Saturday, August 02, 2008

Abortion Is About God: Reframing a Moral Issue

From The Bethlehem Institute:

"In this urgent moment, it is our conviction at The Bethlehem Institute that the church needs to be reminded that abortion is primarily and ultimately an injustice against God.

As John Piper has said,

Abortion is about God, the Creator of the universe, the Giver and Sustainer of all life, the Judge of the living and the dead, the Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ, and the Redeemer and Forgiver of all who trust him. Abortion is about God.

To leave God out of the picture of abortion is to trivialize it. All things are trivial without God. God is the ultimate reality over the universe. All other reality is derivative and dependent and has no ultimate meaning at all without reference to God the ultimate reality. In him we live and move and have our being. If we leave him out of account, we know nothing of any lasting significance about ourselves or the world. (From the sermon, “Where Does Child Killing Come From?” available at Desiring God)

To that end, we have designed a unique six-week Sunday School curriculum advancing the truth that the deepest evil of abortion is that it defies God’s supremacy over life in the womb. Entitled Abortion Is About God: Reframing a Moral Issue, the course will aim to provide a biblical and theological foundation for the pro-life cause. Moreover, the course will aim to bring a God-centered perspective to bear on this contested issue.

In addition to asserting that abortion is fundamentally an offense to the glory of the Creator, the curriculum will celebrate the sovereignty of God over all of life, will lift up the good gifts of children and parenthood, and will proclaim the mercy freely offered to all through the gospel. Students will gain a deeper understanding of this issue by closely examining key biblical passages, answering provocative questions, and considering sermons and writings from the ministry of John Piper. It is our prayer that this course would be used by God to awaken the church afresh to the horror of abortion as a belittling of the glory of God and an assault on those made in His image."

The official launch date is August 18, 2008. If you are interested, check out the pdf downloads that include the curriculum and the table of contents.