I rarely use this weekly column to answer editorials or other columns; I much prefer to be proactive rather than reactive. However, on certain rare occasions, something comes along that warrants being answered since it speaks to large multiple issues all at once. Such is the case with a letter to the Chattanooga Times Free Press last week from a David Bean in Chatsworth, Georgia. His letter argued in favor of abortion and then went so far as to argue that even infanticide is not wrong. But it was his underlying premise that so piqued my interest, namely that unless the Bible specifically mentions a particular word or phrase, it cannot be regarded as wrong.
“What does the Bible say about abortion? Nothing, that’s right, nothing. If abortion isn’t in the Bible, God never called it murder or sin. The Bible warns against mildewed clothing, Leviticus 13:47-52, but not abortion.”
This fallacious argument is one that I like to call “the argument from ultra-specificity.” Simply put, it is the argument that there are no guiding principles in Scripture that apply to anything, let alone everything. If a particular word or phrase is not mentioned, we have no right to view it as a sin, even if it is utterly obvious that there is some command that has spoken of it without using the particular modern word in question.
So let me please demonstrate how quickly that view can come back to bite anyone who holds it. Since abortion is a fairly modern word, no, the Bible does not say “abortion is a sin.” But do you know what else it does not say? It does not say, “Thou shalt not stab your neighbor in the leg with an ice pick.” I rather suspect, though, that Dave would clearly view it as a sin should anyone do so to him! Nor does it say, “Thou shalt not assume thy neighbor’s identity and run up a bunch of bills on his credit card” or “Thou shalt not dox thy neighbor” or “Thou shalt not give thy neighbor a wedgie and noogies.”
“But wait!” comes the inevitable retort, “I can’t think of anything specific about the doxing or wedgies and noogies, but I do know that it says ‘thou shalt not steal,’ and that covers the identity theft part, and that stuff about loving your neighbor may possibly cover the doxing and wedgies and noogies!”