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How ironclad is the "life begins at conception" doctrine?

PloverWing

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Is "Saint Steven" really ignorant of the biblical verses referenced on God knowing us before we were born and the OT references to harm to pregnant women?

If not, then Saint Stephen is merely being pedantic.

Let's be civil to each other here, and assume that we're all familiar with the Bible verses that apply to this question.
 
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atpollard

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Let's be civil to each other here, and assume that we're all familiar with the Bible verses that apply to this question.
Making that assumption is what got me in trouble in the first place ...


Is "Saint Steven" really ignorant of the biblical verses referenced on God knowing us before we were born and the OT references to harm to pregnant women?

If not, then Saint Stephen is merely being pedantic.
 
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Saint Steven

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Thanks, Phil. No worries about being directed at me.

This, at least in my mind, raises the whole issue of the morality of birth control. We take it for granted today, but... ???
 
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Saint Steven

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Sir, a parasite is still a living thing. So, your conversation with the rancher actually affirms that the unborn child is a living thing.
Thanks for your post. Welcome to the discussion, and the forum. You appear to be new here?

Just to be clear, my rancher friend was making a distinction between life and viable life. He wasn't denying that the fetus "parasite" in question was alive, but he did hold out judgment on viability until the animal could see to its own needs. Which I thought was an interesting point.
 
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Saint Steven

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Is "Saint Steven" really ignorant of the biblical verses referenced on God knowing us before we were born and the OT references to harm to pregnant women?
Thank you.
This actually gets to, and even supports, my point.

If this is the best we can come up with for a biblical defense of life beginning at conception, then we have lost the argument. Here's why IMHO...

And this further supports the "viable" life aspect.

Those acknowledged in the scripture as God knowing from conception obviously had a viable life, and God knew about it in advance. But this does NOT support the idea that VIABLE life begins at conception. Not every conception ends in viable life. Right?
 
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Saint Steven

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HOw Ironclad? Most people get it from the scriptures, and they and I would say it is clear, although not a fundamental of the faith.
Thanks for joining us in the discussion.

This is the reason for the topic. We have all bought into the dogma about life beginning at conception. But does that claim really stand up?
 
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Saint Steven

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The human body rejects 40 to 80% of fertilized eggs. Are they all now dead persons?
Can you expand on that?
Interesting point, but I don't know what it is based on.
 
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JMireles

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The human body rejects 40 to 80% of fertilized eggs. Are they all now dead persons?
Yes, they're dead humans. However, those that are rejected or miscarried die natural deaths. As such, attempting to draw moral parallels between the two is disingenuous at best.
 
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chevyontheriver

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Thanks, Phil. No worries about being directed at me.

This, at least in my mind, raises the whole issue of the morality of birth control. We take it for granted today, but... ???
Careful! Going down that path could make you Catholic.
 
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Homeby5

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Isn't "the depravity of man' part of Calvinism?
I guess...buts its also a part of just about every other Christian sect. Calvinist doesnt own it no more than Baptist own evangilism.
 
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atpollard

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I guess...buts its also a part of just about every other Christian sect. Calvinist doesnt own it no more than Baptist own evangelism.
Yeah, it pretty much just indicates that somebody read Romans 3 or Ephesians 2 or any of the many other Biblical verses that support the inadequacy of man and our unhealthy attraction to sin (hence the NEED for God to send a SAVIOR and the reason following the LAW saved nobody).
 
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Saint Steven

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I guess...buts its also a part of just about every other Christian sect. Calvinist doesnt own it no more than Baptist own evangilism.
Are you always this evasive?
 
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Fervent

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That's a dangerous standard, since it can easily be extended beyond pregnancy to the infirmed and other eugenic-like propositions. The argument over abortion is about the sanctity of human life, so whether or not the life is "viable" is a separate question entirely.
 
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John Owen

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Thanks for joining us in the discussion.

This is the reason for the topic. We have all bought into the dogma about life beginning at conception. But does that claim really stand up?
How does it stand up? For those who believe the Bible, pretty well. For those who don't, not at all.
 
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Saint Steven

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How does it stand up? For those who believe the Bible, pretty well. For those who don't, not at all.
What is that biblical case? I seem to have a hard time getting anyone to own up to it.
And frankly, last time I looked into it, it looked pretty shaky. But you seem very confident.
What are the key points biblically?

It seems to me that the case made is more reliant on a conservative Christian political position than anything else.

Saint Steven said:
Thanks for joining us in the discussion.

This is the reason for the topic. We have all bought into the dogma about life beginning at conception. But does that claim really stand up?
 
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chevyontheriver

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I think it is far more a Christian anthropology than politics. We knew from way back that the way of the world was wrong when it came to how we treat little people. From the Roman pater familias who had the absolute right to not accept a child he didn't want to the potions for contraception or abortion, and mystery religion practices, common Greco-Roman sexual practice didn't fit how Christians saw humanity.

The Didache speaks about abortion as something that just isn't to be done. So it's way older than some 'Moral Majority' thing. Falwell was actyally a latecomer. And he only got it from Francis Schaeffer anyhow.
 
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Saint Steven

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We knew from way back that the way of the world was wrong when it came to how we treat little people.
That's an angle worth exploring. The human rights issue as it concerns the child.
Usual presented as the rights of the mother. And a decision between her and her doctor (there's someone missing here)

I still don't think the biblical case, which I suppose Christian Anthropology is based on, is pretty weak.
It seems that the scriptures could be taken as referring to a single viable human. Not to be taken as a blanket statement about the unborn.
 
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2PhiloVoid

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Thanks, Phil. No worries about being directed at me.

This, at least in my mind, raises the whole issue of the morality of birth control. We take it for granted today, but... ???

... well, y'know., I blame this whole situation we're in today on the media. Back when they started publishing all of those "Onan the Barbarian" novels, everything went to pot!
 
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coffee4u

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If the zygote is not a life then how it growing and developing? Is it viable for its stage and environment it is in? Yes. It's designed to live and grow where God placed it inside the womb. It changes and develops but so does a baby change and develop into an adult. Is it viable outside the womb, no, but then neither is a person in a comma. Both are in a situation of needing support.
An infant left to itself won't grow either, it is reliant on someone older who can feed and clean and comfort them. In fact a newborn needs more care outside than inside the womb.

Psalm 139:16, NIV: Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

This zygote is unformed yet it is still that man's 'body' and God saw him. Not just saw his body but who he would become.
 
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Saint Steven

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The question is: Is this true only of the Psalmist, or of EVERY conceived "zygote" (as you say) ?
God knew that this would be a viable life. That isn't true of every zygote.
 
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