A Pastoral Word. . .
Pastor Mark Adams
January 28, 2021
This is a picture of the late, Dr. Bernard Nathanson.
In 1969, Dr. Nathanson served as the medical adviser for the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws (now NARAL Pro-Choice America). After abortion was legalized in 1973, he became the director at the Center for Reproductive Health, which he claimed was “the largest abortion clinic in the Western world.”
Later in his life, Nathanson said, “I knew every facet of abortion. I helped nurture the creature in its infancy by feeding it great draughts of blood and money.”
But in 1974, in an article published in The New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Nathanson expressed his growing uneasiness with abortion. He wrote: “I am deeply troubled by my own increasing uncertainty that I had in fact presided over 60,000 deaths. There is no longer serious doubt in my mind that human life exists from the very onset of pregnancy.”
His unease was intensified by the arrival of ultrasound technology. Nathanson said, “For the first time we could really see the human fetus, measure, observe it, watch it, and indeed bond with it and love it…I changed my mind because the new scientific data…persuaded me that we could not indiscriminately continue to slaughter what was demonstrably a human being.”
In 1984 Nathanson narrated the film, The Silent Scream, that shows an abortion from the perspective of the fetus.
Nathanson’s initial insight about the humanity of the unborn child had nothing to do with religion. As a matter of fact, at the time he considered himself a “Jewish atheist.” But before his death in 2011, Nathanson converted to Christianity (Roman Catholicism). When asked why he was baptized and received into the church, he said, “[Because] no religion matches the special role for forgiveness [in Christianity].”
Nathanson’s life shows that one of the most powerful tools in our work to preserve the sanctity of human life is knowledge, the kind given through scientific study and ultrasounds, things provided by Crisis Pregnancy Centers who share truth with women who are contemplating ending the life of their baby.
This physician’s tragic story also underscores the importance of dispensing grace to those who have had abortions---as well as those who have been on “the other side” of this fifty-year battle. We help end this blight on humanity by loving those who struggle in this area; helping them get good medical care, by passing pro-life legislation, and by pointing them to the forgiveness that God longs to offer.
We must remember that as Christians we proclaim the truth that “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9) and that God “…blots out our transgressions, for His own sake, and remembers our sins no more.” (Isaiah 43:25)
Keep the SON in your eyes!
Mark
In 1969, Dr. Nathanson served as the medical adviser for the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws (now NARAL Pro-Choice America). After abortion was legalized in 1973, he became the director at the Center for Reproductive Health, which he claimed was “the largest abortion clinic in the Western world.”
Later in his life, Nathanson said, “I knew every facet of abortion. I helped nurture the creature in its infancy by feeding it great draughts of blood and money.”
But in 1974, in an article published in The New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Nathanson expressed his growing uneasiness with abortion. He wrote: “I am deeply troubled by my own increasing uncertainty that I had in fact presided over 60,000 deaths. There is no longer serious doubt in my mind that human life exists from the very onset of pregnancy.”
His unease was intensified by the arrival of ultrasound technology. Nathanson said, “For the first time we could really see the human fetus, measure, observe it, watch it, and indeed bond with it and love it…I changed my mind because the new scientific data…persuaded me that we could not indiscriminately continue to slaughter what was demonstrably a human being.”
In 1984 Nathanson narrated the film, The Silent Scream, that shows an abortion from the perspective of the fetus.
Nathanson’s initial insight about the humanity of the unborn child had nothing to do with religion. As a matter of fact, at the time he considered himself a “Jewish atheist.” But before his death in 2011, Nathanson converted to Christianity (Roman Catholicism). When asked why he was baptized and received into the church, he said, “[Because] no religion matches the special role for forgiveness [in Christianity].”
Nathanson’s life shows that one of the most powerful tools in our work to preserve the sanctity of human life is knowledge, the kind given through scientific study and ultrasounds, things provided by Crisis Pregnancy Centers who share truth with women who are contemplating ending the life of their baby.
This physician’s tragic story also underscores the importance of dispensing grace to those who have had abortions---as well as those who have been on “the other side” of this fifty-year battle. We help end this blight on humanity by loving those who struggle in this area; helping them get good medical care, by passing pro-life legislation, and by pointing them to the forgiveness that God longs to offer.
We must remember that as Christians we proclaim the truth that “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9) and that God “…blots out our transgressions, for His own sake, and remembers our sins no more.” (Isaiah 43:25)
Keep the SON in your eyes!
Mark
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