John Stott and the Right to Life

Like many others, I deeply loved John Stott, his books and his contribution to the church of Christ. I really appreciated what he had to say about unborn children:

Since the life of the human fetus is a human life, with the potential of becoming a mature human being, we have to learn to think of mother and unborn child as two human beings at different stages of development. Doctors and nurses have to consider that they have two patients, not one, and must seek the well-being of both. Lawyers and politicians need to think similarly. As the UN’s “Declaration of the Rights of the Child” (1959) put it, the child “needs special safeguards and care, including appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth”. Christians would wish to add “extra care before birth”. For the Bible has much to say about God's concern for the defenseless, and the most defenseless of all people are unborn children. They are speechless to plead their own cause and helpless to protect their own life. So it is our responsibility to do for them what they cannot do for themselves.

From Authentic Christianity © 1995 John Stott and Timothy Dudley-Smith.

This Sunday, January 17, is Sanctity of Human Life Sunday 2016.

Here are some resources EPM recommends, and that you and your church can use:

EPM allows readers to download the free 2004 edition of Randy Alcorn’s book Why ProLife? (The thoroughly revised and updated print edition is available through our store.)

ERLC offers a free bulletin insert.

The Colson Center provides a free 21 Days of Prayer for Life Guide to help Christians intercede and engage.

A video of one of Randy’s past Sanctity of Human Life messages is available on our site

Photo credit: Oriol Martinez

Randy Alcorn (@randyalcorn) is the author of over sixty books and the founder and director of Eternal Perspective Ministries

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