So you have a unique form of life, separate from the mother, that is human with a heartbeat and brain activity and killing it isn't murder? God knew Jeremiah before he was in the womb, but He doesn't know these flesh pieces we can discard? That just makes no sense to me. Sorry.
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.
This seems to be at odds with Luke 1 where John the Baptist leaps for joy and we are told was filled with the Holy Spirit while in his mother’s womb.God only imputes the "neshamah" - spark of life - to a viable fetus emerging from the womb.
I know this teaching well. I also agree with it.
How do evangelical Christians come up with polar opposite beliefs on things like abortion?
Oh please, your arguments are all over the place and nonsensical. You go ahead and trumpet a God of death, and I'll trumpet a savior who came so that all could have LIFE and have it more abundantly.God knows us before we are in our mother's wombs, yes. So what.
He is omniscient, meaning that He is all-knowing, and knows everything past, present and future. That does not mean that are unborns are living human beings from the moment of conception; there is no evidence they have a soul at that point, as Saints Augustine and Thomas Aquinas aptly pointed out, as babies can not even feel anything, least of all pain, in the first trimester.
You appear to be espousing the position of traducianism, the notion that all human beings obtain their souls biologically from their parents, with only Adam's soul being specifically created by God. You should know that this contradicts the notion of the indivisibility of the soul, and is widely rejected by modern Christian theologians as well as the medieval ones, who held that God creates a soul for each body that is generated. see here
Early abortion cannot be said to be murder, as murder is the unjustifiable killing of a living human being, and an early fetus has not been ensouled yet, is not viable to survive on its own outside the womb, and as such, it isn't murder.
Something is wrong when we treat motherhood as being like a 'living incubator' and innocent victim, here the child, must die to satisfy her desires.
It is my personal opinion that you can not be a Christian and approve of abortion.
Further, it is also my personal opinion that if a person approves of abortion then they are either evil or ignorant.
This seems to be at odds with Luke 1 where John the Baptist leaps for joy and we are told was filled with the Holy Spirit while in his mother’s womb.
So unless you’re prepared to say that a spirit filled unborn person didn’t have a soul, you and your Pastor are very wrong.
Yes, of innocent living blood. If a scientist were to shed the blood of a donated corpse for medical research, it would not bother the Lord.
And fetuses in the early trimesters are not living yet, as they do not have souls.
Third-trimester abortion for reasons other than to save the mother's life are heinous and murder, and I would be opposed to that.
And fact is abortions when the mother has to choose between her own life and the baby's life is extremely rare (less than 1%* ~ Guttmacher Institute**).If you mean the single word "cannot," you are totally wrong. It is not an opinion, but a fact, that a person can be a Christian and support women's right at the same time. Otherwise I would not be a Christian. Are you trying to tell people they are not Christians just because they support abortions when the mother has to choose between her own life and the baby's life or takes a Plan B pill?
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. Obviously, this was a special case though, every human being alive now spent nine months as a fetus in their mother's womb, but the question is when was the fetus ensouled?
As such, terminating a fetus in the early trimesters does not kill a living human being. Therefore, it is not murder. I agree with that principle.
Again, you are basing this logic on an ungrounded principle that "bodily autonomy" is a God given human right. A right that does not biblically exist. Furthermore, you admit that abortion at all stages is a sin (I agree), although you believe that it isn't murder in the early stages of development (no biblical justification). However, your logic paints yourself into a corner. First, your opinion is not biblically grounded so it is really nothing more than just your opinion, Second, your opinion goes against many references which suggest that life in the womb is as precious as any other human life. Thus, your ungrounded opinion is in fact, unbiblical. Third, your ungrounded and unbiblical opinion leaves you unable to logically justify your opposition to late term abortions without setting a double standard. In any case, it doesn't matter because you flat out admit that abortion at all stages of development is a sin. So why, as a Christian, are you promoting and advocating something that you consider to be a sin by advocating for abortion in the first trimester?Imagine if a woman, in a fit of jealously, rammed her car into her cheating boyfriend, grievously injuring him and irreparably damaging one of his vital organs. As a result, if he doesn't get an organ transplant he will likely die or be dead in two years from complications.
His girlfriend happens to be a perfect match; can the state force her to donate her organ to save her? No, they can't, and neither should they be able to, for she has bodily autonomy over her person, and no state can take that away from her.
The state can and should charge her with aggravated assault and, if he dies, vehicular manslaughter. But they should not be able to forcibly strap her to a medical exam room and extract a kidney from her, relegating her from womanhood to being a simple incubator.
The same logic applies with abortion, women are allowed to get abortions before viability because she has bodily autonomy, and she can't be forced to live as a human incubator.
God knows us before we are in our mother's wombs, yes. So what.
He is omniscient, meaning that He is all-knowing, and knows everything past, present and future. That does not mean that are unborns are living human beings from the moment of conception; there is no evidence they have a soul at that point, as Saints Augustine and Thomas Aquinas aptly pointed out, as babies can not even feel anything, least of all pain, in the first trimester.
Early abortion cannot be said to be murder, as murder is the unjustifiable killing of a living human being, and an early fetus has not been ensouled yet, is not viable to survive on its own outside the womb, and as such, it isn't murder.
"The shedding of blood" is not a term to be taken in a literal sense. Otherwise, donating blood to the Red Cross, according to your logic, would be a sin equivalent to murder. "The sheading of blood" means to murder or take innocent life that is not yours to take and does not require a cardiovascular system to make that possible.The second trimester is not an early stage. Some fetuses are considered viable before the third trimester. Also, the first two months they are embryos, not fetuses.
There is no innecent blood to be shed before the body is complete. Using those verses, abortion is OK if it happens before the embryo has a cardiovascular system.
Psalm 51:5
Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
Psalm 139:13
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
Human life must begin at conception for us to be "sinful from the time my mother conceived me." and that our "inmost being" starts to begin to be knitted together in my mother's womb.
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