In this thesis I intend to prove, that abortion is murder. I intend to show this from two different aspects, [1]. Biblically and [2]. Scientifically. This will not be hard because both agree on, the subject. There is no reputable scientist who is conversant in biology who would not agree that life begins at conception in mammals. No student of the Bible can show that an unborn child is any less a human being or without complete body, soul, and spirit than a man or woman outside a womb.

Also the moral arguments will be given pro and con and answered from the Bible or biologically or from just plain old common sense. (Which is not so common nowadays.)

And, finally, I will conclude, showing to any unbiased reader that abortion is murder and should be apposed by all.

(All references to the Bible will be from the King James Bible).

 

The Biblical facts are too numerous for a paper of this size. What will be given is a few of the more obvious passages. Then I will list some of the others and make a few brief comments on them for your own personal study.

The first passage to be sited is Job 10:18, "Wherefore then hast thou brought me forth out of the womb? Oh that I had given up the ghost, and no eye had seen me." This passage shows without a doubt that Job believed he had a spirit inside the womb. This proves that the unborn child is alive. Since "the body without the spirit is dead," ^{1} then the spirit is essential to life. The unborn child has a spirit so he has life. What kind of life? Human life, that's easy. If it was a dog, it would be dog's life, since it is a human we are discussing, it would be human life. This also refutes the idea that a person has to breath air before he can have his spirit given to him. Those examples which seem to indicate this are from Genesis 2 and Ezekiel 37, there are also some in Psalms but these are the main two. In all of these cases, it is talking about a grown man or animal. Never is the breath of life spoken of when speaking of the birth of a baby. The argument may be given, that Job was in distress and was just "running off at the mouth," this is unjustified, especially when other passages are used by him as the truth. Job 10:18 is irrefutable proof that an unborn child has a spirit.

The next passage to be examined will be Judges 13:1-7. In essence we see that Marioah's wife is told not to drink wine or strong drink because the child she was carrying in her womb was a Nazarite. The law applied to the unborn child in this case. The unborn child obviously is alive or it would not be required to keep the law.

The next passage is in the New Testament, Luke 1:44, "For lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears , the babe. leaped in my womb for joy. This is Elizabeth speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost ^{2} and gives a human attribute to the child in her womb, John the Baptist. Some may say that he is an unusual case, however he is at least born! That's at least a great deal better than the full grown man in Genesis 2 or Ezekiel 37, isn't it?

The next passage is in Acts 20:28, which shows that Jesus' blood is God's blood. Since the life of the flesh is in the blood, ^{3} then Jesus was alive when He had God's blood in Him. When was this? As we will see when we study the chapter on biology, it is while He was still in the womb of Mary. Jesus was alive in His physical body before He was actually born, He received that blood at conception.

The next passage is in Genesis 35:16-26. This passage deals with Jacob and his wives going to Ephrath from Bethel after they had left Padanaram. The statement in verse 26 says they were all born in Padanaram. But if you will notice one of them was obviously born after they left and were between Ephrath and Bethel, that one was Benjamin. Why would the writer of Genesis make such an-obvious "mistake"? If the time element is looked into, you- can 'see that Benjamin was conceived in Padanaram but literally born in the promised land. This shows what God thinks of the place to start counting a life. (It is also interesting to note, when I was in Korea, they started a child out at one year old when he was born!) So, again we can see that God considered the boy Benjamin, to be alive while still in the womb of his mother.

Now, concerning the idea that someone is not alive till they breath air, let's look at a few examples of the "breath of life." being used.

The first example is in, Genesis, 2:7, "And the LORD God formed man out of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." The first thing to be aware of is the fact that Adam was not born! So anyone who brings this argument up is really stretching it. The next thing about this is the fact that Adam was a full grown man, (presumably laying on the ground) when the LORD breathed on him the next thing to note about this event is that when Adam became a living soul, he was spiritually alive as well, in fellowship with God. When Adam sinned and died spiritually, he did not quit breathing! Even though dead spiritually, the air was, still in his nostrils. This argument may seem ludicrous until you read John 20:22, where we read, "And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost." Now His breathing on them did not give them "physical" life, which is obvious to anyone because they were standing right there talking with Him. So, when Adam was breathed on by God, he received spiritual life evidenced by the phrase, "and man became a LIVING soul." Not only physically but spiritually. This shows that the breathing of air on someone does not mean that physical life is given to them necessarily. It is true that if you are deprived of air for a certain length of time, you will die. But a fish can live, as well as insects without having the "breath of life" in their nostrils. The oxygen is transferred by the gills in a fish and through various means in insects. This shows that an unborn child can be alive and fully human without breathing air through his nostrils. The oxygen is in the blood, if there is any validity to the "air" business it is IN THE BLOOD, exactly as Leviticus 17:11 says, "the life of the flesh is IN the blood." The blood is the means by which the oxygen is carried around in the body. An unborn child has his OWN blood, hence, he has his own life, with a body, soul, AND spirit.

Now I will run down a list of verses which show that God speaks of the unborn child as completely human. I will also give a short comment on each.

Genesis 25:22-26 and Hosea 12:3. These verses show that the struggling in the womb was not just two "appendages" bumping into each other.

Second Samuel 11:5. This verse, along with countless others, says she was "with child" not with "appendage." The argument may be given that it is just a "saying" but where did the saying come from? And isn't the Bible accurate even in the smallest details? I believe that it is.

Psalms 119:13. This verse points out that, God had covered HIM in his mother's womb. Not my body or the flesh will I inhabit. Clearly showing the writer believed HE was present in the womb; ALL of him.

In Zechariah 12:1, we see that God formed the spirit of man in him, not breathed it into him.

Job 3:11 shows that Job had to have the spirit in the womb in order for him to give it up. This is in total agreement with Job 10.

In Ecclesiastes 3:19-21, we can see that the breath in man and animals are the same but their spirits are different. Now this should be obvious to anyone who can road first grade English, spirit is spelled s-p-i-r-i-t, and breath is spelled b-r-e-a-t-h. Things that are different are not the same!

The only place where an abortion could seem to be legitimized by the jaded Bible reader is found in Exodus 21:22-25. There are several reasons why this Passage is of no value to the person trying to say that abortion is not murder. [1]. The context: The passage is stuck right in the middle of two passages where people are not held accountable for killing another human being. In verses 20-21, a man kills his servant and is not given the death penalty, and not even punished, if the guy continues to live a few days. On the other side of the passage in question is found a man who would ordinarily get the death penalty, but is spared if he gives enough money (verses 29-30). [2]. The passage is not dealing with a woman going to a man to kill her unborn baby but is the result of indirect action, what we today would call manslaughter. And [3]. The phrase "if any mischief follow" is a reference to someone dying, but it doesn't say WHO!!! This has led the inept Bible student to say it is automatically the woman who dies. Any reference to the Hebrew is just a dive because you can't get it to say it in plain old English. As anyone knows, a premature baby can live, even without "modern medicine." So in the passage if either one dies the man is given the death, penalty. At the very least, this verse has nothing to do with abortion as we know it today.

It should be apparent to any honest Bible student that there are overwhelming evidences that the Bible and God are not in favor of, abortion and that God considers it to be the same as murder, which it is. The only way a man could continue to believe that abortion is not murder is to either be blind, deaf, and dumb or to have a prideful prejudice not to go ahead and say the Bible is right.

In the next chapter we will see that not only does the Bible state that life begins at, conception but Biology does, too. This is only important, because it does agree with the Bible. If all of science said abortion was OK and the Bible declares it to be murder, then science is wrong. But in this cases there is no doubt Biblically, Biologically, or even Morally that abortion is murder.