This post by John Prager originally appeared at Addicting Info.
It seems like a day doesn’t go by that we don’t hear the Right screaming that abortion is wrong because babies are alive from the moment of conception. This line of rhetoric is used to fuel conservatives in their holy war against a woman’s right to choose — a war that recently saw casualties on Black Friday when a Christian extremist walked into a Colorado Planned Parenthood facility complaining about Obama and “baby parts” and started shooting.
But what if life doesn’t begin at conception? What if the Biblical definition of “life” would allow even the latest of late-term abortions? What if right-wing Christians have it all wrong? To figure out if this is the case, it’s best to start at the beginning — specifically, in the book of Genesis. Please turn your Bibles to Chapter 2, verse 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 soul.”
Since the Bible is the word of God and God is infalliable, anti-abortion fanatics have nothing to complain about. Simply put, life begins when one draws his or her first breath. This, of course, isn’t the only reference like this. Job 33:4 reads:
“The spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.”
Ezekiel 37:5-6 is also very clear on the matter:
“Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Lord.”
Once again, life begins upon the drawing of the first breath. Of course, there does seem to be some leeway. Leviticus 27 makes it very clear that babies have no value to God until they are one month old. If anything, Christians should only be angry if a child is killed after he or she takes his or her first breath — especially since God gives them a recipe for a magical abortion potion in Numbers 5:11-31:
15 Then shall the man bring his wife unto the priest, and he shall bring her offering for her, the tenth part of an ephah of barley meal; he shall pour no oil upon it, nor put frankincense thereon; for it is an offering of jealousy, an offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to remembrance.
16 And the priest shall bring her near, and set her before the Lord:
17 And the priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel; and of the dust that is in the floor of the tabernacle the priest shall take, and put it into the water:
18 And the priest shall set the woman before the Lord, and uncover the woman’s head, and put the offering of memorial in her hands, which is the jealousy offering: and the priest shall have in his hand the bitter water that causeth the curse:
19 And the priest shall charge her by an oath, and say unto the woman, If no man have lain with thee, and if thou hast not gone aside to uncleanness with another instead of thy husband, be thou free from this bitter water that causeth the curse:
20 But if thou hast gone aside to another instead of thy husband, and if thou be defiled, and some man have lain with thee beside thine husband:
21 Then the priest shall charge the woman with an oath of cursing, and the priest shall say unto the woman, The Lord make thee a curse and an oath among thy people, when the Lord doth make thy thigh to rot, and thy belly to swell;
22 And this water that causeth the curse shall go into thy bowels, to make thy belly to swell, and thy thigh to rot: And the woman shall say, Amen, amen.
23 And the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot them out with the bitter water:
24 And he shall cause the woman to drink the bitter water that causeth the curse: and the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her, and become bitter.
25 Then the priest shall take the jealousy offering out of the woman’s hand, and shall wave the offering before the Lord, and offer it upon the altar:
26 And the priest shall take an handful of the offering, even the memorial thereof, and burn it upon the altar, and afterward shall cause the woman to drink the water.
27 And when he hath made her to drink the water, then it shall come to pass, that, if she be defiled, and have done trespass against her husband, that the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her, and become bitter, and her belly shall swell, and her thigh shall rot: and the woman shall be a curse among her people.
28 And if the woman be not defiled, but be clean; then she shall be free, and shall conceive seed.
The Big Guy clearly believes in the right to choose — as long as that choice is made by a man. Sure, the potion is magic but it causes an abortion no matter how you slice it.
Boulder late-term abortion doctor Warren Hern on Trump: 'I fear for my life. I fear for my patients.' https://t.co/LQGQ5d8PvF
— Alex Burness (@alex_burness) November 11, 2016
God even makes it clear that he considers a living, breathing human to be of more value than a fetus in Exodus 21:22, which dictates that if a man causes a woman to miscarry, he should be fined — but if he kills the woman, he will be put to death. If God considered a fetus alive, wouldn’t he impose the same penalty for both?
In short, no one who claims life begins at conception is following the Bible. The Right’s anti-abortion movement is an absolute sham — just like “baby parts” and other misinformation they peddle to appeal to their unquestioning, intellectually-devoid base. Sorry, Christians, God is extremely pro-choice — perhaps more so than any liberal when you consider mass baby killings, genocides, and such.
“God has decreed, for one reason or another, that at least one-third of all pregnancies shall be terminated by a spontaneous abortion during the first trimester of pregnancy and that a number will be terminated after the first trimester,” the Christian Left blog notes. “It would appear that God does not have any more regard for the loss of a fetus than he does for the loss of a placenta or a foreskin despite the fact that these were living tissue as the result of conception.”
Conservatives should probably read those Bibles they use to beat others over the head. They might learn something — and then they can stop shooting up Planned Parenthood facilities, bombing abortion clinics, and generally being awful with regard to women’s bodies.
Trump Says He’ll Appoint Justices Who Will Overturn Roe v. Wade
“Women Will Die Because of This”: Planned Parenthood on Trump Signing Anti-Abortion Global Gag Rule
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U missed Exodus 2:23 though
“But if there is any further injury then you shall require as a penalty life for life “
So if the woman miscarries & the baby doesn’t live then the man is to lose his life as well hence “life for life”. God is referring to the unborn child as a life.
You need to STOP! That scripture does not mean THAT, it is talking about the WOMAN!
Just LIE on the Bible and God to prove YOUR point!
I am a Christian… so don’t try to marginalize me…
Stacey A. Trish, Exodus 21:23. You left out the “one” in twenty-one.
In verse 22, giving birth prematurely means to have a marriage. Also, it stated that two men fighting and they accidentally STRIKE A PREGNANT WOMAN. This is the only identifier of someone else being present, pregnant and could be physically harmed which could result into a child being born early, miscarried.
However, verse 23 states a different action, such as the physical altercation caused by the two men could possibly result in a serious injury to the woman, then the husband can decide how he wants to handle the casualty.
Verse 22; No serious injury after a miscarriage, but verse 23; serious injury after serious harm to the woman, the wife.
Because it speaks of the woman only in the 22nd verse, the woman (being part of the man) is the decision factor in how the husband will decide an “eye for an eye” and if any action against the men would suffice for any serious injuries to the woman, the wife, but not any mentioning of said child.
*Read the full text from the verses in Exodus 21:22-25.
Also, let us pray to our Father God for help, in understanding of His Words and we share them when in His Spirit with compassion and kindness to others.❤️
No. If the woman dies of her injuries, the man shall be put to death. If she is merely injured but miscarries, the man shall pay a fine. The breathing, sentient woman is a life, a person, therefore, a life for a life if she dies. The fetus is merely property. This passage and several others is why Jews know life does not begin at conception, it begins with ensoulment and that happens upon birth, at first breath.
Remember, the Tanakh or Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew. If anyone knows the meaning behind the words, it’s Jews. There are a lot of misinterpretations in Christian versions and by preachers. On a related note, the Christian bibles are originally from a translation of Hebrew into Greek, and mistakes were made. In Hebrew, one word can have many meanings, and it tripped up the Greeks here and there. Some are minor, some huge.
Wow! You just took that scripture that obviously didn’t say ANY of what you said it said and made it what you wanted it to be!! Can’t say that a baby is alive when it takes his first breath!!! I can’t even believe you’ve got that from that! It said that God took his breath, and was explaining how mandolins made and nothing to do with the baby at all in the first place it was the first man Adam, not a baby! And then later on when you put that story of the Bible about the curse and the woman it wasn’t for her to drink it and kill the baby it was for her to drink it and if the baby was not her husbands and she would be cursed for life. Just crazy mind blowing him how can get that out of what you posted. Insane!! Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth…….
No Larissa. First breath is mentioned in several places to indicate a life or soul. The story of Adam was an explanation for all of us. Our soul enters with and our life begins with and at our first breath. On your second claim, you are really way off.
A man thought his wife might be carrying another man’s child. So the priest suggests a test. She is to drink the bitter waters and if she was faithful, nothing would happen. If she was not, the bitter waters would cause her to abort.
Does the Bible really say that preborn life is sacred? I’m a Bible-believing Christian and a dedicated pro-life activist. I’ve never doubted that Scripture supports the sanctity of life in the womb (as, for example, in Psalm 139:13-16). Then a skeptical friend directed my attention to Exodus 22:21-24, where the penalty for causing a woman to miscarry or abort is nothing more than a fine. If the preborn child is really a full-fledged person, wouldn’t the death penalty have been imposed? Doesn’t this indicate that the Bible regards the fetus as something less than a human being?
Not in the least. Let’s take a closer look at the passage in question.
Rendered literally, the Hebrew of Exodus 21:22 reads, “If men fight, and strike a pregnant woman so that her children come out …” The New American Standard Bible translates this as “so that she has a miscarriage.” But The New King James Version says “so that she gives birth prematurely.” In other words, it is not clear from the text that the child in question actually dies.
If the translators of the NKJV are correct, we can assume that the subsequent death of the premature baby would fall under the heading of potential “mischief” or “harm” that might result from such an incident. In that case, the standard penalty would apply: “life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, etc.” (verse 24). If this interpretation is not correct, it’s hard to understand what the writer has in mind when he says “if any mischief follows.” He can’t be referring to the woman, since, where she’s concerned, the harm has already been done.
If, on the other hand, the NASB has it right, then we have to remember that the death of the woman’s “fruit” or “offspring” is in this instance is not the result of murder. It’s accidental manslaughter. As you may know, the Old Testament Law made special provision for the refuge and protection of people who became guilty of unintentional manslaughter (see Numbers 35:9-34). A similar attitude may be reflected in the imposition of a fine rather than the death penalty in this passage. Even in our modern context, most people agree that there is a significant difference between accidental miscarriage and deliberate abortion.