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ABORTION and the BIBLE
Does God forbid abortion? ...
God speaks about abortion in only two places in the Bible.
1) Accidental Abortion
If a brawling man happens to strike a pregnant woman and causes a miscarriage, that is, an Abortion, he must pay a fine to the expectant father. ... (Exodus 21:22-25)
2) Intentional Abortion
If a man suspects that his wife has had intercourse with another man - and possibly has become pregnant - he shall take her to the tabernacle, where the priest will mix holy water with the dust off the floor - where animals are slaughtered for sacrifice - and force the woman to drink it. ... In other words, she will have an Abortion. ... " And in neither case does God forbid abortion. ...
Abortion in the Bible and Church History
There is a small but influential circle of prochoice advocates who claim to base their beliefs on the Bible. They maintain that "nowhere does the Bible prohibit abortion." [1] Yet the Bible clearly prohibits the killing of innocent people (Exodus 20:13). All that is necessary to prove a biblical prohibition of abortion is to demonstrate that the Bible considers the unborn to be human beings.
Personhood in the Bible
A number of ancient societies opposed abortion, [2] but the ancient Hebrew society had the clearest reasons for doing so because of its foundations in the scriptures. The Bible teaches that men and women are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). ... In the Bible there are references to born children and unborn children, but there is no such thing as a potential, incipient, or "almost" child. ... This means that, "far from justifying permissive abortion, in fact grants the unborn child a status in the eyes of the law equal to the mothers." [5]
Meredith Cline observes, "The most significant thing about abortion legislation in Biblical law is that there is none. It was so unthinkable that an Israelite woman should desire an abortion that there was no need to mention this offense in the criminal code." [6] All that was necessary to prohibit an abortion was the command, "You shall not murder" (Exodus 20:13). ... Therefore, miscarriage was always viewed as the loss of a child and abortion as the killing of a child.
Numbers 5:11-31 is an unusual passage of Scripture used to make a central argument in A Prochoice Bible Study, published by Episcopalians for Religious Freedom. ... The text gives no indication of either pregnancy of abortion. ...
The Prochoice Bible Study that cites the NEBs unique translation suggests if God indeed causes miscarriage, it would therefore be an endorsements of people causing abortions. This is a huge stretch, since neither the wife, husband, nor priest made the decision to induce an abortion, nor would they have the right to do so. The passage does not seem to refer to a miscarriage at all; but even if it did, there is a certainly nothing to suggest any endorsement of human beings initiating an abortion. ... This is strikingly similar to discoveries of thousands of dead babies discarded by modern abortion clinics. One scholar of the ancient Near East refers to infant sacrifice as "the Canaanite counterpart to abortion." [8] Unlike the pagan sacrifices, however, with abortion, child killing need no longer be postponed till birth. ... While the killing of all innocent human beings is detestable, the Bible regards the killing of children as particularly heinous (Leviticus 18:21; 20:1-5; Deuteronomy 12:31). ...
Abortion and Church History
Christians throughout church history have affirmed with a united the humanity of preborn child. ... You shall not slay a child by abortion. ...
The Didache, a second-century catechism for young converts, states, "Do not murder a child by or abortion of kill a newborn infant" (Didache 2. ... Jerome called abortion "the murder of an unborn child" (Letter to Eustochium, 22. ... Origen, Cyprian, and Chrysotom were among the many other prominent theologians and church leaders who condemned abortion as the killing of children. New Testament scholar Bruce Metzger comments, "It is really remarkable how uniform and how pronounced was the early Christian opposition to abortion. ... [11]
Modern theologians with a strong biblical orientation agree that abortion is the killing of a child. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who lost his life standing up against the murder of the innocent in Germany, argued that abortion is "nothing but murder. ... The Religious Coalition for Abortion Rights, for instance, has adopted the motto, "Prayerfully Prochoice," and prochoice advocates point to it as proof that conscientious Christians can be prochoice. ... [14]
The "Christians" prochoice position is nothing more than an accommodation to modern secular beliefs, and it flies in the face of the Bible and the historical position of the church. ...
Conclusion: The Bible and the Children
Even if church history were unclear on the matter, the Bible is very clear. ...
Abortion in the Bible and Church History
There is a small but influential circle of prochoice advocates who claim to base their beliefs on the Bible. They maintain that "nowhere does the Bible prohibit abortion." [1] Yet the Bible clearly prohibits the killing of innocent people (Exodus 20:13). All that is necessary to prove a biblical prohibition of abortion is to demonstrate that the Bible considers the unborn to be human beings.
Personhood in the Bible
A number of ancient societies opposed abortion, [2] but the ancient Hebrew society had the clearest reasons for doing so because of its foundations in the scriptures. The Bible teaches that men and women are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). ... In the Bible there are references to born children and unborn children, but there is no such thing as a potential, incipient, or "almost" child. ... This means that, "far from justifying permissive abortion, in fact grants the unborn child a status in the eyes of the law equal to the mothers." [5]
Meredith Cline observes, "The most significant thing about abortion legislation in Biblical law is that there is none. It was so unthinkable that an Israelite woman should desire an abortion that there was no need to mention this offense in the criminal code.
Approximate Word count = 5036
Approximate Pages = 20.1
(250 words per page double spaced)
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