Berean Bible Fellowship Church in Stroudsburg, PA is presenting a resolution on abolishing abortion at the BBFC Annual Conference in April 2022.
BFC Resolution on Abolishing Abortion
The Board of Elders of Berean Bible Fellowship Church, Stroudsburg, have the following request for your consideration at the 139th BFC Conference:
(1) WHEREAS, from the moment of fertilization, all humans are created in God’s image by, through, and for Jesus Christ, to the glory of God, and all souls belong to Him (Genesis 1:27, 4:1; 21:2, Isaiah 7:14, Colossians 1:16; Romans 11:36; Ezekiel 18:4), and
(2) WHEREAS, as God’s image-bearers, all humans display His divine worth, power, and attributes, and possess equal, objective worth before God- not varying on the basis of incidental characteristics; such as ethnicity, age, size, means of conception, mental development, physical development, gender, potential, or perceived contribution to society (Romans 1:19-20; Genesis 1:27, 9:6; Matthew 18:6), and
(3) WHEREAS, God’s Word clearly declares that all human life is a sacred gift and that His Law is supreme over man’s life and man’s law (Psalm 127:3-5; 139:13-16; Rom 2:15-16; Acts 10:42; 17:31; 1 Corinthians 4:5), and
(4) WHEREAS, to murder (the intentional taking of human life with malice and forethought) any preborn image-bearer is a sin, violating both the natural law of retributive justice as set forth in the Noahic covenant, as well as the sixth commandment forbidding murder, and as such, is ultimately an assault on God’s image, seeking to usurp God’s sovereignty as Creator (Genesis 9:5-6; Exodus 20:13; Proverbs 6:17), and
(5) WHEREAS, God commands His own people to “rescue those who are being taken away to death” and holds them responsible and without excuse when they fail to do so (Proverbs 24:11-12), and
(6) WHEREAS, God establishes all governing authorities as His avenging servants to carry out His wrath on the evildoer, and commands these authorities to judge justly, neither showing partiality to the wicked, nor using unequal standards, which are abominations (Psalm 82; Proverbs 20:10; Romans 13:4), and
(7) WHEREAS, in 1973, the Supreme Court of the United States rendered an iniquitous opinion in the case Roe v. Wade, and in doing so deprived the innocent of their rights, and usurped God, who sovereignly ordained the court’s authority (Isaiah 5:23; 10:1-2; Psalm 2; Matthew 22:21; John 19:11; Acts 4:19; 5:29, Romans 13:1), and
(8) WHEREAS, in the Roe v. Wade decision, the Supreme Court of the United States subverted the U.S. Constitution- namely, the Preamble, as well as the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments without any legal authority (Article 6, Clause 2, “Supremacy Clause”), and
(9) WHEREAS, governing authorities at every level have a duty before God to uphold justice asserting their God-ordained and constitutional authority to establish equal protection under the law for all, born and preborn, by intervening, ignoring, or nullifying iniquitous decisions when other authorities, such as the Supreme Court, condone such injustices as the legal taking of innocent life (Daniel 3; 1 Kings 12; 2 Kings 11; Jeremiah 26:10-16, 36:9-31, 37:11- 21, 39:7-10), and
(10) WHEREAS, for over the past 49 years, and over 60 million abortions, traditional Pro-life laws, though well intended, have not established equal protection and justice for the preborn, but on the contrary, appallingly have established incremental, regulatory guidelines for when, where, why, and how to obtain legal abortion of innocent preborn children, thereby legally sanctioning abortion, and
(11) WHEREAS, the study of obstetrics and medical professionals in the obstetrics field, including doctors, nurses and ultra sound technicians(see: https://www.liveaction.org/news/no-medical-reason-abortion/?fbclid=IwAR1_AFfKC3ngnRmPFTkSwlX0L7nYPHl3PJgyCHe-fH7DYE-g8fV55oou27c and https://www.dublindeclaration.com/ ), do attest to the fact that abortion is never necessary to protect the life of the mother, while in certain rare cases, such as ectopic pregnancies, it is the moral and ethical obligation of the mother’s medical care team to work to preserve the life of the baby and mother to the greatest extent that their abilities and resources will allow, now, be it therefore
(12) RESOLVED, that the churches of The Bible Fellowship Church denomination at this 139th BFC Conference, do state unequivocally that abortion is murder, and we reject any position that allows for any exceptions to the legal protection of our preborn neighbors, compromises God’s holy standard of justice, or promotes any partiality, which God hates, and be it further
(13) RESOLVED, that we amend the BFC’s Biblical Principles for Living Article 152-1 to read “God is the creator, sustainer, and giver of life. Only He has the right to say under what conditions it may be taken away. His Word declares that man is made in His image, and it is for this reason that the death penalty was commanded for murder in the Old Testament. It is an evil before God to voluntarily kill unborn children, since they too bear His image, even if they are disabled, the result of rape or incest, or if the life of the mother is in jeopardy. In rare cases, such as ectopic pregnancy, it is the moral and ethical obligation of the mother’s medical care team to work to preserve the life of both baby and mother to the greatest extent their abilities and resources will allow. Therefore, since abortion is murder, as members of Christ’s body, the Church, we may not have, give direct assistance to, or perform an abortion. Any BFC church member having unrepentant involvement in abortion could be subject to church discipline as prescribed by our Lord in Matthew 18.”(Psalm 94:6; Isaiah 10:1-2; Proverbs 24:11; Psalm 82:1-4; Matthew 18:15-20), and be it further
(14) RESOLVED, that we will not embrace an incremental approach to ending abortion because it challenges God’s Lordship over the heart and the conscience, and rejects His call to repent of sin completely and immediately (Genesis 3:1; John 8:44; Romans 2:14-15; 2 Corinthians 11:3), and be it further
(15) RESOLVED, that we affirm that the murder of preborn children is a crime against humanity that must be punished equally under the law, and be it finally
(16) RESOLVED, that we humbly confess and lament any complicity in recognizing exceptions that legitimize or regulate abortion, and of any apathy, in not laboring with the power and influence we have to abolish abortion and because the Great Commission calls all men everywhere to repent and obey Christ, we must call upon governing authorities at all levels to repent and “obey everything that [Christ] has commanded,” exhorting them to bear fruit in keeping with repentance by faithfully executing their responsibilities as God’s servants of justice, and working with all urgency to enact legislation using the full weight of their office to interpose on behalf of the preborn, abolishing abortion immediately, without exception or compromise, therefore be it further
(17) RESLOVED, that we add Section 3 to Article 152 stating, “As Christians we engage, with complete dependence on God, in establishing equal justice and equal protection for the preborn according to the authority of God’s Word, at the local, state and federal levels, without exception or compromise” and, be it further
(18) RESOLVED, that we add Section 4 to Article 152 stating, “We call upon pastors and leaders to use their God-given gifts of preaching, teaching, and leading with one unified, principled, prophetic voice to uphold and promote God’s justice for all, including our preborn neighbors, at any and all stages of development.” (Mark 6:18; Matthew 28:18-20; Romans 13:4, 6)
*Text in red is what is being added to Article 152.