I was wanting to know what the Bible says - and how you felt - about the murder of Dr. Tiller by Scott Roeder.
Scott Roeder was clearly in the wrong for killing George Tiller. And the reason is not because George Tiller wasn’t deserving of death. He most certainly was. He had taken the lives of countless preborn babies, many of them by some of the most gruesome methods imaginable. And the vast majority of these abortions were performed, not because the pregnancies posed any real danger to the life of the mother; but merely because they were inconvenient, which is to say, the babies were inconvenient. It’s not as if a tragic decision had to be made between saving the life of the mother and saving the life of the child. No. The babies were sacrificed on the altar of convenience.
In a just society, men who wished to make money the way George Tiller made it would be driven underground. The law would be against them. The law would protect the life of the innocent by threatening the life of the abortionist, which is to say, the death penalty would be applied to anyone convicted of performing an abortion. God’s law is very clear on the matter of murder. And that’s what abortion is – murder. It is an unjustified taking of the life of the innocent. God doesn’t merely permit, he requires, that a murderer be executed by the state (Ex. 21:12-14; Num. 35:30-31).
It’s a disgrace that our state allows the practice of abortion. It’s an even greater disgrace that if our state legislature should successfully pass a law outlawing abortion, the legal precedent of the Supreme Court virtually ensures that the law would be struck down. Again, in a just society, one in which the rulers follow God’s law, murderers (including hired assassins, like abortionists) would be duly convicted and then executed.
And this is where Scott Roeder was wrong. He took the law into his own hands. Who appointed him judge, jury, and executioner? It was nothing but pride and presumption on his part to do what he did. God has his appointed rulers to enforce justice. If they fail to do so, they will have to answer to God for it. Our state legislature, our governor, and the powers that be at the federal level, as well as those who had a hand in putting them all into office will have to answer to God.
Those who are actually in office are those who are authorized by God to convict and execute. For a private individual to take it upon himself to execute an evildoer is murder. Even more, it is an act of revolution. And Christians are to have nothing to do with a revolutionary spirit. We should use all the peaceful and legal means that are available to us to seek to change the abortion law.
And another thing. We should pray to God for mercy, lest he strike us for the all the innocent blood that has been shed in our land since Roe v. Wade. The body count now is above 50 million and growing. Someone has said, “The wheels of God’s justice turn slowly, but they grind exceedingly fine.” So let us pray not only that our laws will be changed, but that God’s patience will not run out, but instead that he will be merciful to us for having allowed the scandal of abortion for so long.