It seems, these days, that essentially every vocal pro-lifer
cites some religious basis for their belief. Sometimes they even kill people to
prove their point. If this were just
dogma, it would be simple to dismiss as the current ramblings of a religious
leader who is making shit up as he goes, and there is plenty of that to go
around (can you say Kim Davis?) Truth is, however, most of these persons cite what they claim are Biblical justifications
for their muscular pro-life stance. As a person unencumbered by any attachment to the Bible as anything more than
a poorly written (zero primary and precious little secondary source material) history
of a minor Semitic tribe, I can, at least read what little there is relative to
the topic without the handicap of evaluating
it through the filter of superstition.
Abortion as
such is never mentioned in the New Testament portion of the Bible, despite the fact that it has been
practiced since ancient times by a variety of means. Jesus is mute on the
subject, as he is on homosexuality. However, the OT books of Genesis, Exodus and Numbers have interesting
things to say which toss all the current
Evangelical Protestant and Roman Catholic teachings, re: abortion, into the
trash heap.
Current avid
pro-lifers, apparently with too much money and too little real knowledge of
scripture, are fond of paying big bucks for roadside signs which trumpet
"life begins at conception. If they choose to believe this, that's fine,
just don't claim that it is really supported by scripture. There are many modern
Evangelicals willing to interpret some
NT verses as relating to abortion, but that is dogma and modern bias applied to
relatively simple words in a way which ,
while suiting their modern desire for justification, are not such. This is
especially relevant when we consider the "life begins at conception" issue.
The Old Testament,
In Genesis, clearly describes the
beginning of life as related to the first drawing of breath, a position
Augustine would echo in the 4th century. Of course modern apologists for the
Church's current position blame this on Augustine's understanding based on
"the inferior science of his day."
It would be well to recall, at this juncture, the fondness of the Church
for killing , punishing, and censuring for a millennium, any who dared
contradict that same "inferior" science.
Exodus bumps
that age of "legal existence"
to 1 month, apparently since infant mortality rates caused many newborns to
die. Similar provisions appear in Leviticus and Numbers.
Most
significantly, and in direct contradiction to the Santorum, Cruz, Walker,
Huckabee. et al cabal who insist that every pregnancy be allowed to proceed to fruition
, no matter the circumstance, is the book of Numbers, the 5th chapter. In summary, it provides the recipe for a
priest to use to induce abortion in cases of adultery. Bear in mind, that in
context, this would have included rape, as well, in a society where women are held
accountable for any sex act performed upon them. The drinking of the prescribed potion is
actually the trial, in which God will kill the product of adultery; there is no
requirement here or burden of proof on the husband.
So: If you
oppose abortion on religious grounds.
there is no justification in the Bible for your position. Don't cite more modern
NT "interpretations"; they are
the products of humans with an agenda. It should be noted that the overwhelming
number of makers of such interpretative pronouncements have no uteri.
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