Letter: Scripture supports babies in the womb

Paul Baxter had a tremendously thorough column about abortion dated June 27 in The Christian Index. I always read his column because (a) he is a terrific, finely expressive, highly talented insightful writer and (b) he performed the wedding ceremony for Francie and me more than 35 years ago. I would like to add one little point in agreement with what he wrote.  

God's Holy Word, beginning with Luke 1:44, describes when Mary, carrying baby Jesus in her womb, goes to visit her cousin Elizabeth, who is carrying baby John the Baptist in her womb, and Elizabeth declares, "... as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, thebabe leaped in my womb for joy."  

I think this point should carry weight with everyone who accepts God's Holy Word as the inerrant Word of God. And I suspect that would include most, and maybe almost all, readers of the Christian Index. The revealing question then becomes, "If Elizabeth's womb carried not a human being, but merely a blob of flesh, – well, how in the world can something that is just a blob of flesh jump for joy?" 

John the Baptist was a babe, a baby, a real person, in the womb and while babies can jump for joy, no one could ever say with credibility that a mere blob of flesh could jump for joy. But how could a babe in Elizabeth's womb know Baby Jesus was in Mary's womb and thereby receive joy from Jesus' presence? 

That answer is explained in a book I wrote, under the same principle we saw when John The Baptist and Jesus were both in their mothers' wombs in Luke Chapter One, and John the Baptist leaped for Joy. He spiritually discerned the presence of Jesus as Mary walked in the door. 

A spiritual sense, and its sensitivity, is like a muscle in that you use it or you lose it. So when the baby begins to use newly needed physical senses, the spiritual senses do not seem as much needed, and they decline. This principle may also be a first cousin to the principle in Jesus' declaration that in order to be saved, "you must be born again!"  

Bill Ivey, member
Rehoboth Baptist Church, Tucker