Be The Fruit

Is Abortion a Child Sacrifice?

by Bill Blair on 16/10/08 at 5:56 am

In the Old Testament we are told of a god, an idol called Molech that was worshipped by people in and around Israel.  We are introduced to this god when the true God spoke to Moses in Leviticus telling him to tell the people of Israel to put to death anyone who “gives any of his children to Molech” (Lev 20:2).  We learn later that such giving of children really means for a person to give their son or daughter to Molech as a burnt offering, burning them as a sacrifice to this idol (2 Kings 23:10).

This notion of sacrificing a child to a false god absolutely makes no sense.  It is absolutely shocking, disturbing, and a heinous thing to think about.  I see my youngest sitting across from me, and I can’t imagine what would be going through a person’s head to cause them to sacrifice their child.  Why would people do such a thing?

The answer is, they are trying to get this god to do something for them.  They are trying to gain the god’s favor for some reason.  For whatever reason they offer their children to the god so this god will either do something good for them or not do something bad to them.  Consider the following verse that describes this as “feeding” the god: “For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands. With their idols they have committed adultery, and they have even offered up to them for food the children whom they had borne to me.” (Ezekiel 23:37, ESV)

Essentially, they offered their children as food to appease the god.  You may be wondering, what does this have to do with abortion?  Think about it.  Why do people have abortions?  Is it not because having a child will disrupt their life in some way?  Maybe they have a party lifestyle that will go away if a child comes along.  Maybe they have a great career plan that involves college and grad school, and a child will foul those plans up.  Maybe they have a standard of living they want to keep up and a child will be too much of a burden.  Maybe they have parents who will disapprove, so they abort the child in order to not feel such disapproval.

I contend that all the reasons I listed involve the worship of idols, and because they seek to get something from these idols they are willing to sacrifice their unborn children.  Take the person with the career plan.  This woman is worshiping the god of success and she is not willing to let anything or anyone get in the way of striving for such success.  Having a successful career rules her life so it is truly her god.  She becomes pregnant and sees this child coming between her and her career so something must be done to not lose the favor of this god.  So she is willing to lay down the life of the unborn child in order to serve this god of success.  The child is sacrificed and the god is appeased, and she can now go on serving and worshiping her god.

I say “she” in the example, but this would also apply to the guy in the situation pressuring the girl to have an abortion so his god is served.  It would also apply to the parents who may be pressuring their daughter because a child may wreck all the plans they have for her.  Whatever the case may be, there always is some other god ruling the decision to abort the child.  There is always some other god that is being worshiped, and it seems quite right and sensible to sacrifice their unborn children to go on serving and worshiping their god.

^{All of this is to say that the key to stopping abortions is to see more people to turn to the true God who does not demand our children, but gave up his own in Jesus to pay the penalty for our sins.  If you have stumbled upon this post and have had an abortion, I can tell you there is good news for you as well because the sacrifice that Jesus made is sufficient for all.  God can move into your life and break the bonds that these idols have in your life for his yoke is easy and his burden is light (Matt 11:30).  Let us all put down the idols of our lives to serve and worship the one true God.}