I was watching the Colbert Report and Stephen Colbert was making fun of a news bit about Dick Cheney not having a pulse. So is he dead? Jokes aside about him being not being human.The train of thought is as follows: to be alive, one has to have a heartbeat. When someone dies their heart stops beating; that is how one distinguishes between a person that is alive and one that is dead.
Cells do not have heart beats, and yet they are living. Neither do plants and Fungi.unfortunately, I am not trying to convince a biologist, just a friend.
And I would argue that when someone’s heart stops beating, they are dead. CPR is used to bring them back to life. It does not make sense to say if someone’s heart stopped beating they are sitll alive. If they are alive, then what is the need for CPR?
True, but we have to be careful in using this argument not to appear to bring down the uniqueness and dignity of humans to plant level.Cells do not have heart beats, and yet they are living. Neither do plants and Fungi.
One cannot sucessfully argue that an human embryo is neither alive nor human, regardless of the stage of growth.Some would argue that emergency contraceptives and/or the pill DO NOT terminate a pregnancy. The argument goes as follows:
I. One way an emergency contraceptive works is by irritating the lining of the uterus so that if the woman does become pregnant, the baby will die before he or she can actually attach to the lining of the uterus.
Tis true. Strictly speaking, prevention of implantation does not terminate a pregnancy, it prevents one. However, it kills a human embryo. This argument fails to see the forest through the trees.
II. A baby necessarily has a heartbeat. That which does not have a heartbeat is not a baby. Therefore the fertilized egg, before its 22nd day, is just that, a fertilized egg. On the 22nd day the heart starts beating. Then it is a baby. (In a similar way, we do not call a seed a tree. A seed is just that, a seed. It is potentially a tree, but not actually a tree. When it has had water and sunlight and time, then it becomes a tree.)
This is an arbitrary benchmark for calling a human embryo a baby. We could just as easily use brain function as a benchmark. Again, a forest/trees argument. If you kill a day 21 embryo, it is just as dead as a day 23 embryo that one kills. What you call it does not really matter…it’s simply semantics up to that point. We could call it an unborn baby or embryo or zygote or a widget…but that doesn’t change the fact that killing it is morally unacceptable.
III. So, if the egg, that does not yet have a heartbeat as it has not yet reached its 22nd day, never attaches to the lining of the uterus, then no abortion would have taken place and no baby would have been terminated.
Let’s call it a “human life”, which is what it is, whatever stage it is at. This negates all of these pitiful arguments. One is taking a human life by using any sort of post-fertilization birth control.
There are so many decent people using birth control and are ignorant of the gravity of their actions. If you have any common sense, helpful counter arguments I would appreciate your response.
God Bless.
“And the Lord God formed man of the slime of the earth: and breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul.”Some would argue that emergency contraceptives and/or the pill DO NOT terminate a pregnancy. The argument goes as follows:
I. One way an emergency contraceptive works is by irritating the lining of the uterus so that if the woman does become pregnant, the baby will die before he or she can actually attach to the lining of the uterus.
II. A baby necessarily has a heartbeat. That which does not have a heartbeat is not a baby. Therefore the fertilized egg, before its 22nd day, is just that, a fertilized egg. On the 22nd day the heart starts beating. Then it is a baby. (In a similar way, we do not call a seed a tree. A seed is just that, a seed. It is potentially a tree, but not actually a tree. When it has had water and sunlight and time, then it becomes a tree.)
III. So, if the egg, that does not yet have a heartbeat as it has not yet reached its 22nd day, never attaches to the lining of the uterus, then no abortion would have taken place and no baby would have been terminated.
There are so many decent people using birth control and are ignorant of the gravity of their actions. If you have any common sense, helpful counter arguments I would appreciate your response.
God Bless.
I personally believe that life begins at conception, and most people get their soul at conception. The fertilised egg looks like a soul or atman in religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism. In some religions, the soul is represented as a droplet of water. The fertilised egg is also a Yin and Yang and in the image of the Great Absolute or Tai Jitsu.Some would argue that emergency contraceptives and/or the pill DO NOT terminate a pregnancy. The argument goes as follows:
I. One way an emergency contraceptive works is by irritating the lining of the uterus so that if the woman does become pregnant, the baby will die before he or she can actually attach to the lining of the uterus.
II. A baby necessarily has a heartbeat. That which does not have a heartbeat is not a baby. Therefore the fertilized egg, before its 22nd day, is just that, a fertilized egg. On the 22nd day the heart starts beating. Then it is a baby. (In a similar way, we do not call a seed a tree. A seed is just that, a seed. It is potentially a tree, but not actually a tree. When it has had water and sunlight and time, then it becomes a tree.)
III. So, if the egg, that does not yet have a heartbeat as it has not yet reached its 22nd day, never attaches to the lining of the uterus, then no abortion would have taken place and no baby would have been terminated.
There are so many decent people using birth control and are ignorant of the gravity of their actions. If you have any common sense, helpful counter arguments I would appreciate your response.
God Bless.
Thanks for the link on Brahman.I personally believe that life begins at conception, and most people get their soul at conception. . . .
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahman . . .
Correction: A GOOD Catholic fully in communion with the Church adheres to all the faith and morals of the Roman Catholic Church.Your religion incorrectly states 'Roman Catholic". A Roman Catholic adheres to all the faith and morals of the Roman Catholic Church.
Personal belief should not be a substitute for clear Church teaching. Life is sacred from the moment of conception. Truth is not relative. If someone gives you the true answer then there is not another true answer somewhere.I personally believe that life begins at conception, and most people get their soul at conception. The fertilised egg looks like a soul or atman in religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism. In some religions, the soul is represented as a droplet of water. The fertilised egg is also a Yin and Yang and in the image of the Great Absolute or Tai Jitsu.
Both the fertilised egg and embryonic plate are circular like the Eucharist. Circles are sacred spaces in many religions and the fertilised egg could be described as a mandala of the womb realm.
It’s not your fault for not knowing that if you’ve taken a morning after pill and it’s new territory for the Church.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahman
google.co.uk/images?um=1&hl=en&biw=1659&bih=800&tbs=isch:1&aq=f&aqi=&oq=&gs_rfai=&q=fertilised%20egg