Penance for Abortion
All abortion by choice is forbidden. Once a person comes to that realization, how do they find atonement for any horrible mistakes of their youth? The reason to hope for forgiveness is simultaneously the very reason also to not delay repentance. God relates to his Creations, Mercy-first. Therefore acts of cruelty hasten punishment for such crimes first, and we brought some Scriptural sources for this in the previous essay.
If a fetus was incidentally killed while trying to save the life of the mother during a medical emergency, that is an example of a case of a no choice abortion. Prayer to be blessed with a healthy baby in the near future, if possible, is usually the correct response to that.
But especially, willful abortion ex-criminals, ought support charities that help mothers conceive and charities that help mothers tend their children. This is a form of a life for a life, a life encouraged to live, by the same adult who previously stole a life. Encourage that babies live, for one who advocated for the freedom the steal a life.
One can't just say sorry, and expect everything to be completely forgiven. But neither would sacrificing one's own life satisfy God sufficiently, as there is a higher level of penance available. "Do I desire the death of the wicked? says the Lord God. Is it not rather in his repenting of his ways that he may live?" (Ezekiel 18:23) & "For I desire loving-kindness, and not sacrifices, and knowledge of God more than burnt offerings." (Hosea 6:6)
Even in penance, there must be life. Teach others to be good to, and do good for babies, from now on.
The steps of repentance are normally 3. But 4 steps of repentance are required for severe sin.
- to recognize the wrong and regret it
- to admit/confess the offense
- to resolve to never repeat it
- to find atonement
Feeling shame for the sinful past is part of the atonement process. Telling someone how horrible it is to have an abortion, at the cost of your own shame, is a potent act of penance. Pro (Cruel) Choice advocates are advising women to kill their baby and devastate themselves. Woe to the woman who kills her own and feels no remorse for it, ever.
Impediments to Penance
Bad friends either need to be turned towards the light, or shunned. They cannot be tolerated as a snare to destroy the spiritual progress you made, as the Canaanite Molech worshipers were to the Hebrews and that led to the next form of human sacrifice, the even more murderous Baal worship.
Philosophically corrupt teachers. I recall somebody talking about how it was arrogant to assume that a human can know the way of God and His thoughts, but the truth is the exact opposite.
Good people say, "And many nations shall go, and they shall say, "Come, let us go up to the Lord's mount and to the house of the God of Jacob, and let Him teach us of His ways, and we will go in His paths," for out of Zion shall the Torah come forth, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. (Micah 4:2) As for those looking for excuses to sin, this verse from the same chapter applies, "But they did not know the thoughts of the Lord; neither did they understand His counsel, for He gathered them as sheaves to a threshing floor." (Micah 4:12)
God wrote a book. Read it, and amazingly you too will know about the way God thinks. If you can't imagine understanding God, perhaps you are not learning God's Holy Word enough. Don't wallow in foolish arrogance. Humble yourself and learn.
Heresies that suggest God would support abortions by whim, are nothing but rebellion against God. Don't let them fool you. "For I, the Lord, have not changed; and you, the sons of Jacob, have not reached the end." (Malachi 3:6) "Who is wise and will understand these, discerning and will know them; for the ways of the Lord are straight, and the righteous shall walk in them, and the rebellious shall stumble on them." (Hosea 14:10)
But the true penitent is assured forgiveness as it says, "All his transgressions that he has committed shall not be remembered regarding him: through his righteousness that he has done, he shall live." (Ezekiel 18:22)
Copyright September 2022 by Rabbi Alan Friedlander
