What does “going to church” have to do with what happens to embryos in IVF clinics? If we understand the God of the Bible, we will grasp how the two are vitally connected.
God commands that we assemble to exalt His name in song, prayer, offering, the Word, and the Lord’s Supper. But God rebukes His people when they fastidiously perform acts of worship while neglecting to do anything about the oppression happening all around them.
In Amos 5:21-24, God says:
I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
The Lord is not pleased with our assemblies when we ignore the cries of the oppressed. The evidence of true worship is the pursuit of justice for the weak.
Author Erwin Lutzer tells of a man who lived in Nazi Germany. This man said:
I lived in Germany during the Nazi Holocaust. I considered myself a Christian. We heard stories of what was happening to the Jews, but we tried to distance ourselves from it, because what could anyone do to stop it?
A railroad track ran behind our small church, and each Sunday morning we could hear the whistle in the distance and then the wheels coming over the tracks. We became disturbed when we heard the cries coming from the train as it passed by. We realized that it was carrying Jews like cattle in cars! Week after week the whistle would blow. We dreaded to hear the sound of those wheels because we knew that we would hear the cries of Jews en route to a death camp. Their screams tormented us.
We knew the time the train was coming, and when we heard the whistle blow we began singing hymns. By the time the train came past our church, we were singing at the top of our voices. If we heard the screams, we sang more loudly and soon we heard them no more. Years have passed... But I still hear that train whistle in my sleep. God forgive me; forgive all of us who called ourselves Christians yet did nothing to intervene.
Around 6 million Jews were killed in the German Holocaust. This is barbaric evil on an unimaginable scale. Today, we are horrified that many Christians sat by silently.
But what about us? Since 1973, over 63 million innocent people have been brutally murdered by abortion in the American Holocaust. And abortion is not over in the “Post-Roe Era.” According to the New York Times, after Roe v. Wade was overturned, the number of abortions actually increased as “access to abortion pills via telemedicine continued to expand.”
Do you hear the cries of the preborn? Are we drowning out this abomination by a worship that refuses to act? Are we demanding our leaders put an end to this Holocaust in Alabama? Or are we silent?
Some think abortion has already ended in Alabama. But it has not. There are two reasons for this.
First, self-managed abortion is still legal in our state. In Alabama, it is not a crime to murder your own preborn child through DIY abortion (e.g., by taking a pill). Our state leaders have given you the license to kill your own preborn children with immunity. But this is not the only kind of immunity they have provided.
A second form of abortion would be if IVF clinics destroy embryos intentionally (or even unintentionally due to gross negligence). 1819 News reports that, according to our lawmakers, “embryos are discarded and embryos are destroyed” in IVF clinics in Alabama. Unbelievably, our legislature and governor have now provided “immunity” for IVF clinics to do exactly this. On March 6th, 2024, they passed a new IVF law which provides “civil and criminal immunity for death or damage to an embryo to any individual or entity when providing or receiving services related to in vitro fertilization.”
All truly pro-life Alabamians agree that human life begins at conception/fertilization (as is stated in a recent decision by the Alabama Supreme Court). This means intentionally destroying embryos conceived through in vitro fertilization is murdering babies. To grant IVF clinics immunity to do this is to give them the license to kill.
While there are moral questions to ask about IVF in general, at the very least, if a family does use IVF, they should only do so in a way that does not intentionally destroy (or indefinitely freeze) embryos (e.g. by only seeking to fertilize the number of eggs they are willing to insert into the woman’s body immediately, etc.).
God brings temporal judgment upon nations which oppress children. If a land does not repent of mistreating the weak, the Lord says: “I will surely hear their cry, and my wrath will burn” (Exodus 22:23-24). We may ignore the cries of preborn children in Alabama, but God does not.
If you are a civic leader who has contributed to the legalization of the slaughter of babies in Alabama, you can be restored to God. If you have participated in an abortion intentionally as a mother or as a father or as an abortionist, you can be forgiven. If you have neglected to care about the Holocaust of the preborn, you can be pardoned. Praise God for His grace! Every one of us needs it! Christ died for real, hell-deserving sinners like us, and He rose again, so that all who trust in Him will be saved.
“Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out” (Acts 3:19). The fruit of genuine repentance is worship. And sincere worship moves us to seek to “correct oppression” (Isaiah 1:17). Don’t lead a Christian life of going to church while ignoring the plight of the powerless. God forgive us for doing nothing to intervene.
Let us repent of our apathy.
Let us hold our state leaders accountable.
Let us demand that Alabama lawmakers give equal protection under the law to the preborn.
“Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream,” (Amos 5:24).
Allan Bledsoe is a pastor at First Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Prattville, Alabama. The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News. To comment, please send an email with your name and contact information to Commentary@1819news.com.
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