When many Christians are riding the fence on God's values and principles, it raises a deeper question: What determines truth in our lives today? Is it culture that shapes our convictions? Or does God's Word still carry the greater weight? With over 60,000 abortions, most performed for convenience, we must pause. Not to argue. But to examine God’s Word and ask: What should our stand be?
Moses received the commandments, etched by the very finger of God (Deuteronomy 9:10). These weren’t just moral suggestions. They became the foundation upon which justice and law were built—even in our own nation’s beginnings. But today? We wink at them. We turn a blind eye to His laws that are meant to give us life (Deuteronomy 30:15-16). As followers of Jesus, our choices reflect our devotion. But what about abortion? Scripture doesn’t say, “Do not have an abortion.” It does say, Do not steal. Honor the Sabbath. Have no other gods. So, how do we know the truth about abortion?
Let’s start with a question: Who formed man and woman? It sounds simple. Yet in a culture that can’t even define woman, clarity grows cloudy. Why? Because sin deceives. It dulls discernment—even in well-meaning people. Loud voices have shaped the narrative: “It’s my body.” “It’s my choice.” “Abortion is just healthcare.” Even the Church has, at times, traded a biblical worldview for cultural convenience. But how much of this confusion stems from a lack of biblical knowledge?
Truth is not hidden. It’s available—if we’ll look and listen to the One who made us. For those who seek truth, God’s Word offers it. Clearly. Lovingly. Powerfully. God made man and woman in His image and breathed into them the breath of life (Genesis 2:7). He gave them the divine gift of creating life, commanding them to be fruitful and multiply (Genesis 1:27-28). And he didn’t step away after conception.
God is present—even in the womb. Psalm 139 tells us plainly: “For You created my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother’s womb… My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place” (Psalm 139:13 -15). When we want to dig deeper into Scripture, the original language helps clarify meaning.
The Greek word brephos is an example. It refers to both the unborn and the newborn, without distinction. In Luke 1:41, John the Baptist is called brephos while still in the womb: “When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby (brephos) leaped in her womb.” In Luke 2:12, the same word describes Jesus after birth: “You will find a baby (brephos) wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Again, in Luke 18:15: “People were also bringing babies (brephos) to Jesus for him to place his hands on them.” Same word. Same value. No biblical distinction between unborn and born. But the Word goes further. The Holy Spirit is active in the unborn.
John the Baptist’s story makes this unmistakable. Elizabeth, barren and advanced in years, conceives after prayer. Gabriel appears with details about the unborn child’s gender, name, calling, and purpose: “Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John... He will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born... to make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Luke 1:13–17).
God is not passive. He’s present in the womb. He shapes, fills, and prepares—even before birth. Scripture leaves no ambiguity: There is no difference in value between the unborn and the born. God is intimately involved in the secret place (Psalm 139:15).
God Is Involved in Our Lives from the Beginning
Psalm 139 is a favorite of mine—both personally and theologically. It speaks of God’s intimate involvement in each life, beginning long before birth. After my mom had three children, doctors told her she wouldn’t have any more. Yet despite their prognosis, I was born on April Fool’s Day, no less! That’s one reason these verses hold deep meaning for me. They remind us that every life is intentional, valued, and known by God.
“For you created my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made...my frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place...Your eyes saw my unformed body…all the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be.” - Psalm 139:13-16
The phrase “secret place” refers to the womb, described here as a sacred space where God personally knits and weaves each life, like a master craftsman creating something miraculous. Even when we are unformed, unseen by human eyes, God sees us. He is already there. Psalm 91:1 echoes this assurance:
“He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty” (NKJV).
God’s presence is not distant. It is enveloping and active, even from our earliest moments. As Psalm 139:7 says, “Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?”
Why is God so intimately involved with us, even from conception? Because His love cannot be separated from His creation. His presence in the womb reveals the value He places on every life He forms.
We Are Set Apart for Divine Purpose Before Birth
Scripture confirms that God’s work in the womb is not only creative but also purposeful. Time and again, we see individuals called, named, and set apart before they are even born:
Jeremiah: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born, I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5).
Isaiah: “Before I was born the Lord called me; from my mother’s womb he has spoken my name” (Isa. 49:1).
Israel: “He who made you, who formed you in the womb, and who will help you: do not be afraid...whom I have chosen” (Isaiah 44:1-2).
David: “Upon you I have leaned from before my birth; you are he who took me from my mother’s womb. My praise is continually of you” (Psalm 71:6). Even in acknowledging human sin, David writes: “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me” (Ps. 51:5)
In the New Testament, Paul speaks of being “set apart from my mother’s womb” to serve Christ (Galatians 1:15). And Isaac, born to barren Sarah in her old age, was called a child of promise, evidence that God’s plans are never hindered by human impossibility.
From the first cell to a fully formed child, Scripture shows God’s direct involvement—forming, calling, naming, and loving each life from the very beginning. As we consider these scriptural truths, we can now turn to what science and medicine confirm about when life begins, a truth that echoes what God’s Word has declared all along.
Science Says Life Begins at Conception
The cell formed by the union of a male sperm and a female ovum—the zygote—is a microscopic miracle. This single cell contains a complete, unique genetic code, distinct from that of any other human being. From the very beginning, the zygote biologically guides the development of various attributes, including personality, eye color, hair texture, freckles, and numerous other traits. That one cell, so small it’s invisible to the naked eye, multiplies into approximately 6,000 million cells to become a living, breathing person.
Medical and scientific professionals have confirmed that life begins at conception. Alexander Tsiaras, the creator of the MRI and a Yale University professor of medicine and scientific visualization, described his astonishment at human development: “Even though I am a mathematician, I look at this with the marvel of how do these instruction sets not make mistakes as they build what is us? It's a mystery. It's magic. It's divinity.”
Tsiaras's powerful visual presentation—a must-see—portrays the awe-inspiring journey of human life from conception to birth:
👉 TED Talk – Alexander Tsiaras: Conception to Birth Visualized
From the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee’s Human Life Bill and testimony from experts in biology and medicine:
-Dr. Hymie Gordon, Mayo Clinic: “By all the criteria of modern molecular biology, life is present from the moment of conception.”
-Dr. Micheline Matthews-Roth, Harvard Medical School: “It is scientifically correct to say that an individual human life begins at conception.”
-Dr. Jérôme Lejeune, University of Descartes in Paris: “Each has a very neat beginning—at conception.”
In testimony regarding embryonic stem cell cloning, Dr. Matthews-Roth added: “Physicians are not supposed to kill human beings of any age… a good end (successfully treating disease) never justifies using evil means (killing a young human to get its cells) to obtain the good end.”
Full testimony https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/matthews-roth_testimony_03_19_03.pdf
Dr. Bernard Nathanson, founder of NARAL (National Abortion Rights Action League) and once director of the largest abortion clinic in the U.S., later resigned after scientific discoveries in fetology and ultrasound technology confirmed to him that life in the womb is unmistakably human. Haunted by the truth, Nathanson admitted to having overseen over 60,000 abortions and later became a passionate pro-life advocate.
Even ancient Scripture affirms the value of life in the womb. In Exodus 21:22–25, if a pregnant woman is harmed and gives birth prematurely, the offender is held accountable—up to “life for life”—demonstrating the equal value of the unborn: “If people are fighting and hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely…but if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life…”
Why would we ever consider taking away this creative, divine gift? The God who formed life in the womb, who “scheduled every day” for that child before one of them came to be (Psalm 139:16), is the same God who calls that life sacred and full of purpose.
Not all are called to be prophets or kings, but every person formed in the “secret place” bears divine design and meaning. From the first invisible cell to the final breath of life, God’s love encompasses it all. Who can fathom such intimate involvement?
That new life, developing from one microscopic cell into 600 million cells, is not a burden or mistake. It is a miracle, a sacred trust formed through the love of a man and a woman, overseen by the Creator of all things.
Each life is an original creation. Rather than seeing a child as an inconvenience, we remember that “Children are a heritage from the Lord” (Psalm 127:3). So, when discouragement tries to dim your value, remember you were created with God’s eye upon you, from the womb to today. You matter to Him. You are significant. You are loved into eternity.
“My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place.” - Psalm 139:15
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