Abortion: the core issue and criterion of Christian politics.

[Constantine the Sinner]

Yes, nephesh means an awful lot of things, too--"soul" and "life" and "breath" and "thought" and "emotion" and....

And 'life' can mean a lot of things in English ("Get a life,", "lively colors", "lifeless couch-potato", etc.). You're splitting hairs.

 

[SepiaAndDust]

And 'life' can mean a lot of things in English ("Get a life,", "lively colors", "lifeless couch-potato", etc.). You're splitting hairs.

No, I'm not. The Bible nowhere defines what a soul is, where it comes from, or what happens to it.

It uses some words from ancient Hebrew and Greek, but those words are equally applicable to any living creature, from dustmites to whales to people.

So whatever ideas people have about the nature of souls are all guesswork and wishful thinking.

 

[VanillaSunflowers]

And 'life' can mean a lot of things in English ("Get a life,", "lively colors", "lifeless couch-potato", etc.). You're splitting hairs.

Why split hairs at all? Or entertain as much?
The question is abortion. The core issue and criterion of Christian politics. The point of view that dehumanizes people is not going to be persuaded away from the ungodly by Biblical Exegesis.
Can we move on? Or do we allow that perspective to dominate the thread? It's your thread. It is your choice.

 

[SepiaAndDust]

It's your thread. It is your choice.

Nope. The OP's only option is to have the thread closed.

 

[Constantine the Sinner]

No, I'm not. The Bible nowhere defines what a soul is, where it comes from, or what happens to it.

It uses some words from ancient Hebrew and Greek, but those words are equally applicable to any living creature, from dustmites to whales to people.

So whatever ideas people have about the nature of souls are all guesswork and wishful thinking.

The Bible doesn't dichotomize the soul and the life like you are doing. The Bible is very simple. You came along thousands of years later and go, "Okay, we know what life is, but what's the soul?" People in ancient times would have looked at you funny and asked you to explain the difference. The distinction between soul and life is a product of our vocabulary, not the Bible.

 

[VanillaSunflowers]

This is a human being.

 

[Constantine the Sinner]

Why split hairs at all? Or entertain as much?
The question is abortion. The core issue and criterion of Christian politics. The point of view that dehumanizes people is not going to be persuaded away from the ungodly by Biblical Exegesis.
Can we move on? Or do we allow that perspective to dominate the thread? It's your thread. It is your choice.

I'm fine with moving on.

Do you see any other issue today as important as abortion?

 

[VanillaSunflowers]

I'm fine with moving on.

Do you see any other issue today as important as abortion?

In the world many issues confront the Christian. This particular discussion you started concerns abortion.

 

[Constantine the Sinner]

In the world many issues confront the Christian. This particular discussion you started concerns abortion.

As the primary issue.

 

[VanillaSunflowers]

No.
As Christians we know the answer. We do not abort unless our life is at risk. What the world does is not for us to control. It is all in God's hands.

 

[Hank77]

Why split hairs at all? Or entertain as much?
The question is abortion. The core issue and criterion of Christian politics. The point of view that dehumanizes people is not going to be persuaded away from the ungodly by Biblical Exegesis.
Can we move on? Or do we allow that perspective to dominate the thread? It's your thread. It is your choice.

So you have decided who is a Christian and who is unGodly because they earnestly search the scriptures for answers to when life becomes a living soul? How righteous you.
That question is at the very heart of the Christian debate about abortion.
My own position is that we just cannot know and even if it is not until that life of the body has a brain, it is still a potential human life, a potential living soul. In most cases it should be left up to God whether that life matures to birth.

 

[Constantine the Sinner]

No.
As Christians we know the answer. We do not abort unless our life is at risk. What the world does is not for us to control. It is all in God's hands.

So we are to never interfere if someone is being wronged, even in cases of mass-murder?

 

[SepiaAndDust]

The Bible doesn't dichotomize the soul and the life like you are doing. The Bible is very simple. You came along thousands of years later and go, "Okay, we know what life is, but what's the soul?" People in ancient times would have looked at you funny and asked you to explain the difference.

I think you just made that up.

The distinction between soul and life is a product of our vocabulary, not the Bible.

It wouldn't affect my view even a little if life == soul. I've never claimed that a fetus doesn't have life. I said that it doesn't have a human mind.

So even if a fetus does have a soul, so do fish and bugs. That's from the Bible--the exact same word was used.

 

[Constantine the Sinner]

I think you just made that up.




It wouldn't affect my view even a little if life == soul. I've never claimed that a fetus doesn't have life. I said that it doesn't have a human mind.

So even if a fetus does have a soul, so do fish and bugs. That's from the Bible--the exact same word was used.

But the Bible makes a very special distinction between human life and other life (Genesis 9:6).

 

[SepiaAndDust]

But the Bible makes a very special distinction between human life and other life (Genesis 9:6).

Maybe, but that has nothing to do with a soul. More, I think, because humans have a human mind that sets them, alone, apart from the animals. A fetus lacks that, despite its DNA.

 

[VanillaSunflowers]

So we are to never interfere if someone is being wronged, even in cases of mass-murder?

No, I will not circle back to that argument again. It was started in past pages and need not be revisited.

I was browsing the Controversial Christian Theology board just moments ago. The window at the top of that board scrolls to different Featured Threads. I wish it wouldn't show those that are closed to be featured. It's very disappointing to see a teaser thread title and snippet of the OP and then click on the link only to find the discussion is not open to further replies.

As happened with this one when I clicked it. But the reading was worth the time. And God does work in fascinating ways.
"... breathed into his nostrils THE BREATH OF LIFE..."
Discussion in 'Controversial Christian Theology' started by Douglas Hendrickson, Apr 21, 2016.

I'm linking that because what is happening in this discussion seems to be the same thing as happened in that one.
And as for me and my house, when we start going back in circles talking about the meaning of murder, the Holocaust reference is no doubt next. And that's not going to get us anywhere.

God is very clear about what soul is. Life is. Human is. And what abortion is. Even when abortion did occur in scriptures in the old testament.
What are we hoping to accomplish when threads start to go in the direction this one is? And that old one linked above?
Are we going to argue contrary to God's decrees for a Christian's life? Are we going to presume we must march into the world and turn it into the pages of the Bible?
What's the argument here? The Christian knows the answer to abortion. A thousand pages isn't going to change that fact when we follow God's word.

I'll be on my way now. I hope people read that linked thread. I believe God put that on that Featured Threads scroll just when I entered Controversial forum so that the scripture itself would catch my attention. Being we'd just spoken about what constitutes a soul.
I read in that old thread the same kind of argument that's happening in this one.

 

[Constantine the Sinner]

No, I will not circle back to that argument again. It was started in past pages and need not be revisited.

That was purely a semantic dispute.

If you'd prefer, "So we are to never interfere if someone is being wronged, even in cases of mass-slaughter of innocent people?"

 

[Hank77]

But the Bible makes a very special distinction between human life and other life (Genesis 9:6).

So do you believe the punishment for having an abortion, preforming an abortion, or forcing one to have an abortion, should be the death penalty?

 

[SepiaAndDust]

God is very clear about what soul is. Life is. Human is. And what abortion is. Even when abortion did occur in scriptures in the old testament.
What are we hoping to accomplish when threads start to go in the direction this one is? And that old one linked above?
Are we going to argue contrary to God's decrees for a Christian's life? Are we going to presume we must march into the world and turn it into the pages of the Bible?
What's the argument here? The Christian knows the answer to abortion. A thousand pages isn't going to change that fact when we follow God's word.

What we know is that nothing you just said is true.

 

[victorinus]

Abortion is the core issue of Christian politics

I agree and that is why I vote straight republican -
but I can't vote for trump -
can you?