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1 One of the biggest problem regarding moral issues in the world is the problem of abortion.

Since the Supreme Courts decision of 1973 (Roe vs. Wade), the annual number of abortions performed only in the United States has risen from 744,600 to 1.5 million.1 People like Virginia Ramey Mollenkott, (who wrote Reproductive Choice: Basic to Justice for Women,) or Dr. Bernard Nathanson, one of the original leaders of the American pro-abortion movement and co-founder of N.A.R.A.L. (the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws, now known as the National Abortion Rights Action League) will try to demonstrate that abortion its not a sin and the Bible will not have a word against it Regarding abortion there are three basic positions and all of them have to do with the question of the human status of the unborn. First, there are those who support abortion because the unborn are subhuman. Secondly there are those for abortion in specified circumstances (to save the mothers life, in case of rape, incest or genetic deformities) because the unborn is just a potential human. Thirdly there are those against abortion because the unborn is considered to be fully human2. The central question in the abortion issue from a moral perspective is When does a human life begin? If a human life begins at conception , then abortion will usually involve the deliberate termination of a human life and will become a serious problem for ethics and law. The purpose of this paper is to provide sufficient biblical truth for understanding that life starts at conception and also to suggest that out of Gods Word we can find enough evidences to stop the so called silent holocaust . Definition of Abortion. Abortion is the act of bringing forth young prematurely3. On the same path, R.K.Harrison suggests that tin the area of gynecology, an abortion describes the expulsion from the womb of an embryo or a fetus, not yet able to sustain life4. In other words abortion means to stop the Human development that begins when an ovum from a female is fertilized by a sperm from a male.5
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Walter Isaacson, The Battle over Abortion, Time, April 6, 1981, p. 21 Norman L. Geisler, Christian Ethics, Appolos,1990, Leicester, England p.135 3 New Practical Standard Dictionary, ed. Charles Earle Funk, 1964 ed., s.v. Abortion, p. 5 4 RK. Harrison, Encyclopedia of biblical and Christian Ethics ed. Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1987, p.1 5 . Keith L. Moore, The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology (Philadelphia: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1988), p. 1.
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2 History of Abortion Many societies and moralists opposed abortion since the dawn of civilization. The earliest New Eastern law codes, with the exception of the Middle Assyrian Laws (1600 B.C.), although deal with the natural miscarriages caused by a blow from another part, do not present the willful destruction of the fetus with the consent of the mother. According to the injunctions outlined in the Middle Assyrian Laws, if a woman has had a miscarriage by her own act, when they have prosecuted her (and) convicted her, they shall impale her on stakes without burying her(Middle Assyrian Laws 53, in ANET 185)6. While induced abortion is only occasionally mentioned in Rome during the period of the Republic, it seems to have been very common during the early centuries of the Empire. In reaction to this growing permissiveness, eminent writers of the period raised their voices in praise of those who avoided it and against those who practiced it.7 The rabbinic writings seems to be more interested in the health of the mother and used to considered according to the Mishnah (Nid. 5:3), only the killing of a child already born (one day old) as an offense subject to the death penalty. The early Christianity opposed both abortion and infanticide. There were some writings on the early stage of Christianity which are against abortion. The Didache and the so-called Epistle of Barnabas, expressly condemn both abortion and infanticide. 8 Old Testament evidence that unborn are humans Some Christians have said that since Scripture has no command, Thou shalt not have an abortion, the unborn could not be named human beings. It was so unthinkable that an Israelite woman should desire an abortion that there was no need to mention this offense in the criminal code.9 It was unthinkable because children were gifts from God (Gen 33:5; Pss. 113:9; 127:3). To be bareness will mean to bear a punishment from The Almighty God and to be seen in such way by the others.
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David Noel Freedman, The Anchor Bible Dictionary, 1:32 (New York: Doubleday, 1996, c1992). Nid. Niddah reading from ANET Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, 3d ed. with suppl., ed. J. B. Pritchard, Princeton, 1969 7 David Noel Freedman, The Anchor Bible Dictionary, 1:32 (New York: Doubleday, 1996, c1992). N id. Niddah 8 Ibidem 9 Meredith G. Kline, Lex Talionis and the Human Fetus, Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 20 (September 1977): 193.

3 a) God is personally involved in the formation of the Unborn In forming the unborn in many Bible texts God uses in order to describe that He is very much involved in prenatal state of somebody. This is the case in Jeremiah 1:5 Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.... and some other parts of the Old Testament. (cf. Gen 29:3135; 30:1724 ; Ruth 4:13; 1 Sam 1:1920 ). Not only that, but the unborn are called by God before birth (Gen.25:22-23, Isa.49:1, Judg 13:2-7).10 In Psalm 139 David joyfully acknowledges that the Lord intricately wove him together in his mothers womb. Some scholars would say that this text proves that human personality develops only gradually, but personality differs from personhood.11 David traces the origin of his sin with Bathsheba to his own conception: Behold I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me (Ps 51:5 David is relating his sinfulness to the very inception of his life before birth. This indicates that the moral law of God was already present and operative in David in his prenatal state. 12 Job said, Let the day perish on which I was to be born, and the night which said, A boy is conceived (Job 3:3). This passage connects the individual born with the individual conceived. It is not wrong to say that Job traces his personal history back beyond his birth to the night of conception. The process of conception is described by the biblical writer in personal terms. There is no abstract language of the product of conception, but the concrete language of humanity. 13 Not only that but the Hebrew word is translated as boy and specifically applied to the unborn, although it is usually used to describe postnatal humans and is usually translated male, man, or husband (see Pss. 34:8 ; 52:7 ; 94:12 ; Prov 6:34). b) The Misinterpretation of Exodus 21:22-25 Some Christians have concluded from Exodus 21:2225 that the fetus is merely potential human life. It is concluded that since the punishment for accidentally killing an unborn child is less severe than the punishment for killing an adult, the unborn baby must be considered less

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Norman L. Geisler, Christian Ethics, Appolos,1990, Leicester, England p.148 Idem p.146 12 Dallas Theological Seminary, Bibliotheca Sacra Volume 139, 139:350 (Dallas Theological Seminary, 1982; 2002). 13 Dallas Theological Seminary, Bibliotheca Sacra Volume 148, 148:338 (Dallas Theological Seminary, 1991; 2002).

4 than human. Abortion, therefore, does not constitute the termination of human life and is not to be viewed as unscriptural. The text is not about intentional abortion and will not grant authority to perform abortion. The usual Hebrew, word for miscarry ( ;Gen 31:38; Exod 23:26; Job 2:10; Hos 9:14) is not used in Exodus 21:22. The verb which the NASB translates she has a miscarriage (literally, her children come out) is and customarily refers in the Old Testament to live births (cf. Gen 25:26; 38:2830 ; Job 3:11; 10:18 ; Jer 1:5; 20:18 ).The misinterpretation of this text starts when the results of harming are seen to be accidental miscarriage and not premature birth.14 The usual Hebrew, word for miscarry ( ;Gen 31:38; Exod 23:26; Job 2:10; Hos 9:14) is not used in Exodus 21:22. The verb which the NASB translates she has a miscarriage (literally, her children come out) is and customarily refers in the Old Testament to live births (cf. Gen 25:26; 38:2830 ; Job 3:11; 10:18 ; Jer 1:5; 20:18 ). The text find its meaning when it is understood in its context as the Hebrew scholar Umberto Cassuto says: But if any mischief happen, that is if the woman dies or the children die, then you shall give life for life, eye for eye15 New Testament evidence that unborn are humans New Testament theology is based on love and it challenges the lex tallionis. In the New Testament writings there will be different texts against any abortion. a) The use of the word It is worth to notice that Bible use the same word for unborn when its referring to young children. For instance Luke 1:41,44 (the story of Elizabeths Baby leaping for joy in her womb when Mary came to see her) is using the word as Luke 2:12, 16 where the infant Jesus is called a baby . Personal pronoun are used also to describe unborn children as any other human being.16

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C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, Exodus, in vol. 2: The Pentateuch, 3 vols., trans. James Martin, Commentary on the Old Testament (reprint ed., Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1949), pp. 134-35. 15 Dallas Theological Seminary, Bibliotheca Sacra Volume 139, 139:347-348 (Dallas Theological Seminary, 1982; 2002). cited Umberto Cassuto, Commentary on the Book of Exodus, trans. Israel Abrahams (Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1967), p. 275 16 Norman L. Geisler, Christian Ethics, Appolos,1990, Leicester, England p.148

5 b) Luke 1:26-56 Probably one of the most intrigue text from the Bible regarding the humanness of the unborn is right at the beginning of The Gospel of Luke. The interpretation of Graham A. D. Scott in his paper Abortion And The Incarnation is very interesting. 17In Elizabeths sixth month of pregnancy, an angel visits Mary to tell Mary of Gods plan for her. Soon after the angelic visitation (in those days), Mary hastens to travel to Elizabeths home in Judah. It is very clear that Mary by the time she got there has conceived (verse 43) and then she is called mother of my Lord. Marys greeting to her cousin provoked an emphatic leap of the unborn John in Elizabeths womb. Even though it could be said that Johns leaping was normal for a six month old fetus, the text suggests that the leaping was due to the arrival of Christ in the blessed virgin Marry, knowing that John was the forerunner of the Lord. Graham A. D. Scott suggests that the stage of the unborn Christ is about no more than a week to month at least for two reasons. In Acts 1;15 those days tai/j h`me,raij refers to a time span of ten days. Because Mary hastened in hastened in those days, and because she remained about three months, that is, until about the time for Johns birth, the time between her own visitation in Elizabeths sixth month and her arrival at Elizabeths home could not have been long, perhaps no more than a week. Assuming that the time between Marys visitation as a virgin and her arrival as a mother at Elizabeths was about a week, the conceptus Christ would be ready for implantation if conceived immediately after the visitation or would still be in the most elementary stages of zygote existence if conceived sometime later. 18 In this respect Johns prenatal recognition of the presence of Mary, the mother of the divine Messiah, points to his spiritual and rational capacity in the unborn state but also to the humanness of the unborn Christ on a very early stage. In conclusion of Luke 1:26-55 Graham A.D. Scott says that human life begins at the moment of conception, as the incarnation of the Lord shows. CONCLUSION There are several ways to approach the moral issue of abortion. This paper only scratched the surface of the abortion issue. There are still many problems not even suggested above, or
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The Evangelical Theological Society, Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society Volume 17, 17:34 (The Evangelical Theological Society, 1974; 2002). 18 The Evangelical Theological Society, Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society Volume 17, 17:34 (The Evangelical Theological Society, 1974; 2002).

6 different ways of approaching the problem: such, for example, of scientific evidence for the humanity of the unborn. Regarding the scientific evidence, Norman Geisler proves that is a genetic fact that a fertilized human ovum is 100% human because all the genetic information, all the physical characteristics of an individual being are present there and nothing can be added later on. One of the main ways to approach the abortion issue is to challenge it from a biblical perspective. The paper tried to prove that on a very honest analyze of the Bible, abortion will be forbidden starting from the moment of conception. Both Romanian Baptist Church and Romanian Orthodox Church will approve the sanctity of life and abortion as a sin. Romanian Orthodox Church shows that life will start from the moment of conception when a new and unique human being is formed.19 Life has a very long history, but each individual has a very neat beginning, the moment of its conception and killing an innocent human life will always be wrong. Finding arguments to justify abortion will be the first step in finding arguments to justify infanticide. The Bible proves the sanctity of life and its importance.

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John Breck, Darul sacru al vietii- tratat de bioetica, 2003, Cluj Napoca, p.160

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