ubicaritas
sinning boldly
- Jul 22, 2017
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The sanctity of human life extends all the way back to Cain killing Abel. Written in stone “You shall not murder" in Exodus 20:13. Compare Exodus 23:7
Also see Genesis 9:5-6
I quoted the Didache because it gives us an indication on how the early church viewed abortion.
We see this also in the Epistle of Barnabas:
You shall not slay the child by procuring abortion; nor, again, shall you destroy it after it is born. (Chapter 19)http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0124.htm
And even a century later:
Tertullian (c. 160 - 240)
They [John and Jesus] were both alive while still in the womb. Elizabeth rejoiced as the infant leaped in her womb; Mary glorifies the Lord because Christ within inspired her. Each mother recognizes her child and each is known by her child who is alive, being not merely souls but also spirits.
- De Anima 26.4
Thus, you read the word of God, spoken to Jeremias: "Before I formed thee in the womb, I knew thee." If God forms us in the womb, He also breathes on us as He did in the beginning: "And God formed man and breathed into him the breath of life." Nor could God have known man in the womb unless he were a whole man. "And before thou camest forth from the womb, I sanctified thee." Was it, then, a dead body at that stage? Surely it was not, for "God is the God of the living and not the dead."
- De Anima 26.5
It is not permissible for us to destroy the seed by means of illicit manslaughter once it has been conceived in the womb, so long as blood remains in the person.
- Apologia, cap 25, line 42
In our case, murder being once for all forbidden, we may not destroy even the foetus in the womb, while as yet the human being derives blood from other parts of the body for its sustenance. To hinder a birth is merely a speedier man - killing; nor does it matter whether you take away a life that is born, or destroy one that is coming to the birth. That is a man which is going to be one; you have the fruit already in the seed.
- Apologia 9.6
Well, even if the early church did believe that ,that's not a substitute for moral deliberation in this century. The early church also believed generally you couldn't be a soldier and be a Christian, but my religious denomination does not accept this logic. We are well known for producing lots of soldiers and police.
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