Bible Question:
How can God be pro-life if He decides how long we live?
Bible Answer:
God Controls How Many Days We Will Live
The Bible clearly teaches that God is pro-life. It also reveals that He determines when we die. Consequently, some people ask, “How can God be pro-life since He determines how long each individual lives?” Those who ask the question consider God to be responsible for the death of aborted infants. That is, God caused the child to die by abortion. Thus the question suggests God is an abortionist. The implication is that God murders aborted babies. So, is this true?
Length of Life
First, it is clear from the Bible that God has determined the length of every human. Job 7:1-3 gives us a general description of our life upon planet earth. Job complains with these words,
Is not man forced to labor on earth,
And are not his days like the days of a hired man?
As a slave who pants for the shade,
And as a hired man who eagerly waits for his wages,
So am I allotted months of vanity,
And nights of trouble are appointed me.
Job 7:1-3 (NASB)
Later Job adds this,
Since his days are determined,
The number of his months is with You;
And his limits You have set so that he cannot pass.
Turn Your gaze from him that he may rest,
Until he fulfills his day like a hired man.
Job 14: 5-6 (NASB)
Psalm 90:9-10a states,
For all our days have declined in Your fury;
We have finished our years like a sigh.
As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years,
Or if due to strength, eighty years.
Psalm 90:9-10a (NASB)
Psalm 139:13-16 says that God formed us in the mother’s womb, and vrse 16 adds that God ordained or predetermined the length of our days upon this earth.
And in Your book were all written
The days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them.
Psalm 139:16b (NASB)
These verses tell us that God has determined how many days, months, and years we will live after we have been conceived by our parents. Our days are filled with labor and fatigue like a hired man. Then when we die, the psalm says, “We have finished our years like a sigh.” We might live until we are 70 years or maybe 80 years. The message is that God has determined how long we will live following conception. Our life is like a hour glass with the sand trickling out second-by-second. This is a fundamental biblical principle.
God Is Pro-Life
So, how should we understand abortion and God’s role? First, God is the Creator and He has the right to determine how many years, months, and days we will live. Scripture compares Him to a potter and we are the clay. He can do as He pleases (Jeremiah 18:1-4; Romans 9:20-21). Ezekiel 33:11 says that God does not take pleasure in the death of the wicked, and John 3:16 says that God loves everyone. God is not like us (Psalm 50:21). He is greater than us in His character. He does not hate His creation, as some humans hate others. We must remember that He loves both the righteous and the wicked. We must believe that and trust Him to do what is righteous. He is holy!
Ecclesiastes 12:7 says that it is God who puts our spirit into the earthly body that we possess while we live upon this earth. Our real person is our immortal spirit and not our mortal flesh and body. The truth is that God is not evil when He gives physical life or takes that life.
But when humans murder each other, that is evil. God has told us in Genesis 9:6 that if humans murder another person, they are to be killed (not murdered). That is, God commands us to practice capital punishment. Those who murder are to be killed via capital punishment carried out by governing authorities. Abortionists are murderers; they take the life of other humans. God has prohibited such evil. No one has the right to make the decision to take the life of another person whether a baby or an elderly person.
But, did God want the abortionists to kill a human child while still in the mother’s womb? The answer is no! God never gave abortionists that right. Abortion is a sin. Genesis 9:6 says that abortionists should suffer capital punishment for violating God’s law. In addition, Exodus 21:22-25 tells us that if anyone causes an unborn human child to be killed accidentally, they shall be killed. Then how much more should someone suffer capital punishment for intentionally killing an unborn human child by abortion or a pill?
In summary, God has never given the right of murder or abortion to anyone, that is His right. So, did God preordain that the abortion would occur because the length of days for the child were 9 months or less? The answer is no, for He has never given the right of murdering a human to another human. God may allow abortion or accidental miscarriages to occur for the sake of the child. God has permitted evil to occur in order to allow humans to sin. Evil can accomplish His will as described in the following. verse
. . . Better the miscarriage than he, for it comes in futility and goes into obscurity; and its name is covered in obscurity. It never sees the sun and it never knows anything; it is better off than he. Ecclesiastes 6:3-5 (NASB)
God allows evil to accomplish His will, including how long a human may live. Thus some humans die due to accidents, disease, age, and murder. God is pro-life and He has determined the length of our days. He also provides for and offers eternal life to everyone. The greater question, is where will that person spend eternity? This earthly life is like a puff of smoke compared to eternity, but our spirits are eternal. They spend eternity in heaven or hell. Where will you spend eternity?
Suggested Links:
Does God determine the death of aborted babies?Does Exodus 21:22 refer to abortion?
Is abortion a sin? – Can I be forgiven?
About abortion, how should I understand 2 Chronicles 28:3 and Matt 18:18?
Do aborted babies go to heaven? Do children go to heaven if they die under the age of 12?
What happens to the souls of babies who die unbaptized?