Wouldn’t It Be Better for Unwanted Babies To Be Aborted?

Since most Christians believe that unborn infants who die go to heaven, wouldn’t it be better for unwanted babies to be aborted than to be raised in unloving homes where they will probably grow up to be hell-bound adults?

It’s true that most Christians believe that infants killed before or during birth (as is the case in “partial birth abortion”) go to heaven.¹ However, this no more justifies the killing of unborn (or “partially born”) infants than it justifies the killing of older infants. Matthew doesn’t describe Herod’s killing of the infant boys in Bethlehem as less of a tragedy because they might not go to hell. To the contrary, Matthew viewed Herod’s atrocity as a fulfillment of Jeremiah’s prophecy:

“A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more” (Matthew 2:18 NIV).

Nor does the belief that infants who die will probably go to heaven imply that Christians in some “brave, new world” should be less concerned if the state decides to kill toddlers who don’t pass a test that predicts their suitability for adult life.

Jesus illustrated the value of every individual with the parables of the lost sheep and the coin (Luke 15:3-10). God’s greatest joy is a lost soul who turns from his sin in repentance. If God was primarily concerned with the avoidance of suffering, He would not have created the universe or given His creatures the freedom to choose between good and evil. When infants are allowed to live and grow to adulthood, they can choose to enter His kingdom through His grace in Jesus Christ. This is a precious opportunity. Further, there is no way of predicting which infants will be converted. Some children from the most abusive and disadvantaged backgrounds are wonderfully saved, while children from Christian homes sometimes become embittered atheists.

According to the Gospels, all of the power and glory of the Creator was incarnated in the fragile form of a helpless baby in Bethlehem. Christians should view human life—at every stage—with reverence and awe.

1. Church leaders and theologians have held two basic positions in respect to the origin of the soul. The “creationist” view is that God creates each individual soul sometime after conception. The “traducianist” view is that an infant derives his soul from his parents, along with his body. Martin Luther, along with other theologians who take the traducianist viewpoint, would say that the aborted (or miscarried) baby has an eternal soul, and that you will meet him or her in heaven. John Calvin and other creationists would be uncertain regarding the exact point at which the infant developing in the womb would be given an eternal soul. This uncertainty calls for great respect for human life at every point in its development. Back To Article