I'm an evangelical Christian who believes that although abortion is sinful, it isn't murder, at least in the early trimesters before fetal viability, and that it should be permitted until the unborn child can survive on its own, as the mother is a living human being with her own rights and autonomy over her body.
I consider it to be murder post-viability in the third trimester, and would oppose it except for the life health of the mother.
Murder can best be defined as the unjustified killing of a living human being.
And contrary to what many people say, the Bible does not say that life begins at conception, but at ensoulment.
Genesis 2:7 - And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
Adam didn't become a living being until he was fully formed, until God created and infused a soul in him, not when he was still a collection of dust that God placed in the garden.
The only person free to make a clear decision on abortion is a believer who has sound doctrinal teaching to know when God imputes the human soul ("min betin" (Hebrew) and, Ek kolia (Greek)) - meaning
'from the womb.'
God only imputes the "neshamah" - the spark of life - to a viable fetus emerging from the womb. King James got that translation correct.
I know this teaching well. I also agree with it. Up to a point.
But.. we have a problem. One that is potentially evil if its not thought through with more Scripture ... If its not balanced, it can be dangerous and reckless.
Jesus warned that if a man lusts in his heart for a woman, that as far as God is concerned? That man has already committed adultery with just a thought. And, if a man holds unjustified anger towards another? That in his heart (as far as God is concerned)? That man in his thought commits murder.
So... Anyone who gets an abortion? But, avoids serious Bible study? They have no way of knowing that the kicking and moving fetus is not having a soul.
Everything that human reasoning (devoid of doctrine) can come up with would be to assume that the kicking and moving fetus is human life!
So, what would the anti-doctrine types be doing? In their heart they do not care if its a human being, or not. And, they can not prove it isn't. So? They do not care if they do in fact take a human life. And, we all know. God judges the thoughts and intent of the heart = murder. Just like a man wrongly angry with his brother, murders.
Irony is? The only person who can keep a clean slate before God is a person who learns sound doctrine and knows that the human soul (breathed into the body) is not given until the fetus is ..... from the womb.
No, the KJV did not use archaic English when it said "from the womb." I thought it had used old English until I learned something from a Greek and Hebrew scholar. For that is literally what the Greek and Hebrew says about birth. That the person becomes a person..
"from the womb." That is when God breaths in the soul. Its found in both the New and Old testaments. God does not change!
I used to wonder why the KJV translated it that way. Then my pastor who was an excellent Hebrew and Greek scholar sat us down and told us what the Scriptures say. He took a lot of flack for that teaching. But, he stuck with what the Hebrew and Greek tells us because he knew that it was what God put in the original languages, so we could know the Mind of Christ.
Just the same. Anyone not having -
nor wanting - this knowledge? He, or she , commits murder in their heart, because they are willing to take a chance with a human life that they have no way to be certain they are not destroying a human life. If we think it? God knows the intent.
Yet, this teaching can help heal some who believe they did murder. They walk around with terrible guilt feelings. For, there are two sides to this teaching.