Tag: baby

The Case For Life

Carl Pollard

Every society is ultimately judged by how it treats its most vulnerable. History bears this out. Civilizations are not remembered for their technology or wealth alone, but for whether they defended human dignity or sacrificed it for convenience. Few issues reveal this moral fault line more clearly than abortion.

At its core, abortion isnt a political or medical issue. It is a moral question, a scientific reality, and a spiritual matter that forces us to ask a simple but uncomfortable question: What is the value of human life?

Scripture is crystal clear about the source and worth of human life. Life is not accidental, disposable, or owned by society. It is given by God and bears His image.

Genesis 1:27, “So God created man in his own image.” This is not a status earned by size, ability, or independence. It is a condition of being human. From conception forward, human life carries divine worth.

Psalm 139:13–16 describes God’s involvement in the womb: “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.” The psalmist does not speak of a future person, but of a present one known by God before birth.

Jeremiah 1:5 reinforces this truth: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you.” God’s relationship with human beings begins prior to birth, not after.

Throughout Scripture, God consistently condemns the shedding of innocent blood (Proverbs 6:16–17). No category of people is more innocent or defenseless than the unborn.

Science doesn’t argue against life in the womb. In fact, modern embryology overwhelmingly affirms it.

At conception, a distinct, living human organism comes into existence. This new being has its own DNA, separate from the mother and father, determining sex, eye color, and genetic identity.

By three weeks, the heart is beating. By six weeks, measurable brain activity is present. By eight weeks, all major organs have begun to form. By ten weeks, the unborn child can respond to stimuli. These are not philosophical claims. They are biological facts taught in medical textbooks.

The question, then, isn’t when life begins. Science has answered that. The real question is whether we believe some lives are more worthy of protection than others.

Since the legalization of abortion in the United States, tens of millions of unborn children have lost their lives. Globally, abortion accounts for tens of millions of deaths every year, making it one of the leading causes of death worldwide.

Statistics also reveal another uncomfortable truth. Abortion does not solve social problems. It masks them. Poverty, lack of support, abusive relationships, and fear are not cured by ending a life. They are exploited to justify it.

Women are often told abortion is empowerment, yet many report long-term emotional and psychological distress afterward. Depression, guilt, and regret are not uncommon, even if rarely discussed publicly. Ending a life doesn’t heal anything. It compounds it.

If human rights mean anything, they must apply to all humans. If worth depends on size, location, dependency, or wantedness, then no one’s rights are secure. A newborn is smaller than a toddler. A disabled person may be dependent on others. An elderly person may be unwanted. Yet we recognize their right to live.

To argue that the unborn do not deserve protection because they cannot speak or survive independently is to adopt a standard that would justify horrific injustice elsewhere.

The womb should be the safest place on earth. Instead, it has become the most dangerous.

Human life has value not because of what it can do, but because of what it is. A child is not valuable because they are planned, healthy, or convenient. They are valuable because they are human.

This is the foundation of every just society. When life becomes conditional, morality becomes negotiable.

God’s design has always been clear. Life is sacred. Children are a blessing, not a burden. And justice demands protection for those who cannot protect themselves.

Abolishing abortion isn’t about controlling women. It is about refusing to dehumanize children. It is about building a culture that responds to crisis with compassion, not death, and support, not silence.

The answer to abortion is not apathy or anger, but truth and courage. Truth that life begins at conception. Courage to defend it even when it is inconvenient.

The measure of our humanity is not found in our slogans, but in our willingness to stand for life when it costs us something.

If life is truly sacred, then it must be protected. All of it. Especially the smallest among us.

Common Arguments Used To Defend Abortion: 

1. “My body, my choice.”

Pregnancy involves two bodies. The unborn child has a separate DNA, blood type, and biological identity. Bodily autonomy does not include the right to intentionally kill another innocent human being. Society already limits “choice” when it harms others.

2. “The fetus isn’t a person.”

Science confirms the unborn is a living human organism from conception. Personhood based on development, location, or ability is arbitrary and dangerous. If personhood is granted by others, human rights are no longer inherent.

3. “Life begins at birth.”

Birth changes location, not nature. A baby minutes before birth is biologically identical to a baby minutes after birth. No scientific event at birth creates humanity.

4. “What about rape and incest?”

Rape is a horrific crime, but abortion punishes an innocent child for the sin of another. Justice does not permit killing one innocent person to ease the suffering caused by another’s crime.

5. “The baby won’t survive or has severe disabilities.”

Human value does not depend on health, lifespan, or ability. To argue otherwise revives the logic used to justify eugenics and discrimination against the disabled. Compassion does not require killing.

6. “Women will die if abortion is illegal.”

Modern medicine can treat life-threatening complications without intentionally killing the child. Direct abortion is never medically necessary to save a mother’s life. Treating pathology is not the same as ending a life.

7. “Abortion is healthcare.”

Healthcare aims to heal, not intentionally kill a patient. Abortion ends the life of a distinct human being and therefore contradicts the fundamental definition of medical care.

8. “The child is just a clump of cells.”

Every human is a clump of cells. The question is not cellular composition but organism identity. From conception, the unborn is a complete, developing human organism.

9. “The child isn’t viable yet.”

Viability depends on technology, geography, and age. Human rights cannot depend on hospital access or medical advancement. Dependency does not negate humanity.

10. “Abortion reduces poverty and suffering.”

Killing the poor does not solve poverty. Ending life is not a moral solution to social failure. True justice addresses suffering without destroying the sufferer.

11. “Women will still get abortions anyway.”

The same argument could be used to legalize any crime. Laws exist to restrain evil, protect the innocent, and shape moral understanding. Justice does not yield to lawlessness.

12. “The Bible doesn’t explicitly mention abortion.”

The Bible condemns the shedding of innocent blood, affirms God’s work in the womb, and recognizes unborn children as known by God. Moral truths are often established by principle, not explicit wording.

13. “Abortion should be rare, but legal.”

If abortion is wrong, it should not be legal. If it is legal, society teaches it is morally acceptable. There is no moral category for “justified injustice.”

14. “Criminalizing abortion punishes women.”

Abolition seeks equal justice, not cruelty. Law recognizes moral agency while also addressing coercion and exploitation. Exempting one group from accountability denies the humanity of the victim.

15. “This is a religious belief, not law.”

Opposition to killing innocent humans is a moral principle shared across cultures and legal systems. Laws already reflect moral judgments about life, harm, and justice. Neutrality is a myth.

God Desires Humility

Friday’s Column: “Captain’s Blog”

Carl Pollard

The life of a true Christian is filled with change. We learn where we are weak, and try to be better. It’s kind of like a never ending home improvement project. There will always be areas of our spiritual walk with God that could be better. Because this is the case, many religious books, sermons and Gospel meetings are created around a theme that will help us to grow. In the Church there is a plethora of information to help us in our Christianity, but I want to focus on the basics and answer a vital question. What does it mean to be a Christian?


I want to answer this question with a passage in scripture that we may not immediately think of. We may think of 1 Timothy 1:5, or 2 Peter 1:5-7, which are great verses, but I’d like to suggest that Jesus in Luke 18:15-17 gives us the bottom line of Christianity.


It reads, “Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them to him, saying, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”


Jesus teaches the importance of humility. You want to enter the Kingdom of God? Have an attitude of humility. He uses the example of children, and Luke even uses the Greek word for infant. These are very young kids and babies that are being brought to Jesus. So He uses this as a moment to teach a valuable lesson.


Babies show their humility in their inability to provide for themselves. Every child that is born is completely dependent on its parents and has a wholehearted trust in them to provide what they need. What does it mean to be a Christian? It means being humble enough to admit that we need God. It means we trust in God, rather than our own “power.”


Humility plays an important role in every aspect of Christianity. It helps with showing love to others, it helps us subject ourselves to God’s Word, it helps us treat others the way we want to be treated, it helps us accept the hard topics that scripture contains, and the list goes on and on.


Do you want to be a part of the Kingdom? Make humility an everyday practice. That is what it means to be a Christian.

Infant laying on soft white blanket with black background

Is Your Life “Award Winning”?

Neal Pollard

CBS News reports on 19-year-old Chris Strickland, a very ordinary young man who seems unaware of how heroic his split-second action was. In his first job, Chris, working at a Home Depot in Anchorage, Alaska, happened to turn around and face a shopping cart at the moment an unattended baby fell out of a baby seat sitting atop it.  Store surveillance video captures the whole thing, as Strickland rushes over and reaches out to catch the falling infant.  For this simple, profoundly important act, Strickland will receive the Home Depot Angel Award, “reserved for those who perform exceptional acts of heroism” (via http://www.cbsnews.com/news/quick-thinking-home-depot-employee-saves-falling-baby/).

If all goes well, some day that baby will grow up, maybe get married and have children, and, optimists might say, do some great thing—become president, save an entire burning building full of people, or, better yet, become a faithful Christian responsible for scores of folks getting to heaven.  No matter what happens with the child, it will not diminish the heroism of this young man who, at the right place and right time, chose to save another human being and one literally helpless.

In 2 Timothy 4:8, Paul speaks of Christ giving an unequaled reward on the Judgment Day.  It will be for those heros and heroines who loved His coming and appearance, who fought, finished, and kept the faith (7).  In a parable about the Judgment, Jesus speaks of the award winning “sheep” who will enter heaven.  What did they do?  Cared for those who had needs.  James 1:12 speaks of a reward Christ will personally give to those who persevere under trial.

You didn’t consider yourself a “hero,” did you?  Passages like those above speak of how ordinary folks like us can receive the highest honor of all time and eternity.  How?  By faithful endurance, service, and response to Jesus, the Lord!  Congratulations!

Awaiting The Royal Birth

Neal Pollard

If you are plugged in to just about any sort of media, you have likely heard news reports about the looming birth of Prince William and Duchess Kate’s baby.  The whole of the United Kingdom seem to be waiting with bated breath, if what is being written and said is to be believed.  Certainly, to call this event “hyped” is not an exaggeration.  Given that the monarchy in the U.K. is a symbolic figurehead rather than the seat of any real power today, such fascination and, in some corners, obsession is curious.  But that it exists cannot be denied.

What a contrast this birth and so many like it in palaces and kingdoms all around the world throughout human history are to the events surrounding the One born in Bethlehem two millennia ago.  With absolutely no fanfare, advance notice, or even slightest curiosity, Jesus Christ was born in obscurity and poverty.  While prophesy foresaw that moment (Micah 5:2), not even those who ran the local inn in that tiny village recognized the magnitude of that coming moment (Luke 2:7).  The Savior of the whole world made His entrance virtually without notice.

Certainly that is no criticism of the abundant fascination of many around the world at the birth of the British babe.  But, no birth affected mankind like that unheralded moment in Israel 2,000 years ago.  John introduces Him, saying, “There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him” (John 1:9-11).

Thank God for His saving plan, executed with the wisdom only Deity could conceive.  The nature of the birth of Christ shows the Divine emphasis of the spiritual over the material.  Paul says it this way, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich” (2 Cor. 8:9).  He came by way of the manger that we may inherit the riches of heaven!  That is news worthy of spreading every way we can.