Light in the darkness of abortion

ABORTION
A Talking Points book
By Dr Lizzie Ling & Vaughan Roberts
The Good Book Company. 112 pages. £2.99
ISBN 978 1 784 984 434

This is the book we have needed for decades.¹ Almost every day I speak with evangelicals who are confused about abortion. Not a few are expressly pro-choice.

Meanwhile, one in four pregnancies last year were ended through abortion. One in three women in the UK will have at least one in her lifetime. Behind every abortion is a father, too. Abortion is in the church.

It is impossible to overstate just how necessary and welcome this little book is; in the ideological fog and darkness that have settled over the church, this book stands at last as a lighthouse, showing us the way forward.

Dr Lizzie Ling and Vaughan Roberts act as our guides through the difficult landscape of abortion, acutely aware of the complexities and contention but crucially without getting lost in them or coming out morally grey. This book will help many to journey from confusion to clarity.

For three reasons I urge everyone to read and share this book:

First, it is rigorously biblical. Secular attitudes towards abortion are met with a brilliantly clear and compelling biblical response. The big questions – When does human life begin? When does human life matter? – are satisfied by expert handling of the word of God. I am so grateful that these authors argued rather than taking as read what God has to say on these fundamental matters.

‘We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ’ (2 Cor. 10:5).

Second, it is scientifically factual. Dr Ling shines the light on in utero development in a way that leads one to wonder and worship. In a culture where ‘just a part of the mother’ and ‘just a bunch of cells’ continue to be heard, this book calmly explains (with respect to the latest medical research and technology) the incredible sophistication of life in the womb from as early as four weeks after fertilisation; science is absolutely clear that at conception a unique human life has begun. There is also objective information on what abortion actually entails.

Third, it is sensitive and compassionate. It would perhaps be possible to achieve points one and two, but without grace. This book is living proof that biblical and scientific truth can and should go hand-in-hand with sensitivity and compassion for all those touched by abortion. Punctuated with real life stories, this book is no stranger to the heartache, emotional and social complexity, and far-reaching after-effects of every abortion – but the hope of forgiveness and healing in Christ shines through every page, so that on perhaps the most painful and dark subject imaginable, this book is full of light and good news.

Towards the end readers will find thoughtful responses to tricky questions, practical ways forward, and a helpful study guide.

Why not buy a few copies: give one to your pastor and ask him to teach on abortion, give one to a non-Christian friend and meet up to talk about it, and give one to each person in your small group and spend a few weeks considering what is probably the most pressing ethical issue of our day.

A copy costs you less than £3 and is read in less than three hours.

My prayer is that this book will help kick-start the much-needed discussion around how God would have us respond to abortion. 

FOOTNOTES

1 Both John Stott’s Issues Facing Christians Today and John Wyatt’s Matters of Life and Death include excellent biblical treatment of abortion, but I am not aware of any good book written by a UK evangelical specifically on abortion ever.