility and engage their 'will' and 'reason' when contemplating an action which has the potential to make or mar not only the lives of those partaking of it, but the life of the one who is born into the world as a result.
How this influences the discussion I don't know, but I felt the need to express it.
Thank you
In Christ Jesus
Chris