The Scriptures And Abortion

by Cold Steel 10 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  Cold Steel

  I just saw the posting on the Bible and abortion. The OP asked where in the Bible that abortion was forbidden.

  Other than the countless scriptures on taking innnocent life, we have this passage from the Epistle of Barnabus (19:5):

  Thou shalt not doubt whether a thing shall be or not be. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord in vain. Thou shalt love thy neighbor more than thine own soul. Thou shalt not murder a child by abortion, nor again shalt thou kill it when it is born. Thou shalt not withhold thy hand from thy son or daughter, but from their youth thou shalt teach them the fear of God.
  
  English Translation by J. B. Lightfoot
  
  Thou shalt not slay the child by procuring abortion; nor, again, shalt thou 
  destroy it after it is born. Thou shalt not withdraw thy hand from thy son, 
  or from thy daughter, but from their infancy thou shalt teach them the fear 
  of the Lord. 
  
  Roberts-Donaldson English Translation
  
  When was the Epistle of Barnabus written?
  
  C. E. Crossman writes: "Richardson and Shukster have also argued for a first-century date. Among several arguments they point to the detail of "a little king, who shall subdue three 
  of the kings under one" and "a little crescent horn, and that it subdued under one three of 
  the great horns" in Barnabas 4:4-5. They propose a composition "date during or immediately 
  after the reign of Nerva (96-8 C.E.)...viewed as bringing to an end the glorious Flavian 
  dynasty of Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian...when a powerful, distinguished, and sucessful 
  dynasty was brought low, humiliated by an assassin's knife" (33, 40).
  
  It is one of the earliest Christian writings and I have no idea why it was not included in the 
  Bible. But there are many others, like the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs that also was 
  considered scripture by the early Christians.
• 

  jwfacts

  It would be interesting to know why the Catholic Church rejected books such as Barnabas.

  In the Old Testament abortion is not forbidden. The reason being that a child was not a human soul until it took its first breath.

  In Exodus 21:22-23 it discusses where two men fighting cause an abortion, as compared to where the mother dies as well.

  "If men who are fighting hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely*(OR she has a miscarriage) but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman's husband demands and the court allows. But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life,..."

  It is a bit cryptic, but generally understood to mean that if the baby dies then there is only a cash fine imposed. However, if the mother dies as well there is the death penalty. This is because causing a miscarriage was not considered to be murder, so hence the lesser penalty.

  See http://www.religioustolerance.org/abo_biblh.htm for more information on the Jewish viewpoint.
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  Band on the Run

  You are making a great leap without any proof. Life begins at birth. This is the traditional formulation. English law during the Middle Ages allowed tort damages for harm to a fetus when someone kicked a pregnant woman. The fetus was not considered to have value until it quickened or kicked. Criminal laws restricting abortion are a relatively recent development.

  You are mixing your religious ideas with an unclear understanding of how first century Christians viewed abortion. No one knew the biology of conception. I value your right to beieve that life begins with conception. Certainly, something as clear as abortion would be included in the canonical scriptures. The gospel writers clearly slanted their accounts to appeal to their target audience. Jesus makes no comment. Abortions had to exist. Yet Jesus is silent.

  One or two noncanonical quotes from very brief scriptural passages is not convincing compared to the vast number of Christian writings that do not mention abortion. I don't care what someone's religious viewpoint is. Never, never impose it on me. I have a right to my views. The overwhelming majority of Americans are prochoice. Most are Christian, too. How do we select which variant of Christianity to follow.

  If abortion were so important, the evangelists would have put words in Jesus' mouths. Paul can be viewed as ever vigilant against immorality. He is silent.
• 

  matt2414

  Other than the countless scriptures on taking innnocent life, we have this passage from the Epistle of Barnabus

  Cold Steel, you are correct that their are many scriptures that warn about taking an innocent life. But your argument is flawed because you assume that just because a woman is pregnant, that fertilized egg cell within her is a human life. The Bible never states that to be the case. In other words, not even God believes that.

  There are many arguments that could be made here, but the simpliest is this: True life does not require a host. If it requires being attached to the mother in order to live, such as an embryo, than it is not yet a life on its own. It is still the mother's life that sustains it, and thus a part of her body.

  Remember, a female human is born with 1-2 million egg cells, with about 300,000 of them still available at puberty. Of those, only about 400 are released during her reproductive life. Even then, she may only give birth to a fraction of that number, if she has children at all. If there is a God, he would know that a woman would never use all the egg cells he put in her, much like he would know that men would never utilize the billions of sperm cells their bodies produce. Putting an egg cell and a sperm cell together does not in itself make a human life. It has to grow and transform into one, and then be able to survive on its own. Since the Bible is completely silent on this aspect, it is inappropriate and sacriligious to use it to support the anti-abortion movement.

  As Paul wrote at 1 Cor. 4:6: "Do not go beyond what is written."
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  NewChapter

  The bible has no authority for me---however----the practice is not mentioned anywhere in the bible. It existed, it always has, but the bible never mentions it. Some people pour the majority of their time and heart into an issue that was simply never mentioned in their bible, and yet ignore things that were mentioned over and over again. Why is that? We have people that stand on the sidewalk every single day with signs in their hands around the corner from me, and I'm thinking---why are they feeding the poor and taking care of orphans with all this time? Why are they out protesting something their bible never mentions? Perhaps one day I will ask them.

  NC
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  Cold Steel

  If the fetus is not developed, then I'm hard pressed to see that a human life has been taken. If, on the other hand, the fetus is moving about and showing signs of life--kicking and reacting to things like music--that's a different matter. In late term abortions, abortionists force a partial birth, then they kill the infant just as any soldier would. In most cases the abortionist will drive a sharp object into the base of the brain without so much as administering a narcotic or pain reliever. In many states, pro-abortionists oppose pain relievers because the implications point to the fact that the infant can feel pain and, if so, then it can be viewed as murder.

  A more comprehensive article in how abortion is viewed in the Old Testament can be found here.

  In the case of the scripture mentioned about two men fighting, here's another article. The article, by Richard Elliott, notes: "The meaning of this law is unclear in several different ways, and learned scholars have questioned its meaning over two millennia. Two men (or is it more than two? And are they necessarily men?) are fighting, and they cause a miscarriage (or is it a premature labor? And is it one or is it both/all of them who cause it?) by somehow striking the woman, and this results in injury or death to the woman (or is it to the baby?) The law may mean: the woman loses the child, and the question is then whether there is any injury to the mother or not. Or it may mean: the child is born alive, and the question is then whether there is any injury to the child." Elliott later notes: "...this biblical passage is not about abortion. It is about accidental miscarriage. It is about the unintended consequences of a fight. Involving miscarriage rather than abortion, and being about unintended consequences rather than about a procedure whose consequences are planned, this law is an extremely difficult precedent on which to base any view: either for abortion or against it." Certainly, he concludes, "It simply cannot be the basis for a definitive answer to such an important issue."

  The issue of abortion is, to me, one that can be answered by simply looking within one's self. If a fetus is removed from the womb and exhibits human characteristics, killing it is certainly murder. Barnabus made no distinction between abortion and killing one's children when they had been born. If done early, before the fetus develops into a human shape, then the issue becomes more fuzzy.
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  blondie

  Also the Israelite soldiers had no problem killing babies and babies in the womb if they happened to be in a group of people condemned by God and living on land said to have been given to the Israelites 500 or more years before.

  (Joshua 10:37-39) 37 And they got to capture it and went striking it and its king and all its towns and every soul that was in it with the edge of the sword. He did not let a survivor remain, according to all that he had done to Eg′lon. So he devoted it and every soul that was in it to destruction. 38 Finally Joshua and all Israel with him came back to De′bir and began to war against it. 39 And he got to capture it and its king and all its towns, and they went striking them with the edge of the sword and devoting every soul that was in it to destruction. He did not let a survivor remain. . . .

  Josh 8:25-27

  Josh 11:11,14
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  mP

  Why would anyone worry what the bible says about abortion when it condones slavery and the rape of virgins with redemption via payment of a dowry.
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  NewChapter

  Good point.
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  ilikecheese

  I'm a Christian, but this issue annoys me so much. I would say that, yes, late term abortions are basically killing a baby. With medical advancements, babies who are born four months premature can survive, albeit with problems. But I don't believe that life begins at conception, either, and I feel people are just grasping at straws when they say that the Bible says it does. If people get an abortion within a month or so of finding out that they're pregnant, it just doesn't logically seem like it's "murder" to me. And the Bible doesn't say one way or the other, either.

  Of course if I say these things to anyone I go to church with, I'll have to duck from projectile objects and fists. :P