Water usually becomes ice at 32 degrees Fahrenheit. But in order for the water to turn to ice, it must first have a single piece of crystalline substance upon which the water molecules can latch and arrange themselves in the rigid patterns necessary for liquid to solidify. That process is called nucleation. Normally, water has enough minerals or other dissolved substances inside of it available to start that process. However, it is possible to supercool purified water below 32 degrees Fahrenheit for a short time and it not turn to ice. If you do this with a simple bottle of purified water, and then tap that bottle, bang it, shake it, or drop a small ice shaving into it, the water will instantly freeze before your eyes. You’ll be able to see the ice crystals grow and spread through the bottle in seconds.
This nucleation process is a picture of how sin works. It grows rapidly throughout wherever it starts (Romans 5:12, James 1:15, Galatians 5:9). Consider the horrible and legal sin of abortion. With abortion, a mother allows her child to be killed by a provider in a clinical process sanctioned by the society whose sexual values helped produce the baby. Abortion is the supercooled water iced up about three quarters of the way through the bottle. The bottle is almost all ice, with only a bit of liquid left. So what is the seed crystal that started the nucleation process? The answer to that is a sinful and fallen value system. Abortion is only the tip of the iceberg. Below that tip is a cultural system bathed in sexual immorality. A culture that values, glorifies and promotes sexual behavior that floats free from the moorings of commitment. Supporting that tip is a culture that says it is okay for people to engage in sex with whomever they want, whenever they want, and to do so free from any consequences.
That culture of sexual immorality is supported by an even larger part of the iceberg. Our culture has forgotten to value God, and in doing so, we no longer value what has been made in his image. Because God is not at the center of our lives, and in some cases not even an important concept in our lives, we value our comfort and pleasures above all else. Abortion is evidence of that.
The opposite of all of this is also true. When people value God, they form a culture that values people, and those people form organizations that help others avoid terrible sins like abortion. And some of those survivors of that sin go on to grow Godly values in the larger culture!
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