This post is an edited version of my final College Writing essay, written during my second semester at Moody Aviation for my Bachelor of Science in Mission Aviation Technology.
The Pro-life Evangelicals for Biden Movement
During the 2020 US Presidential election cycle, many Christians were faced with a great moral dilemma: do they vote for President Donald Trump, who has been described as a narcissist, racist, bigot, with a history of sexual immorality, but who is also a vehement defender of life, especially the lives of unborn babies,[1] or do they vote for Joe Biden, who has a more tasteful personality, yet, has policies that will not only continue the murder of unborn babies; they will also increase the stage at which a baby can be murdered… right up until birth? During the final months leading up to the election, a movement was formed by many prominent Christian leaders, pastors, teachers, and authors called Pro-life Evangelicals for Biden. All of these men call themselves pro-life (against abortion), which is, of course, what every evangelical Christian should be. However, they believe that Christians needed to vote for Biden, despite his fierce pro-abortion stance, because he is a more “palatable” personality and has greater “pro-poor” policies, that will ensure universal health care and more lenient illegal immigration policies, than those of Donald Trump.[2] Those who are in this movement, believe that even though abortion is wrong, it is only one issue and Christians cannot be single-issue voters. They believe that on the scale of morality, protecting the rights of the many, such as the poor and illegal immigrants, is of greater importance than trying to end the slaughter of nearly 1 million babies each year in the United States. They are wrong. Abortion is murder, and a Christian cannot, for any reason, vote for a pro-abortion candidate.
Yes! Life Starts at Conception
Firstly, those who justify abortion begin by redefining when life begins in the womb. At the stage that they define and beyond, killing that life is murder, and any time before that stage, it will simply be a removal of tissue or a clump of cells. However, pro-abortionists are in disagreement with one another as to when that stage actually is. Some say that life begins when a heartbeat can be detected. Others say that life begins late in the first or early in the second trimesters, after which time the baby cannot be killed. Today, abortion can be performed up until birth in several states such as Alaska, Colorado, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, New York, and Washington D.C.[3] Most abortion advocates cite science as the authority to which they base their belief about when life begins. If Science continually changes on this issue then it cannot be trusted. Christians, on the other hand, should know exactly when human life begins because the Creator of that life, God, has clearly defined in His Word when life begins. The Bible says that life begins at the very moment God begins His creative work on the baby which is at conception (Jeremiah 1:5, Psalm 139:13,16)
Abortion is Murder
Secondly, abortion is murder because it deliberately ends that life in the womb. The Bible is clear that the intentional ending of human life (at any age or stage of development) is against God’s Law (Exodus 20:13). The punishment for taking innocent human life is death to the one who committed the murder (Leviticus 24:17). This punishment for the murderer shows how highly God values human life. Sadly, even with the knowledge that babies are human lives, many people remain unconvinced that abortion falls under the category of murder. Others say that the Bible is silent on the issue of abortion, but, thankfully, the Bible is not silent at all.
“When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman, so that her children come out, but there is no harm, the one who hit her shall surely be fined, as the woman’s husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine. But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.”(Exodus 21:22-25)[4]
From this text, one can clearly see that God places the same value on an unborn baby as He does on a person who has already been born, both of which, when killed, require the life of the killer. Therefore, if someone kills an unborn baby, they are guilty of the same crime as if they had killed a person already born. Abortion is murder, and hands that shed innocent blood, of which babies are the most innocent, are an abomination to God (Proverbs 6:17).
Your Vote…The Murder Weapon at the Crime Scene
Thirdly, if abortion is murder, can a Christian vote for a pro-abortion (also known as pro-choice) candidate who will ensure the continuation of abortion, even if that candidate has other good policies? The challenge to this question is that the Bible doesn’t address the issue of voting, let alone godly voting, but the Bible does have something to say about participating in other people’s sins. 1 Timothy 5:22, says we must not “take part in the sins of others.” By voting, a person partners with that candidate as he or she carries out the very policies he or she promised to carry out if elected.
Here is another way of looking at it. Let’s say that you are friends with someone who has a bad temper and is prone to violence, but because you love this friend, you remain a faithful friend to him. One day, this friend gets into an argument with someone, and he tells you that he is going to kill that person and asks you for your knife, a request to which you oblige. He then kills the person he threatened to kill with the knife you gave him. You would be complicit in the crime he committed, and under the law, you would be punished because you knew what he was going to do with the knife you gave him. Just like your friend, you would be guilty of murder, albeit, not first-degree murder. The same logic applies when you vote. Without your vote (knife), your candidate would not have the power to implement his or her policies which would result in the murder of unborn babies. This shows that your vote is not morally neutral.
The Guilt of the Church
Lastly, there are Christians who believe that abortion is murder but see it merely as a political issue in which Christians cannot get involved. They might not vote for a pro-abortion candidate, but neither will they speak out against abortion. Far too many Christians remain indifferent about abortion. Sadly, history has shown that the church has allowed, and even enabled, numerous bad, even despicable things to happen around the world for centuries. The Holocaust, which was the brutal genocide of approximately 6 million Jews by Nazi Germany during WWII, was made largely possible by the German church.[5] This was thanks, in part, to the great but flawed German Reformer, Martin Luther. God used him mightily to bring the Word of God and the truth of the gospel into the hands of common Christians, rescuing the church from the clutches of the Papacy. However, one of his greatest flaws was his anti-Semitism.[6] His anti-Semitism was a seed that was planted towards the end of his life, and it grew over several hundred years in Germany. This caused German Christians, specifically Lutherans, to be wary of Jews and were even filled with hatred towards them. This opened the door for Adolf Hitler. When Hitler came into power with his anti-Semitic rhetoric, calling Jews non-humans who needed to be removed from the “pure” German race, the German church, on the whole, agreed with Hitler, and let the Holocaust happen. The same thing is happening today with abortion. The world has been told that science is clear that unborn babies are not human, and are disposable should the need arise. Many Christians have bought into this lie, and have allowed and have even been accomplices in the murder of more than 60 million unborn babies[7] since 1973 when Roe v Wade was passed. Many Christians voted, and continue to vote, for leaders who have fiercely fought for the rights of women to murder their unborn babies. Just like the Holocaust, the enablement of abortion is another blot on the church.
A Christian Cannot Vote for a Pro-abortion Candidate…Ever!
In summary, there is no justifiable reason or circumstance for a Christian to vote for anyone who is pro-abortion/pro-choice. The Bible is clear on these issues: unborn babies are human lives, created in the image of God, and the murder of unborn babies is the same as the murder of anyone who has already been born. Also, the Bible says that Christians must not partner with those who do evil, and this would include giving a person any power to do that evil, which is exactly what a vote does. The church needs to stand up against the horror of abortion, and the easiest and most effective way to do this is for every Christian to withhold their votes from those who seek to use that vote as a knife to the hearts of countless millions of babies.
[1] Trump has been described as the most pro-life president in the United States’ history, and rightfully so: https://eclj.org/abortion/un/donald-trumps-pro-life-achievements-2016-2020
[2] https://www.prolifeevangelicalsforbiden.com/
[3] https://www.dailywire.com/news/these-8-states-allow-abortion-moment-birth-amanda-prestigiacomo
[4] All Scripture quotations are from the English Standard Version, unless otherwise stated.
[5] Horner, Barry E. Future Israel. B&H Publishing
[6] In one of his final sermons, just four days before he died, Martin Luther said terrible things against Jews such as: “Yet, we will show them Christian love and pray for them that they may be converted to receive the Lord, whom they should honor properly before us. Whoever will not do this is no doubt a malicious Jew, who will not stop blaspheming Christ, draining you dry, and, if he can, killing [you].” https://jewinthepew.org/2015/02/18/18-february-1546-death-of-luther-last-sermon-ends-with-warnings-against-the-jews/
[7] https://www.lifenews.com/2020/01/10/61628584-babies-have-been-killed-in-abortions-since-roe-v-wade-in-1973/