Catholic Replies
Q. Do we find in Num. 5:11-31 a ritualized abortion that God commanded the Israelite priests to perform? — G.P., Florida.
A. No. The passage has to do with a woman suspected of adultery. Her husband was to bring her to the priest, who would force her to drink “bitter water.” Once she had done so, the Bible says, “if she has been impure and unfaithful to her husband, this bitter water that brings a curse will go into her, and her belly will swell and her thighs will waste away, so that she will become an example of imprecation among her people. If, however, the woman has not defiled herself, but is still pure, she will be immune and will still be able to bear children” (Num. 5:27-28).
Q. Some defenders of abortion claim that since the word is not mentioned in the Bible, there are no religious reasons for not having one. How should we respond? — K.R., Connecticut.
A. Just because something is not specifically mentioned in the Bible does not mean that it’s morally okay. The word “pornography” does not appear in the Bible. Is that okay? Nor do the words “human trafficking” or “homosexuality” or “drunken driving,” but no one would attempt to excuse those evils by saying that they are not in the Bible.
It would be interesting to see how many of those who defend abortion on the grounds that the word is not in Scripture at the same time excuse or even practice evils that are specifically condemned in the Bible, such as adultery, fornication, and divorce. In any case, here are some Bible passages that strongly imply that abortion is wrong:
“You formed my inmost being;/ you knit me in my mother’s womb./ I praise you, so wonderfully you made me;/ wonderful are your works!/ My very self you knew;/ my bones were not hidden from you,/ When I was being made in secret,/ fashioned as in the depths of the earth” (Psalm 139:13-15).
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,/ before you were born I dedicated you” (Jer. 1:5).
“During those days Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, ‘Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb’” (Luke 1:39-42).
While the Bible was still being compiled in the first century, a collection of apostolic writings called the Didache stated: “You shall not procure abortion. You shall not destroy a newborn child.” Around that same time, the Jewish historian Josephus said that “the law has commanded to raise all children and prohibited women from aborting or destroying seed; a woman who does so shall be judged a murderess of children for she has caused a soul to be lost and the family of man to be diminished.”
Bear in mind, too, that one does not have to be a Bible believer to know that abortion is evil. There are atheists who oppose abortion because it is contrary to nature and to a well-ordered society to allow the murder of innocent members of that society. The responsibility to protect the most vulnerable members of the human family from a barbaric method of execution should be obvious to all reasonable people, especially since five decades of genocide against the unborn have led to the killing of persons along the whole spectrum of life, from the womb to the tomb. We have reached the point where no one’s life is safe if someone wants to end your life for social or political or selfish reasons.
And as we have learned in recent months, the barbarians at Planned Parenthood are not only slicing and dicing helpless little babies, they are also being careful not to damage the organs of these babies — brains, hearts, lungs, livers — so that they can be sold to unscrupulous researchers, who can then implant these organs into animals or use them to produce skin creams. Why aren’t those who were horrified by Nazi experiments on human beings not just as horrified by the modern-day imitators of Josef Mengele?
Q. In a recent reply, you expressed skepticism about whether “blood moons” and other heavenly signs indicate that the end of the world may be closer than we think. But Matt. 24 and Luke 21 quote Jesus on what to look for when our “redemption is at hand.” Yes, only God the Father knows the day and hour, but Jesus wanted the faithful prepped and ready. There are tons of “labor pains” going on right now. They are not to scare us, but to get us ready and to be right with Him. — D.M.D., Massachusetts.
A. Yes, but Jesus also said, “See that you are not alarmed, for these things must happen, but it will not yet be the end” (Matt. 24:6). And then in Matt. 24:14, He said that the end will not come until the Gospel is preached throughout the world. That hasn’t happened yet and may not happen for a long time. Our personal world could end tonight; that’s what we need to be prepped and ready for.
It’s worth noting, for the record, that all of the signs usually associated with the end times actually came to pass within a generation of those who heard Jesus speak. A very good explanation of this can be found in chapter six of David Currie’s book Rapture. Currie, a former fundamentalist missionary whose lifelong study of the Bible led him into the Catholic Church, said that Jesus, in Matt. 24, mentioned eight signs preceding the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in AD 70.
The signs were the appearance of false messiahs (24:4-5), wars and rumors of wars (24:6), famines and earthquakes (two separate signs) in various places (24:7), persecution and execution of Christians (24:9), apostasy from the faith and betrayal of one another (24:10-12), the Gospel preached worldwide (24:14), and the “desolating abomination” (24:15) predicted by Daniel and fulfilled when the Roman armies surrounded Jerusalem.
Currie said that Jesus gave five additional warnings to the early Church by providing five amplifications of the eight signs: the Great Tribulation (24:21-22), the rise of false prophets teaching heresy (24:23-25), political upheaval (24:29), the signs in the heavens of the Son of Man (24:30-31), and the flowering of the fig tree (24:32-34).
While he explains in detail each of the five amplifications, Currie’s discussion of the signs in the sky just before the fall of Jerusalem is particularly interesting. His source is the Jewish historian Josephus, who relied on eyewitness testimony for the following statements:
“There was a star resembling a sword, which stood over the city, and a comet, that continued a whole year….Before the Jews’ rebellion . . . so great a light shone around the altar and the holy house, that it appeared to be bright daytime, which lasted for half an hour. . . . Moreover, the eastern gate of the inner court of the Temple…was seen to be opened of its own accord about the sixth hour of the night. . . . The men of learning understood it, that the security of their holy house was dissolved of its own accord. . . . So these publicly declared that the signal foreshadowed the desolation that was coming upon them.”
As for the end of the world, Currie said that Jesus gave no signs pointing to when this might occur. All we know, he said, is that the Second Coming will be sudden and unexpected, like the flood in the days of Noah (24:37) or like lightning flashing from east to west (24:27).
There will be no secret “rapture” when Christ comes again in all His glory. His coming will be very noticeable and accompanied by angels and trumpet blasts (24:31). That’s why Jesus urged us over and over again to “be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come” (24:44). The Lord illustrated this with three parables: the faithful servant and the wicked servant (24:45-51), the wise and foolish virgins (25:1:13), and the distribution of the talents (25:14-30).
