"Alexanian, Moorad" <alexanian@uncw.edu> writes:
> I cannot reconcile the Christian faith with abortion.
ED: That's O.K., but can you reconcile the fact that though many people
in the U.S. want abortion to be criminalized, many also want it to remain
legal? Jesus said, "Render unto Ceaser what is Ceaser's, and render unto
God what is God." Maybe there's room in the world of "Ceaser" to keep
abortions legal for those who believe in them, and room for Christians to
be anti-abortion, to not have one, it's their choice. (That being said,
I've seen figures that many Catholic and Evangelical women have abortions
every day.)
Also, if abortion is so important, why isn't it highlighted in Jesus'
teachings? Jesus said, "FEAR NOT him who can KILL THE BODY, but fear him
who can cast both body and soul into hell." In fact Jesus didn't
preached incessantly against abortion, but against the rich and religious
self-righteous hypocrites (the latter of which would seem to include
anti-abortion protestors). Did you know that the founder of Operation
Rescue, Randall Terry, is now divorced and has been shunned by that
organization? Did you know that one Operation Rescue worker went into a
clinic and punched a woman in the stomach, causing her to miscarry?
Meanwhile, here in Greenville, one group of pro-lifers stopped a car and
opened the door and a hysterical Christian woman clutched the woman in the
rear of the car, and started preaching wildly and wouldn't let the woman
loose. Not to mention the clinic bombers and snipers. Or the guy my
friends saw beating his head against the pavement in prayer, outside an
abortion clinic until his forehead was bleeding.
Let me also add that the God of the Old Testament doesn't appear to have
blessed the Hebrews with lower than average infant mortality rates. No
supernatural blessings for ancient Israel in that area: "Archeological
evidence indicates that in ancient Israel the infant mortality rate was as
high as fifty percent. -- Drorah O’Donnell Setel, “Abortion,” The Oxford
Guide to Ideas & Issues of the Bible, ed. by Bruce Metzger and Michael D.
Coogan (Oxford University Press, 2001)
Moreover, Check out God's priorities in the N.T., doesn't seem to be
anti-abortion at all:
THE GOD WHO ABORTS
According to the Bible, God is ready, willing and able to abort fetuses:
Their fruit shalt Thou destroy from the earth, and their seed from among
the children of men.
- Psalm 21:10
The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they are
born... let every one of them pass away: like the untimely birth of a
woman, that they may not see the sun.
- Psalm 58:3,8
As for Israel, their glory shall fly away like a bird, and from the womb,
and from the conception... Give them, O Lord: what will Thou give? Give
them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts... they shall bear no fruit...
- Hosea 9:11-16
Notice that the prophet Hosea is pleading with his God to punish the
Israelites by murdering their unborn babies. The Bible never really
provides a logical rationale as to why fetuses, babies, and children must
be punished for the sins of their parents and others. Some would suggest
that for God to kill unborn babies for their parent’s sins is somewhat
misdirected retribution.
- Gene Kasmar, WHY…The Brooklyn Center High School Bible Challenge.
Part 1: The Evidence
____________________________
THE GOD WHO MURDERS BABYS
Every living thing on the earth was drowned [which no doubt included
pregnant women and babies]... Noah only remained alive, and they that were
with him in the ark.
- Genesis 7:23
Thus saith the LORD... Slay both man and woman, infant and suckling.
- 1 Samuel 15:3
Joshua destroyed all that breathed, as the LORD commanded.
- Joshua 10:40
The LORD delivered them before us; and we destroyed the men, and the
women, and the little ones.
- Deuteronomy 2:33-34
Kill every male among the little ones.
- Numbers 31:17
The wind of the LORD shall come up from the wilderness, and his spring
shall become dry, and... Samaria shall become desolate... they shall fall
by the sword: their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women
with child shall be ripped up.
- Hosea 13:15-16
With thee will I [the LORD] break in pieces the young man and the maid.
- Jeremiah 51:22
Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the
stones.
- Psalm 137:9
____________________________
According to the Bible, God gave orders to kill children and to rip open
the bodies of pregnant women. The pestilences were sent by God. The
frightful famine, during which the dying child with pallid lips sucked the
withered bosom of his dead mother, was sent by God. God drowned an entire
world with the exception of eight persons. Imagine how such acts would
have stained the reputation of the devil!
- Robert G. Ingersoll
____________________________
WHERE ARE GOD’S PRIORITIES?
It seems odd to me that Pro-lifers want to base their views on the Bible.
I suggest they study it more thoroughly:
According to the God of the Bible it was more important to stone a woman
to death if she should “entice you to follow after other gods,” than it
was to rescue the life of any fetus she might have been carrying.
It was more important to stone a woman to death the day after her wedding
night “if she was discovered not to have been a virgin,” than it was to
wait and see if she might have conceived new life that night.
It was more important to stone a woman to death for “adultery,” than to
wait and see if she might be pregnant.
It was more important to stone a woman to death for “failing to cry out
while being raped within earshot of the city,” than it was to spare the
life she might have conceived during that ordeal, during which the rapist
may have held a knife to her throat, or strangled her into silence and
submission.
And what about the test of “bitter water” mentioned in chapter five of the
book of Numbers? The test consisted of mixing dust from the floor of the
Hebrew tabernacle with “holy water” to make a concoction that a woman
drank to test whether or not she had committed adultery. If she had, it
says, “her belly will swell and her thigh will rot.” Scholars have pointed
out that “thigh” is a euphemism for sexual organs. So if the woman had
committed adultery and had conceived as a result, then the “bitter water”
would induce an abortion (“her thigh would rot”). (I wonder if this means
that Bible-believing women who are accused of having affairs ought to
swallow some dirt from the floor of their church mixed with “holy water?”
Or better yet, swallow an abortion pill like RU-486 in front of the whole
congregation?)
And what about children who “curse their parents?” The Bible says, “Kill
them!” (Ex. 21:17; Lev. 20:9; Mat. 15:4; Mark 7:10) The Bible does not say
how old the child has to be, but it does emphatically state they must
“surely be put to death” should they “curse their parents.”
Ah, the good old days, when God fearing people had higher priorities than
“saving fetal lives.” They were too busy stoning whomever enticed them to
worship other gods, stoning adulteresses, stoning women who weren’t
virgins on their wedding night, stoning women who “failed to cry out”
during rape, and stoning sassy children. In other words they were too busy
with all of those higher priorities to worry about “the fate of fetuses.”
- E.T.B.
ABORTION IS NOT DISCUSSED IN THE BIBLE
Abortion as such is not discussed in the Bible, so any explanation of why
it is not legislated or commented on is speculative.
A key text for examining ancient Israelite attitudes [toward the fetus] is
Exodus 21:22-25: “When people who are fighting injure a pregnant woman so
that there is a miscarriage, and yet no further harm follows, the one
responsible shall be fined what the woman’s husband demands, paying as
much as the judges determine. If any harm follows, then you shall give
life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, burn for burn, wound for
wound, stripe for stripe.” Several observations can be made about this
passage.
The Hebrew text at v. 22 literally reads “and there is no harm,” implying
that contrary to current sensibilities, the miscarriage itself was not
considered serious injury. The monetary judgment given to the woman’s
husband indicates that the woman’s experience of the miscarriage is not of
significance, and that the damage is considered one to property rather
than to human life. This latter observation is further supported by the
contrast with the penalties for harm to the woman herself.
- Drorah O’Donnell Setel, “Abortion,” The Oxford Guide to Ideas &
Issues of the Bible, ed. by Bruce Metzger and Michael D. Coogan (Oxford
University Press, 2001)
____________________________
THEOLOGICAL OPTIONS FOR PRO-LIFERS TO PONDER
1) THE SOULS OF ALL ABORTED FETUSES GO TO HEAVEN
Abortion ensures the “salvation” of someone who might have grown up and
gone to hell instead.
2) THE SOULS OF UNBAPTIZED ABORTED FETUSES GO TO HELL
Theologians from Augustine to Jonathan Edwards considered it right for God
to send dead unbaptized fetuses to hell. Their doctrine was called “infant
damnation” and it was taught by Christian churches for centuries.
3) THE SOULS OF ABORTED FETUSES GO TO WHEREVER GOD ORDAINS THEM TO GO,
EITHER TO HEAVEN OR HELL
According to various Bible verses, God “ordains” all things, including the
murders of fetuses, babies and pregnant women. In other words, God
“ordained” that abortion would become legal and that abortion clinics
would arise. Each soul “gets” what God “ordains” for it, and abortion
makes no difference, because some aborted fetuses go to heaven, others to
hell. The clinics are like everything else in life, just another means
that God employs to carry out His inscrutable will.
4) ALL BAPTIZED FETUSES GO TO HEAVEN
Baptism washes away the fetus’ “original sin” and ensuring that it go
straight to heaven after being aborted. This is only a theological option
for Catholics. The Catholic practice arose hundreds of years ago, of
baptizing fetuses by inserting a syringe filled with holy water into the
womb whenever it was determined that the survival of a fetus was in doubt.
The practice of baptizing fetuses continued to be taught to Catholic
seminarians right up till Vatican II in the 1960s. (The Protestant
Christian, John Calvin, forbade the practice because it was God’s choice,
not man’s, who would go to heaven or hell.)
It seems to me that the four theological options above are so varied and
confusing as to make any pro-lifer (who considers them all) too dizzy to
confidently wave signs outside an abortion clinic.
- E.T.B.
____________________________
TWO VIEWS ON HOW TO GET TO HEAVEN
FIRST VIEW
I expect to get a great reward in heaven. I am looking forward to glory.
- Paul Hill (murderer of an abortion doctor and his escort), Washington
Post, 2003
SECOND VIEW
Pro-lifer (Outside an Abortion Clinic): What if your mother had decided
not to have you?
Clinic Defender: I’d be in clover, I’d be in heaven experiencing ecstasy
that I never earned or deserved.
- John E. Seery, Los Angeles Times
____________________________
ABORTION AND THE UNITED NATIONS
Despite the misinformation campaign led by the far right, who claim that
the United Nations Population Fund supports forced abortions, the truth is
that by denying family planning services to those who need them, we are
setting in motion 800,000 more abortions than would normally occur. In
Hungary, the introduction of modern contraception led to a 60% reduction
in abortions. Similar results can be seen in Chile, Colombia, Mexico,
South Korea, Kazakhstan and Ukraine.
- The Population Institute, “What Can Make the World More Secure?”
[Pamphlet]
QUIZ FOR PRO-LIFERS
Question #1: Do abortionists or nature kill more people from conception
to birth?
Answer: Nature is the number one killer from conception to birth. Many
conceptions do not mature properly and are naturally aborted, and a fairly
high percentage of people born as single individuals used to be twins in
the womb but one of them was reabsorbed into the womb or into the other
twin. Even the pro-lifer, Dr. John Collins Harvey, admits, “Products of
conception [often] die at either the zygote, morula, or blastocyst stage.
They never reach the implant stage but are discharged in the menstrual
flow of the next period... It is estimated that [this]... occurs... in
more than 50 percent of conceptions... In such occurrences, a woman may
never even know that she has been pregnant.” [“Distinctly Human,”
Commonweal, Feb. 8, 2002]
Question #2: What percentage of abortions are performed on Evangelical
Protestant women?
Answer: A study published by an affiliate of Planned Parenthood says
almost a quarter-million abortions are performed each year in the U.S. on
women who identify themselves as born-again or evangelical Christians.
Approximately 1.37 million abortions are performed in the United States
each year. According to a startling and little publicized survey by the
Alan Guttmacher Institute, 37.4% of those abortions are performed on
Protestant women -- approximately one-half (about 18%) of whom profess to
be born-again believers. That 18% of the estimated annual total accounts
for 246,600 aborted babies each year in America. [“Study Shows High
Percentage of Abortions Performed on Evangelicals; Pro-Lifers Picket
Calvary Chapel’s Headquarters in California” by James L. Lambert and Fred
Jackson July 11, 2001 (AgapePress)]
Question #3: If the Christian Right is willing to send millions of women
to jail for “conspiracy to murder,” how will they prevent the financial
crisis and social chaos that their actions will inflict upon society?
Answer: They won’t be able to prevent it. The war on drugs has filled
America’s courts and prisons; a war against women who obtain abortions
will overwhelm them. Consider what happened in the country of Nepal.
Nepal’s prohibition of abortion was one of the harshest in the world: it
did not allow exceptions even in cases of rape, incest, and
life-threatening situations, and simply classified abortion as
infanticide. As a result of that law, hundreds of women served prison
terms. Two-thirds of all women in prison were there for garbaphat, the
Nepalese term for abortion and infanticide. In addition to those in
Nepalese prisons for abortion, thousands more suffered, and often died,
after resorting to extremely dangerous back-street methods. It has been
estimated that six women die per day in Nepal due to poorly administrated
abortions. Finally, in 2002, King Gyanendra of Nepal signed into law a
bill that legalized abortion in addition to bringing about sweeping
changes in many other discriminatory laws.
Question #4: After human sperm and eggs are mixed in test tubes at
fertilization clinics, the fertilized zygotes are stored in a freezer
sometimes for years before they are implanted in a woman’s uterus. If the
life of a person’s eternal soul begins at conception what does that make
frozen zygotes?
Answer: “Souls on ice?” But if “souls” can be kept on ice indefinitely,
then maybe “soul-life” does NOT begin at conception? The prominent
Catholic theologian, Thomas Aquinas, argued that “soul-life” began several
months after conception.
LET’S WORK ON IMPROVING THE LIVES OF THE CHILDREN WHO HAVE ALREADY BEEN
BORN
The death rate of children under the age of 15 has fallen by 95 percent
since 1900 in the United States. Parents should reflect long and hard on
that statistic whenever they think life isn’t treating them well these
days. The child death rates in just the past 20 years have incredibly been
halved in India, Egypt, Indonesia, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, South Korea,
Israel, and scores of other nations. Almost all of the major killer
diseases before 1900 -- tuberculosis, typhoid, smallpox, whooping cough,
to name a few -- have been all but eradicated.
- Stephen Moore & Julian Simon, It’s Getting Better All the Time: 100
Greatest
Trends of the Last 100 Years
Much more needs to be done for the world’s children, to feed and fully
nourish them, treat their illnesses (which in the Third World are legion),
educate them, and help increase the economic growth of the nations they
inhabit.
- E.T.B.
Received on Mon Oct 11 12:47:17 2004
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