Life begins at conception?

Gladring

I've been enjoying questioning long held beliefs lately. One issue I've been pondering is the life of the unborn. This has been brought on by a couple of things.

Sam Harris in End of Faith and Letter to a Christian Nation discusses the moral implications of stem cell research and this has been discussed in the media lately too. He makes the argument that morals and ethics are primarily to do with human suffering. He weighs the potential suffering of a human embryo at 14 days (a blastocyst, a group of undifferentiated cells) against that of someone with a spinal injury who cannot walk who could potentially benefit from stem cell therapy in the future. He makes the point that the embryo has no nervous system at this age and there are more cells in the brain of a fly.

I accept the logic of his arguments and yet there is still something distasteful about the distruction of human life. My own opinions on this subject have changed and I now see the issue being discussed and solved based on scientific knowledge rather than the Bible and religious belief.

All this is a long winded preamble to my question which is this...

...Where exactly in the Bible does it say that life begins at conception? (Or in the catholic language - that the soul enters the zygote at conception)

I am aware of the scriptures in psalms about the embryo and all the parts down in writing but that's not quite the same as saying that life begins at conception. Also, I wonder about the original word that the WTBTS have translated as embryo. I doubt that the ancients new much about blastocysts.

I am also aware of the rules in the Torah regarding two men fighting and hurting a pregnant woman but again this does not necessarily mean that life begins at conception.

Finally, I think that any discussion of this should at least acknowledge that a large percentage of all pregnancies end in miscarriage. To quote Sam Harris "God is the greatest abortionist of all" I know that the WT would view this as a consequence of sin and corruption but it is hardly fair that an unborn child, who has not drawn breath let alone sin, bear the sin of Adam. I think that any reasonable discussion of the subject should take this into account.

I'm interested to hear opinions on this, but I would like to know an answer to where, if at all, this is stated in the Bible.

LDH

http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/18/165899/1.ashx

StAnn

Actually, LDH, I think we should recommend that thread. That way, he can see both sides of the issue, already hashed out.

Of course, there's more to his question but I'm too exhausted to answer today.

StAnn

reniaa

I agree with above posters this is a subject that has been covered a lot but I will comment on one of your point which I've heard many use to justify abortion.

Finally, I think that any discussion of this should at least acknowledge that a large percentage of all pregnancies end in miscarriage

to answer it I will ask another question of you....because people die of illnesses does that make it ok to murder?

Abortion is widely used and an accepted part of modern life but if anyone could bring someone from any part of history from before it's usage they would just be horrified and ask us "you kill your babies while they are in their mothers body?" the simplicity of this thought is my biggest issue with abortion.

Gladring

Ok, thanks for the opening comments and I read that discussion. Reniaa - I'll think about that. I do have my own opinion on the whole issue which I'll keep to myself for now. To keep to my main question though, where in the bible does it state that life begins at conception. I see that LDH asked a similar question on that thread about autism but it was never answered. I'd like to know does this have a biblical foundation or is it just another doctrine that St. Augustine dreamed up?

reniaa

if you want the scriptural basis here are a couple

(Jeremiah 1:5). King David said this about God's role in our conception: "For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb....Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them" (Psalm 139:13, 16).

This is one of those difficult subjects were we are trying to find scientific answers from the bible on modern issues, the bible doesn't mention smoking but we can apply bible principles easily to see it is wrong biblically.

The bible recognises that life is God given and there are enough mentions of fruit of the womb to show God sees the baby as such even while being carried inside. Conception itself isn't mentioned as we scientifically understand it today, so does that mean we can assume God would happily give us permission to abort babies for convenience?

The jewish people had all their i's dotted and everything they lived by put down in a law, they even went on to create the oral laws to further makes sure every situation to the smallest degree was covered. Christianity is more about principles were Jesus allows us to apply principles to any given situation to see for ourselves if something is right or wrong as part of our maturing process.

Over-analysing something can lead to cloudying the issue, Often on big discussions like on abortion i'm often reminded of the childrens fairytale about the "Emperor's new clothes" you know the one? he gets persuaded by some greedy tailors that hes wearing clothes only visable to clever people's eyes and everyone around him justifies it too, it took the simple logic of child to show all he was just naked. I love this story because it shows how easy it is for us to fool ourselves by getting to involved to miss the simple logic of a thing.

wobble

I just feel that abortion is wrong in principle,the Bibles view of life is what gives me this gut feeling(pun?) but I don't know of any scripture which would convince someone who does not want to see it the same as me.I would therefore say that in certain cases a loving God would allow abortion,but it does strike me that He views the fertilised egg as a "life", am I wrong?

love

wobble

reniaa

I agree with you wobble I think there are enough bible principles to show God views life from conception lol he wasn't even overkeen on erm wastage of the fluids involved.

I also feel science itself proves life begins at conception, can you get stem cells from sperm or ovum? do they have to wait till we have a fetus? are stem cells hailed as the new miraculous answer to cure many illnesses?

As a mother I feel an immediate bonding straight from conception, with all my children I've known I was pregnant well before I could even take a test so this discussion has always been moot point for me really.

Tuesday

I guess I'll be the first and say I support abortion. I do not believe that life begins at conception as much as it begins at birth. There are alot of things that are dependent on life, and the conception doesn't hold up against scrutiny. For instance there's something called a Chimera where two fertilized eggs merge into one egg and grow into one fetus. In such a case where did life begin, was it at conception, or was it at the merger? If it was at conception, then what happened to the second life, is that one person now two people in one?

MissingLink

I'd imagine the history of the doctrine would go way back before dubs were dubs. This is probably an inherited doctrine.

Life begins at conception?

Share this