Generations Unborn

Greta Thunberg, now world famous for the recent school strikes and her address to the United Nations, made great play in that speech of how future generations are being betrayed by present-day governments because of their “pursuing money over morality and damaging the climate”. She said, “…the eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us, I say: we will never forgive you.”

Over the past two years lawsuits have been filed in the USA, Colombia and other nations against their governments for failing in their responsibility to conserve and maintain natural resources, including the atmosphere, for the benefit of present and future generations.

There is much that has been said about the scale, causes and possible cures of climate change, and whether any suggestions are practical or even likely given our desire for global travel and high energy usage.

However, whatever we think about climate change or Miss Thunberg’s methods, it is surely important that we seriously consider what effect present-day actions that damage the planet might have on future generations, many as yet unborn. It seems to be widely accepted that we bear some responsibility for the lives of those to come.

And yet there is a greater tragedy happening every day, on all continents of the world, for which millions of lawsuits ought to be filed. It is the pursuit of pleasure, money, comfort and convenience over morality in the killing of foetuses in the womb by abortion – a brutal and gut-wrenching process of crushing and extracting a human body from its mother’s uterus.

But where are the Greta Thunbergs speaking to the UN about this? Where is the approving social media coverage of those who speak up in favour of the unborn?

A new book, “If I could speak”, to be published by Christian Focus Publications in January next year, imagines a series of letters from a female baby in the womb, self-named Zoe, whose parents are considering abortion. To her mother she writes:

“Am I an unwanted guest who arrived because of decisions you and my dad made? I don’t want to make you feel too guilty, but I do want to know why two rational, consenting adults can make a decision (for immediate enjoyment purposes) but also question whether they should be accountable for the possible effects of their actions… Do you not think it reasonable for me to simply ask you and daddy whether you are both prepared to be responsible for putting me here in your belly?”

To her father she writes:

“Many fathers, I am told, don’t always want the child they are responsible for. They wanted and enjoyed the sex that brings about children, but for some reason they think it is okay to pursue pleasure but not responsibility. A child wondrously emerges, yet we are merely viewed as a glob of cells without any real identity. Such a view helps many fathers avoid taking responsibility for their actions.”

We have a responsibility to future generations to take care of our planet.

But we have an even greater responsibility to future generations – to allow them to live. Christians believe all lives matter because we are all made in the image of God.

Abortion has been called the greatest genocide in history. As the Christian anti-slavery campaigner, William Wilberforce, once said, after describing the evils he was protesting against, “Having heard all of this you may choose to look the other way, but you can never again say you did not know”.

But the Christian message is about more than moral outrage. We want the killing to stop but we do not say with Greta, “future generations will never forgive you”. For all those caught up in abortion there is always the offer of forgiveness from the one judge whose opinion really counts – from God himself.

God the Father sent his Son into the world, into a human womb, to live a life of moral perfection followed by a gut-wrenching, undeserved death so that he could make possible forgiveness to all those who have sinned – yes, for anyone – even those who have taken another life. God is willing to gladly pardon your sins because of the life and death of Jesus.

We want to stand up for the right to life, but we also hold out the offer of life to the world – for our generation and for future generations as yet unborn – whatever kind of messed up planet they inherit from us.

Graham Nicholls is Director of Affinity