Abortion Debate
Since this is one of the bigger issues in the ELCA, I better address it here tonight. It also will be coming to the forefront, with the retirement of Sandra Day O' Conner.
Key Verses in this debate include Psalm 139:13-16-Which speak of God forming us from the time that we were inside our mothers womb. This theme is further carried out of God knitting us from our Mothers' Womb in Jeremiah 1:5. In Luke 1:41-45: Elizabeth and Mary descirbe John the Baptist as a blessing, as a life which is a fulfillment of the Lord. It should be noted that the Greek Term is the same as Jesus uses in Luke 18:15- When asking the little Children come to him. Job in Job 31:15-speaks of how he was formed in the womb by God. We know from Psalm 106:38- that God forbids the shedding of innocent blood of children, the same term is used 20 times in the Scriptures.
Proverbs 31:8-9-Encourages to speak for those who can't speak for themselves.
Exodus 20:13- Thous shall not kill. We know that God fordbids the shedding of Man's blood, as it is in image from Genesis 9:6.
Luther in his Large Cathecism speaks of how we must stop any action against our neighbor that might lead to harm.
We know from scripture that Child bearing is blessed by God as stated in Genesis 1:28, in Genesis 15:4-God tells Abram that he will see to that Abram bears a son.
We know that in Exodus 21:22-25, when a women is struck and one of the two things happened either a miscarriage or a premature birth. Here there seems to be some sort of indication of the death either by miscarriage or premature birth from the strike. Basically if the term miscarriage birth is used, its not life. But if premature birth it is life. The term for miscarriage is used in Exodus 23:26 in the orginal Hebrew, the verb used here is the same as go forth used in Genesis 25:25 and Genesis 38:28-30. A different term is also used here as the term for Embryo as used in Psalm 139:16 or the term for a birth that dies as used in Job 3.16- Hebrew translation done by John Piper at http://www.desiringgod.org/library/topics/abortion/exodus21.html
From the witness of scripture, it seems clear that it considers life in the womb life. If it is life, it would be forbidden to kill, as one could not make the argument for any sort of justification for killing the Pre-Born. The only time it is justified would possibly be in severe risk to the life of the mother.
Other sources used
1. http://www.desiringgod.org/library/topics/abortion/ten_reasons.html
2. http://www.lcms.org/graphics/assets/media/CTCR/Abortion_Perspective2.pdf#xml=http://www.lcms.org/ca/search/dtsearch.asp?cmd=pdfhits&DocId=829&Index=F%3a%5cinetpub%5cwwwroot%5clcmsorg%5cdb%5csearch%5clcms&HitCount=183&hits=1+31+63+6d+74+8b+94+a8+c1+c4+14a+396+397+3b8+3f6+3fe+413+42b+457+485+48c+4f0+50c+51c+54b+553+5ae+695+6a3+6b6+73d+82c+856+87d+907+a03+a33+a41+a73+a93+ac7+bc9+bee+cba+cc6+ceb+d1f+d7c+d8d+d9a+ded+e4c+e5a+e90+eb3+ed0+ef0+f35+f45+f6f+f85+fa2+1000+101f+1059+10b7+10c4+11dc+1201+120b+1239+1259+126d+1278+127f+12e1+1310+1339+1362+139a+13cf+13e4+1405+1416+1471+14cb+14e2+14f1+150e+1549+15f9+1622+1637+1647+1670+16a3+1703+1c5a+1faf+1fd9+2083+22a7+2304+2323+2370+237d+2415+24be+24d2+24fc+25a7+2601+2612+2709+2743+278e+2835+284b+2851+2876+28a0+28b1+28be+28c9+28dd+28f1+2900+290c+2915+2955+299f+29ad+29b3+2a14+2ab3+2acb+2b0c+2b4d+2b79+2b89+2bce+2bef+2c38+2c4e+2c7b+2cb9+2cd6+2cf3+2e23+2eab+2ec0+2eff+2f15+2f77+2f85+3128+3214+3281+32aa+331e+3356+3386+338e+33d0+33d7+3410+3433+345f+3470+347b+34bb+34c2+34e9+34f9+36f7+370f+372a+37af+37c4+37d8+37dc+3800+3824+&hc=1713&req=abortion
Key Verses in this debate include Psalm 139:13-16-Which speak of God forming us from the time that we were inside our mothers womb. This theme is further carried out of God knitting us from our Mothers' Womb in Jeremiah 1:5. In Luke 1:41-45: Elizabeth and Mary descirbe John the Baptist as a blessing, as a life which is a fulfillment of the Lord. It should be noted that the Greek Term is the same as Jesus uses in Luke 18:15- When asking the little Children come to him. Job in Job 31:15-speaks of how he was formed in the womb by God. We know from Psalm 106:38- that God forbids the shedding of innocent blood of children, the same term is used 20 times in the Scriptures.
Proverbs 31:8-9-Encourages to speak for those who can't speak for themselves.
Exodus 20:13- Thous shall not kill. We know that God fordbids the shedding of Man's blood, as it is in image from Genesis 9:6.
Luther in his Large Cathecism speaks of how we must stop any action against our neighbor that might lead to harm.
We know from scripture that Child bearing is blessed by God as stated in Genesis 1:28, in Genesis 15:4-God tells Abram that he will see to that Abram bears a son.
We know that in Exodus 21:22-25, when a women is struck and one of the two things happened either a miscarriage or a premature birth. Here there seems to be some sort of indication of the death either by miscarriage or premature birth from the strike. Basically if the term miscarriage birth is used, its not life. But if premature birth it is life. The term for miscarriage is used in Exodus 23:26 in the orginal Hebrew, the verb used here is the same as go forth used in Genesis 25:25 and Genesis 38:28-30. A different term is also used here as the term for Embryo as used in Psalm 139:16 or the term for a birth that dies as used in Job 3.16- Hebrew translation done by John Piper at http://www.desiringgod.org/library/topics/abortion/exodus21.html
From the witness of scripture, it seems clear that it considers life in the womb life. If it is life, it would be forbidden to kill, as one could not make the argument for any sort of justification for killing the Pre-Born. The only time it is justified would possibly be in severe risk to the life of the mother.
Other sources used
1. http://www.desiringgod.org/library/topics/abortion/ten_reasons.html
2. http://www.lcms.org/graphics/assets/media/CTCR/Abortion_Perspective2.pdf#xml=http://www.lcms.org/ca/search/dtsearch.asp?cmd=pdfhits&DocId=829&Index=F%3a%5cinetpub%5cwwwroot%5clcmsorg%5cdb%5csearch%5clcms&HitCount=183&hits=1+31+63+6d+74+8b+94+a8+c1+c4+14a+396+397+3b8+3f6+3fe+413+42b+457+485+48c+4f0+50c+51c+54b+553+5ae+695+6a3+6b6+73d+82c+856+87d+907+a03+a33+a41+a73+a93+ac7+bc9+bee+cba+cc6+ceb+d1f+d7c+d8d+d9a+ded+e4c+e5a+e90+eb3+ed0+ef0+f35+f45+f6f+f85+fa2+1000+101f+1059+10b7+10c4+11dc+1201+120b+1239+1259+126d+1278+127f+12e1+1310+1339+1362+139a+13cf+13e4+1405+1416+1471+14cb+14e2+14f1+150e+1549+15f9+1622+1637+1647+1670+16a3+1703+1c5a+1faf+1fd9+2083+22a7+2304+2323+2370+237d+2415+24be+24d2+24fc+25a7+2601+2612+2709+2743+278e+2835+284b+2851+2876+28a0+28b1+28be+28c9+28dd+28f1+2900+290c+2915+2955+299f+29ad+29b3+2a14+2ab3+2acb+2b0c+2b4d+2b79+2b89+2bce+2bef+2c38+2c4e+2c7b+2cb9+2cd6+2cf3+2e23+2eab+2ec0+2eff+2f15+2f77+2f85+3128+3214+3281+32aa+331e+3356+3386+338e+33d0+33d7+3410+3433+345f+3470+347b+34bb+34c2+34e9+34f9+36f7+370f+372a+37af+37c4+37d8+37dc+3800+3824+&hc=1713&req=abortion
posted by Stew at 10:55 PM
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