Great News!

[tklein1014]

http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=37078

http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCulture.asp?Pag...L20040211c.html

Praise the Lord, this could be the turning point in the US!  Prayers will be needed because I'm sure that the pro-abortion forces will be out and strong fighting this.

Tina

[Rev. Eric]

Thans for posting this link!  I've made copies of the info and posted them on the seminary bulletin boards.

God bless,
-Rev. Eric

[Stigmata]

I think that abortion should remain safe and legal.

Most who oppose abortion do so on religious grounds, not due to ethical considerations. Their spiritual beliefs should not be the law of the land. It is important to remember that some Americans hold that ALL animal life is sacred. If their spiritual beliefs were made into law, deviation from vegetarianism would be a felony.

[tklein1014]

It is important to remember that some Americans hold that ALL animal life is sacred. If their spiritual beliefs were made into law, deviation from vegetarianism would be a felony.

This is a good point which I've never considered before.  However, my reasons for opposing abortion are partly, but not totally religious. I think it's bad for women & bad for society in general.

Tina

[jesusandyou]

There is no point in comparing Abortion with Animal rights. If it becomes a felony to kill an animal, then we have to allow cows, dogs to sit in senate/parliament to rule the country. Someone who then sits in our front couch will be a Gorilla from Africa.

If killing a human being is a crime, then abortion is a crime. To extend the meaning, Abortion is an organized crime. That needs more punishment than a regular killing. It's not religious. It should be a law. Whoever made the law that murder is a crime never thought medical genius had options of making murder legal.

If Prayers can close the night shows of Howard Stern, then prayers can surely make a difference. From our busy lives, it's important to sit down and pray. Its important to make a change in somebody else's lives than ours.

[tklein1014]

If Prayers can close the night shows of Howard Stern, then prayers can surely make a difference. From our busy lives, it's important to sit down and pray. Its important to make a change in somebody else's lives than ours.

Amen!

Tina

[Rev. Eric]

Hello Stigmata,

It is important to remember that some Americans hold that ALL animal life is sacred. If their spiritual beliefs were made into law, deviation from vegetarianism would be a felony.

If a person wants to abstain from eating meat for spiritual reasons then that is fine.  But if they tried to impose that belief on others then they would quickly run into trouble.  They could not prove their case either from a spiritual format or a logical one.  For example, if God does not want me to eat meat then why did he put the wrong teeth in my mouth?  I trust you see what I mean.

The pro-life movement, on the other hand, can make arguments against abortion in terms of ethics (philosophical as well as religious),  logic, health and sociological considerations.

I think that abortion should remain safe and legal.

Most who oppose abortion do so on religious grounds, not due to ethical considerations.

Stigmata, although I respect your opinion, I do not agree with it.  The opposition against abortion has everything to do with ethical considerations, regardless of whether or not most pro-lifers see it that way.  Abortion is inherently wrong, regardless of an person's religious convictions.  In other words, even if most pro-lifers are motivated by religion to oppose abortion, they are still justified in doing so because abortion is wrong even from a non-religious standpoint.  Throughout the ages it has been a universally held ethical law that it is wrong to take an innocent human life.  This is a philosophical ethical consideration, not simply a religious one.

I think it is safe to say that all human beings (generally speaking) oppose the idea of killing babies.  To people who support abortion, the question is not whether or not a person can kill a baby, but the question is whether or not the fetus is human.  Abortion supporters say that the fetus is not human, and therefore not a baby, and therefore the "pregnancy may be terminated" (to use their chosen terminology).

They claim that the pro-choice movement cannot prove that a fetus is a human baby (due to debates over the definition of human life).  But the problem with their line of thinking is that they cannot prove that the fetus is not human.  If neither side can provide conclusive proof (or a conclusive definition of humanity), then does not simple logic compel us to err on the side of caution?  This whole thing is not a small matter because a human life may be at stake!  Isn't it better to protect the life in the womb rather than risk killing a baby?  This is a logical argument against abortion that is not based upon any religious beliefs.

Futhermore, I also disagree that abortions are "safe."  They are physically harmful (and potentially deadly), to the women who get them, and have proven to be emotionally and psychologically destructive as well.  Thus, there are serious health reasons to reject abortion.

I could also argue against abortion strickly from a sociological point of view, citing the many countries whose populations are contracepting and aborting themselves out of existence.  There are European countries, for example, whose birth rates are not high enough to sustain their own populations, and have to rely upon the immigration of cultures who routinely reject contraception and abortion.  Simply put, the future belongs to those who want lots of babies.

Furthermore, also within the area of sociology, I could argue that abortion is the "easy fix" supported by the multi-billion dollar sex industry and its exploitation of women.  Basically sex is "sold" as a recreation rather than as a means of pro-creation, and abortion is presented as a way of dealing with the "problem" of an "unwanted pregnancy" (again, to use their terminology).  Moreover, what is being sold is rampant promiscuity and non-commitment rather than fidelity, marriage and family stability.  But the real possibility of prenancy curtails the "sexually free life-style", so abortion becomes the way of protecting it.  Therefore, abortion attacks family stability, and therefore social stability, because family stability is the building block of society.

In short, even if I were an atheist with no religious beliefs whatsoever, I would still be pro-life.

God bless,
-Rev. Eric

[DavidFilmer]

Is a fetus a living human?

Philosophers, theologians, and humanists might get into argument about “what is life?” or “what does it mean to be human?” But for scientists, there is NO debate.

Is a fetus alive? Well, to the scientist, of course it is. For one thing, it grows (at an astonishing rate). But the “golden rule” of scientific life is the Krebs cycle. Metabolic activity? Check! Consumes oxygen? Check! Produces bodily waste? Check! Etc, etc (a biology major (such as my wife) might spend a year studying the Krebs cycle, so I won’t attempt to expound it fully, but suffice to say that any fetus exhibits the Krebs cycle).

Of course, pro-abortionists rarely argue that a fetus is not alive (that would be really dumb). They try to argue that it’s not human. On one level, that’s silly. Obviously the fetus is alive, AH but living things can be categorized by species - what species is a fetus? A plant? A bird? A fish?  No, humans don’t beget plants, birds, or fish. They beget humans.

Again, philosophers might argue what “human” means, but scientists do not. For an organism to be human, it must possess a certain set of 32 chromosomes, which comprise a particular genetic signature.

If you were to send a fetal biopsy (at any stage of development) to any competent laboratory and ask them to identify the species, they would conclude: genus homo, species sapien (i.e., human).

Many people who oppose abortion do so on religious principles because they believe it is the killing of innocent human life. However, those individuals happen to be scientifically correct, and their beliefs may be verified by any biological laboratory.