Friday, April 22, 2011

On Easter, a commitment to life

On Easter, Christians worldwide celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who (the Bible teaches) conquered death and won new life for a human race dead in its sins. This is a fitting time to renew our commitment to protecting the lives of the youngest and most vulnerable members of the human family.

The Bible teaches that every human being, at every stage of development, is fashioned in the very image and likeness of his or her Creator. From the Christian perspective, every human being is someone for whom Christ died and rose again.

Yet more than 12,000 unborn children are brutally killed by abortion every year in Minnesota. We must work to "rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter" (Proverbs 24:11). We must come to the aid of both pregnant women and their unborn children.

As Christianity teaches new life in Christ, so we must remember to always "choose life, so that you and your children may live" (Deuteronomy 30:19). And we must remember that (Christianity also teaches) Jesus offers true hope and forgiveness for those suffering from the devastation of abortion.