Our culture has been embattled in a debate over this question for many years. The opinions range from conception all the way to three years old ("Who Lives? Who Dies? by Mark Oppenheimer, Christian Century, July 3, 2002). Those who profess faith in Jesus Christ have even disagreed over when life actually begins. I believe most of those believers who argue the point that life begins somewhere following conception are really attempting to justify or defend their social or political position because no such argument can be made from scripture.
Life is addressed throughout scripture. In fact, life is a central theme of scripture. Jesus, THE central theme of scripture, came to bring life to the spiritually dead. (John 10:10). But what do the scriptures say about the narrower topic of when life begins? Nothing. Why? The question is not valid. This question has been asked in order to discover a line we can draw where it is okay to dispose of life. The question should not be "When does life begin?" but "Where does life come from?" The bible is filled with references such as this in Isa 44:24, "Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, who formed you from the womb: "I am the LORD, who made all things, who stretched out the heavens alone, who spread out the earth--Who was with me?--"" (RSV). Life is a creation of God and has value as such. Consider this exchange between the disciples and Jesus about a man born blind in John 9:2-3, "And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him."" All of life has value, even those some may label as defective or a drag on society, because their value comes from the purpose of the Creator, not the value given them by a society. In his greeting to the Ephesian church, Paul tells them they were chosen by God "before the foundation of the world" (Eph 1:4). So when does life begin? In the mind of God in eternity past.
Christine's 1st Birthday Blog
9 years ago
2 comments:
Concerning your statement:
The question should not be "When does life begin?" but "Where does life come from?"
Excellent point! (although you ended the second question with a preposition!...'from where does life come?' ...anyways, please don't beat me up :)
You have expounded well. Life is valuable because God made it, not because of a certain point of time. And if a certain point of time is desired for reference, then it is like you said: before the foundation of the earth...God's conception trumps man's conception.
Thanks for your thoughts as they have sharpened mine.
Thanks for the english lesson. I can use all the help I can get (see my first post).
Sometimes we as believers get caught up in trying to answer questions that are based on false premises and end up unwittingly validating arguments the other side is making.
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