The other reason the Church is against abortion?

[Catholig]

This is the third time I’ve tried to post this message so hopefully it’ll get through this time.

While thinking about why the church believes Abortion is immoral the idea occured to me that it could be linked to the idea that the soul doesn’t exist in heaven prior to its time on earth, and that there must be a point at which both the body and soul are created (i.e. conception). This means that no christian would be able to believe that the soul enters the body at birth because that’d require the pre-existance of the soul. Can anyone confirm or dismiss this idea. And if you can confirm it can you provide some sources on the creation of the soul. Thanks,

Catholig

 

[Alterum]

An interesting thought, but in the same way that the soul can be created upon conception, one might (erroneously, I imagine) believe that the soul could be created upon birth. This would not require pre-existence of the soul. It would, however, require that the entity inside the mother’s womb exist without a soul for nine months.

 

[manualman]

It would also mean that the living being inside the womb has no soul, but:

Has a beating heart within a few weeks of conception.
Often sucks his thumb for months before birth.
Has measurable brainwaves.
Responds to stimulii, kicks, moves arms.

To my mind, the idea that the soul is created upon birth requires a severe lack of observation and imagination on the part of him who holds to the idea!

 

[carol_marie]

It would also mean that the living being inside the womb has no soul, but:

Has a beating heart within a few weeks of conception.
Often sucks his thumb for months before birth.
Has measurable brainwaves.
Responds to stimulii, kicks, moves arms.

To my mind, the idea that the soul is created upon birth requires a severe lack of observation and imagination on the part of him who holds to the idea!

Also, we are told that John the Baptist lept in his mother’s womb when she greeted Mary, who was carrying Jesus. Obviously that would’ve required a soul.

 

[MichaelTDoyle]

We are a union of body and soul in the image of God. It is an unnatural state for them to be divided. The only unnatural state I know of is death brought on by spiritual death, the sin of Adam. Therefore, unless there is an unnatural condition (external force) present, the soul is united with the body.

Make sense?

 

[Texas_Roofer]

Well
Jeremiah 1

• The words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, one of the priests at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin. The word of the LORD came to him in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah, and through the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, down to the fifth month of the eleventh year of Zedekiah son of Josiah king of Judah, when the people of Jerusalem went into exile.
  The Call of Jeremiah
  The word of the LORD came to me, saying,
  “Before I formed you in the womb I knew [a] you,
  before you were born I set you apart;
  I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” *

This general accepted to be true about all of us

 

[gardenswithkids]

We are a union of body and soul… It is an unnatural state for them to be divided. The only unnatural state I know of is death brought on by spiritual death, the sin of Adam. Therefore, unless there is an unnatural condition (external force) present, the soul is united with the body.

Make sense?

Yes, this does. When God creates a human, He creates both a body *and *a soul–because that is what a human is. “A soul without a body is a ghost and a body without a soul is a corps.” (I can’t remember the source of that quote.) Separation of human body and soul implies death. Jesus came to save us from death, and as He rose, so shall we. (The Creed reminds us of the resurrection of the body, but few pay much attention to what that means.) We are humans; not just a body nor just a soul, but both.

Many who state that a baby within a mother’s womb doesn’t have a soul also claim the baby isn’t human–maybe because on some level they recognize being human implies having both a body and a soul. But they can not justify abortion by simply claiming the embryo or fetus doesn’t have a soul. The soul–called *anima *in Latin–animates the body. If the human embryo didn’t have a soul, the baby would be dead.