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Some groups of Christians are known for their aggressive condemnation of abortion, they yell that an abortion is the ending of a life, an act condemned in the Bible, an affront to God but are they actually speaking the truth?
Believe it or not the Bible only once mentions abortion, the verse is found in Exodus chapter 21 and verses 22-25 which read.
22 And if men strive together, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart, and yet no harm follow; he shall be surely fined, according as the woman's husband shall lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. 23 But if any harm follow, then thou shalt give life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
Ex 21:22-25 (ASV)
It is clear from this verse that damage done to the fetus in the womb (...so that her fruit depart) is not considered murder, it is a civil crime punishable only by a fine but if the woman is harmed then "...But if any harm follow, then thou shalt give life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe..."
However there are other verses that some Christians use to support an anti-abortion stance because they believe they hint at a Biblical condemnation of Abortion, they are as follows:
Psalm 139:13-16 which reads:
13 You alone created my inner being. You knitted me together inside my mother. 14 I will give thanks to you because I have been so amazingly and miraculously made. Your works are miraculous, and my soul is fully aware of this. 15 My bones were not hidden from you when I was being made in secret, when I was being skillfully woven in an underground workshop. 16 Your eyes saw me when I was only a fetus. Every day {of my life} was recorded in your book before one of them had taken place.
Psalms 139:13-16 (GW)
The argument here is that God knits together in the womb each fetus and knows it intimately. However, what the verse is actually referring to is God's call to David to be King of Israel not to anyone or anything else.
Another verse of this kind is found in Jeremiah chapter 1: verses 4-10 in the Old Testament, here Jeremiah comments:
4 The Lord spoke his word to me,
5 “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I set you apart for my holy purpose. I appointed you to be a prophet to the nations.”
6 I, Jeremiah, said, “Almighty Lord, I do not know how to speak. I am only a boy!” 7 But the Lord said to me, “Don't say that you are only a boy. You will go wherever I send you. You will say whatever I command you to say. 8 Don't be afraid of people. I am with you, and I will rescue you,” declares the Lord. 9 Then the Lord stretched out his hand and touched my mouth. The Lord said to me,
“Now I have put my words in your mouth. 10 Today I have put you in charge of nations and kingdoms. You will uproot and tear down. You will destroy and overthrow. You will build and plant.”
Jer 1:4-10 (GW)
This verse, far from meaning that God knows us in the womb and purposes our existence is plainly about Jeremiah's call to be a prophet, note verse 5b and verse 10, these can only be applied to Jeremiah himself. There is no justification for seeing in these verses the claim that, because God knows us before we are formed in the womb, God hates abortion.
Indeed if you look carefully at the following verses, Leviticus 27:6; Numbers 3:15; Numbers 31:17-18, you will clearly see that, as far as God is concerned, fetuses are not important at all, they are assigned no monetary value for the temple tax, are not counted in the censuses and are presumably ordered killed when their mothers were killed by the victorious Israelite soldiers entering into Canaanite towns and villages.
Moreover under Judaic law fetuses are not considered fully human until they are born. Indeed the great 12th century commentator on the Bible and Talmud, Rashi, says of of the fetus it is 'lav nefesh hu that is, it is not a person.' The Talmud further considers that the fetus is a part of the mother's body by stating 'ubar yerech imo, that is that the fetus is as the thigh of its mother. Part of this opinion is grounded in verses in Exodus 21:22 which passage indicates that while the fetus has value it does not have the status of a person.
I believe that I have shown that the Bible does not at all condemn abortion, it is simply put not there at all. It is wrong of those strident Christians protesting outside clinics to assert that it does. The God of the Bible is concerned with compassion for the actual human beings who walk the earth.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/christianity-articles/does-the-bible-condemn-abortion-1604399.html
About the Author:Ray McIntyre is an Ordained minister living in New Zealand.
Here is something I wrote in one of the discussion groups I frequent.
"...Your reply is helpful. I suppose that I am a theological relativist as well, personally, I don't see how you can believe in progressive revelation and not be.
This is tied into my belief that God intends us not to be a child but to be adults and so the lessons God teaches us have, as an end intent, that we will learn and grow from them.
So do the Bible / Book of Mormon / D and C hold absolute positions as scripture, my answer is yes and no.
Yes, In that the positions they hold were absolute in their time and for their people, and No, in that they are not necessarily so now. As examples, who among us believes eating shrimp is an abomination, who does not mix threads, who does not eat food touched by a woman in her period? Do we have Priesthood holders who are crippled or deformed? according to leviticus that is also an abomination.
This does NOT mean that the scriptures are valueless rather it means that when we read the scriptural record we are required to think, we are required to search to see how it applies to us.
Homosexuality is one of those topics which our relationship with has to change because our knowledge of WHAT the Bible means when it talks about homosexuality has changed. The OT proscriptions against homosexuality, for example, seem to be largely a response to Canaanite temple prostitution, and as well the NT authors are spotty on what they mean by their references to it, certainly Paul seems to mean pedarasty rather than homosexuality per se.
So, in my opinion, it is the commands of Christ, not the writings of Paul, Nephi or even Joseph Smith which must be normative in the life of the church and Jesus never once spoke about homosexuality, he did however speak about those who judge another's standing with God.
Time for us to dialogue which is what the Community of Christ is trying to do. We need to understand how it feels to have others tell you what your sexuality is and what it means for you.
Time for us, IMO, to realise that God requires us to "do Justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly before God's face" or as Luke puts it so eloquently
"... The Spirit of God has got hold of me, and is urging me to take on a special task; to share good news with the poor, to free the prisoners, to help the handicapped, and to smash the shackles of the oppressed..."
Luke 4:18 adapted.
Ray..."
There are some good points to this bill, If it passes it will enable the relationships of Gay & Lesbian people to be recognised by Government departments, it will provide a legal mechanism by which churches / celebrants can provide 'weddings' for the GL community, it will mean that partners can now have the kinds of protections that married folk in NZ take for granted.
It is a good start but it isn't enough.
For me the problem is that it tries to make an end run around the loaded term 'marriage' and in doing so relegates loving, compassionate, monogamous relationships to a kind of third state, ie. neither marriage nor simply 'shacking up.'
In effect we are simply saying to the GBLT community, 'yes we recognise that there are inequalities between the ways you are treated and the ways heterosexuals are treated.' 'Yes, we are trying to find ways to ensure that long-term committed relationships are recognised.' but ' No, you should not consider yourself as a married couple, you are simply a union we recognise.'
And that, I think, not only devalues the relationships themselves but, inevitably marriage itself.
Ray
The Destiny church under leader Brian Tamaki has made a great noise about this proposed legislation (the Civil Unions Bill), it has condemned the intent of the bill which is to ensure that couples who cohabit together have some of the same protections under NZ law as do married couples.
So Pastor Brian and his people marched on parliament today, they were largely ignored by the parliamentarians except for Transgendered MP Georgina Beyer & the Prime Minister Helen Clark.
The Honourable Ms. Beyer told the Destiny church crowd that 'their hatred was unacceptable' which has led to some comments about her hatred of them for their firmly-held religious beliefs.
But were her comments really hatred?
It is OK for Destiny church to hold their opinions of the Civil Unions Bill and acceptable for them to protest about it BUT it is equally acceptable for those opinions to be discussed and to be labelled as hatred. That is the right of a person in a free society, a right someone does not lose when they become a Member of Parliament.
Homophobia, in my opinion, is unacceptable, as unacceptable as anti-semitism or discrimination on the basis of race. Would those who took Ms. Beyer to task also take someone standing up to a group of marching neo-nazis to task for labelling THEIR attitude hatred?
After all the Nazis would only be expressing their firmly held personal beliefs.
We live in a society in which the right of the individual / group to express themselves legally is rightly seen as a cornerstone of the freedoms we so highly value. Those freedoms do not disappear when you become a parliamentarian just as hatred does not become more acceptable because it is a firmly held personal or religious belief.
It does not matter that their point-of-view is based on Destiny Church's interpretation of Biblical texts, nor yet that it has been the expressed opinion of many over the years.
Apartheid was based on the Dutch Reformed Church's interpretation of Biblical texts, and entirely wrong. It was the expressed opinion of many Christians over many years that women were inferior to men and that too is now seen to be wrong.
Christians, especially, are called to ensure that they are not making hatred into a holy thing. That we have failed to do so in the past is to our shame. We must make certain that we do not do so again. Homophobia is hatred, in my opinion, and is not an acceptable attitude for Christians whether they be Destiny Churchers or anyone else for that matter.
Ms. Beyer was right to label the attitude hatred.
Ray McIntyre
Ray McIntyre is a Christian minister based in the South Island of New Zealand.
Today is the feast day of Elizabeth of Hungary, Princess.
The theme for today is:
Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
Gospel Reflection:
Jesus, you are the good shepherd, you are willing to die for the sheep. You are the good shepherd; as Yahweh knows you and you know Yahweh, in the same way you know your sheep and your sheep know you; you are willing to die for us. Yahweh loves you because you are willing to give your life; no one takes it from you; you give it up of your own free will; you are the good shepherd.
Epistle Reflection:
When we were still helpless, Christ died for the wicked at the time God chose. One of us might dare to die for someone good. But now we see God's love; while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. God rescued us from the power of darkness and brought us safe into the kingdom of his dear Son, by whome we are set free and our sins forgiven. So we rejoice in the hope we have of sharing in God's glory. By the Holy Spirit God has poured into our hearts the love of Christ.
Prayers
Kyrie Eleison
Christe Eleison
Kyrie Eleison
E to matou Matua i te rangi
Kia tapu tou Ingoa
Kia tae mai tou rangatiratanga.
Kia meatia tau e pai ai
ki runga ki te whenua,
kia rite ano ki to te rangi
Homai ki a matou aianei
he taro ma matou mo tenei ra.
Murua o matou hara,
me matou hoki e muru nei
i o te hunga e hara ana ki a matou
Aua hoki matou e kawea kia whakawaia;
Engari Whakaorangia matou i te kino:
Nou hoki te rangatiratanga, te kaha,
me te karoria,
Ake Ake Ake. Amine.
From: a New Zealand Prayer Book.
Yahweh, lead us forth by your love, guide us by your strong arm and travel with us as we journey seeking your face in the faces of those we meet, may they for us today an image of your eternal self, may they in their needs and in the joys and pains be a picture of the suffering One and may they in their compassion be to us like your Creative Spirit. In Christ's name, Amen.
All text on this page is copyright Raymond John McIntyre, unless otherwise noted. You may use it on your sites or quote from it for articles as long as the source is clearly noted
Copyright Rev. Raymond John McIntyre D.D.; PhD. 2004
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