Children and Genesis

[maylebkc]

I am getting into debates with my friend who is evangelical Protestant and is also pro choice about abortion. He is asking for biblical arguments showing that abortion is a sin. I had been reading Genesis and was wondering if the catholic teaching was aligned with my thought process.

Could I make the argument be made that a life begins using Genesis 2:24:

That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one body.

My thought process is that a man leaves his family to marry a woman. The two come together and become one person (a child)? is this correct. Or is this saying that the two people’s spirits come together making one spirit?

 

[Nita]

I don’t think that Scripture would help. It still doesn’t express clearly when the new person comes into existence.

I don’t think there is a Scripture passage that explicitly addresses the issue of abortion. But a couple of passages that I like are:

Jeremiah 1:4-5 Now the word of the LORD came to me saying, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you:"
(We are “persons” in God’s mind/being not only after we are in the womb, but even before!!) “You” is a personal pronoun; it refers to a person.

Luke 1:41, 44 And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit … "For behold, when the voice of your greeting came to my ears, the babe in my womb leaped for joy."
Elizabeth says specifically that the babe leapt for joy, and only a person, a living person, can experience joy. (Elizabeth is 6 months pregnant at the time this occurs.)

 

[drno]

(Elizabeth is 6 months pregnant at the time this occurs.)

Actually (to be more precise), in Luke 1:36 we see that Elizabeth was 6 months pregnant, and in Luke 1:56-57 we can see that Mary was with her for 3 months, until Elizabeth gave birth to John. So we can deduce that, during Mary’s stay with Elizabeth, Jesus was in the first trimester, and, already, Elizabeth calls her (in Luke 1:43) “mother of my Lord”. Not “mother of some developing cells that will eventually become my Lord”!

 

[Nita]

Actually (to be more precise), in Luke 1:36 we see that Elizabeth was 6 months pregnant, and in Luke 1:56-57 we can see that Mary was with her for 3 months, until Elizabeth gave birth to John. So we can deduce that, during Mary’s stay with Elizabeth, Jesus was in the first trimester, and, already, Elizabeth calls her (in Luke 1:43) “mother of my Lord”. Not “mother of some developing cells that will eventually become my Lord”!

 

[thistle]

I am getting into debates with my friend who is evangelical Protestant and is also pro choice about abortion. He is asking for biblical arguments showing that abortion is a sin. I had been reading Genesis and was wondering if the catholic teaching was aligned with my thought process.

Could I make the argument be made that a life begins using Genesis 2:24:

That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one body.

My thought process is that a man leaves his family to marry a woman. The two come together and become one person (a child)? is this correct. Or is this saying that the two people’s spirits come together making one spirit?

Frankly, it is in Scripture and is covered by the 5th Commandment: You shall not kill.

Outside Scripture but in one of the earliest Christian writings abortion is specifically mentioned.
The Didache was written around 70AD to 100AD and was the teachings of the Apostles. It could be thought of as the earliest catechism.

Extract from it on this subject:

“Chapter 2. The Second Commandment: Grave Sin Forbidden. And the second commandment of the Teaching; You shall not commit murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not commit pederasty, you shall not commit fornication, you shall not steal, you shall not practice magic, you shall not practice witchcraft, you shall not murder a child by abortion nor kill that which is born. You shall not covet the things of your neighbor, you shall not swear, you shall not bear false witness, you shall not speak evil, you shall bear no grudge. You shall not be double-minded nor double-tongued, for to be double-tongued is a snare of death. Your speech shall not be false, nor empty, but fulfilled by deed. You shall not be covetous, nor rapacious, nor a hypocrite, nor evil disposed, nor haughty. You shall not take evil counsel against your neighbor. You shall not hate any man; but some you shall reprove, and concerning some you shall pray, and some you shall love more than your own life.”

 

[Blade_and_Blood]

… Or you could just say it’s killing an opportunity rather than a Life. I’ve always wondered who those aborted souls could have grown up to be… For all we know, we could’ve erased a very important soul from History.

Just a theory.

Ironically Yours, Blade and Blood

 

[Catholic_Johnny]

13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

16 your eyes saw my unformed body.

All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!

Psalm 139