The Sacred Duty of Interpretation: What Biblical Silence Reveals About Life

At the recent National Right to Life Conference in Arlington, Virginia, a singular presentation challenged the modern assumption that biblical silence implies permission. Samuel D. Green, founder of Reason for Life, offered what he called “a biblical case for the sanctity of life” — not by searching for the word “abortion” in Scripture, but by reading the Bible as a lawyer reads a sacred covenant: with reverence for every chosen word.

Green’s argument, grounded in his legal training, proposes that Christians have misunderstood the nature of divine language. “Lawyers are trained to read laws and regulations and to consider language very carefully,” he observed, “and to attach significance to every word that is used.” The absence of a specific prohibition, he contends, does not constitute divine permission — a principle that applies with particular force to the question of the unborn.

The presentation noted that some regular churchgoers remain uncertain about the status of pre-born children, having been taught that the Bible does not mention abortion explicitly. Yet Green’s careful reading of Scripture suggests that the Creator’s silence on a specific term does not negate the consistent thread of sacred worth woven throughout the text. For Catholics, the Catechism provides an answer “unquestionably clear,” but for all Christians, the question becomes one of spiritual discernment: Are we reading the Bible as a list of prohibitions, or as a revelation of the heart of God?