Why I go to church

Why do I go to church?

"While many things in Scripture can be elusive, the truth that God intends us to worship, serve, and fellowship together is not one of them." - Prayers from the Pews: The Power of Praying for Your Church by Teri Lynne Underwood

(Church means a group of believers, and perhaps others, meeting together. It doesn't mean a building, although many churches meet in designated church buildings.)

I don't go to church because doing so will keep me from eternal punishment. As someone said, "going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than going into a garage makes you an automobile." Being a believer, following Christ, is not a bargain, sealed by correct behavior on my part. It is, however, a life of obedience and trust, in Christ as Lord and Savior.

So why do I go to church?
1) Because it's a lifelong habit, and habits are hard to break.
2) Because the New Testament indicates that doing so is being obedient. Here's what the author of Hebrews had to say:
10:24 Let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good works, 25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another; and so much the more, as you see the Day approaching. (World English Bible, public domain. All Bible quotations from that source.)
3) Because the New Testament indicates that that's what the early church did:
1 Corinthians 11:18 For first of all, when you come together in the assembly, I hear that divisions exist among you, and I partly believe it. 19 For there also must be factions among you, that those who are approved may be revealed among you. 20a When therefore you assemble yourselves together . . .
4) Because it is my responsibility to encourage other people to do good things, and to be encouraged by others, in the same way, and the church offers opportunities for these transactions. (See Bible quotation for point 2)
5) Because a church can do things that I cannot do, such as send out missionaries, or carry out charitable projects. (The New Testament Church did these things, too.) I can join in some such efforts, contribute funds for such activities, and pray for the results, but I can't do them myself.
6) Because I can serve others. Different people serve in different ways. I should serve in ways that God calls me to, that the church appoints me to, and that I believe I am gifted in, have some ability in, and background for.
7) Because I can worship collectively. I'm not a choir by myself. I don't prepare a sermon every week. I shouldn't take the Lord's Supper by myself. The passage in 3), above, is particularly about observing the Lord's Supper, as a body of believers. The New Testament church seems to have met together, not just for observation of the Lord's supper, but for fellowship and worship.
8) Because I can learn. The pastor, or a group leader, or some other believer, may have an insight that I don't have. Someone may introduce a song that I haven't heard before, but should sing and think about.
9) Because I can find out about things to pray for, and others can be told of prayer concerns that I have.
10) Because the church is a good influence on children. We took our children, and, when we can, still attend church with them, and with our grandchildren. If the church isn't there, or isn't as good as it can be, because I don't support it, then what happens to the next generation?
11) Because I like the people. That shouldn't be the primary reason, and some of the people may not be very likable. I may not be, either. But most of them are people I'd like to maintain friendships with. God has made us to be social beings.
12) Because, sometimes, it's an emotionally uplifting experience. Sometimes I see, in church, evidence that someone else is growing spiritually. Sometimes the music moves me, or the words of the music. Sometimes the sermon makes me realize that I have fallen short, and need to do better, in some area. Is it always an emotionally uplifting experience? No, but I should be there when it is.
13) Because the Old Testament believers offered collective praise to God, and we should, too. Church music, especially, isn't supposed to be about me. It's supposed to be about praising God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

Thanks for reading. See also "Why Should We Worship Together."

Sunspots 440

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

The Arts: Wired has a report on some noted artworks, re-done as desserts. Why not?

Christianity: (And Science) An interesting (but long and scholarly) article on the ethics and morality of combining human and animal cells, in Answers Research Journal.

Computing: Gizmo's Freeware recommends a free on-line desktop publishing site that lets you create brochures, flyers, etc., on-line, and save them as .PDF files, to your computer. I have tried it, and it works.

Gizmo's Freeware also recommends a free to-do list manager. It can be used on the web, or off-line, as I understand it.

Education: The Panda's Thumb on why more girls don't go into science and math.

Science: NPR reports on the science of kissing.



Image source (public domain)

Does the Bible really say that? Excerpt from my book, 5

Was praying for unbelievers important in the early church?
Praying for sinners is important, but an examination of the New Testament indicates that another type of prayer was more important to the early church.

What is prayer? Aspects of prayer
Perhaps we should start by looking at what prayer is. Let’s face it! “Prayer” usually means “asking God for things we want.” There should be more to prayer than that. In the churches I attend, the most frequent prayers are for the sick, and for bereaved families. This is important. It is asking God for things we want for others, rather than for ourselves, but even that isn’t nearly all that prayer should be. Someone has suggested that there is more than one type of prayer, and that we should use all of these kinds of prayer, on a regular basis, when we communicate with God. The ACTS acronym is useful in remembering that:
Adoration: praising God for what and Who he is.
Examples: 1 Kings 8:22 Solomon stood before Yahweh’s altar in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven; 23 and he said, “Yahweh, the God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above, or on earth beneath; who keeps covenant and loving kindness with your servants, who walk before you with all their heart;
Acts 4:24 When they heard it, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, “O Lord, you are God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all that is in them; (The church, praying after Peter and John’s release.)

Confession: stating our sins and asking forgiveness.
Examples: Psalm 51:1 Have mercy on me, God, according to your loving kindness.
According to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity.
Cleanse me from my sin. (David, praying for forgiveness about his adultery with Bathsheba.)
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Thanksgiving: thanking God for specific things He has done.
Examples: Daniel 2:23 I thank you, and praise you, you God of my fathers, who have given me wisdom and might, and have now made known to me what we desired of you; for you have made known to us the king’s matter.
Matthew 11:25 At that time, Jesus answered, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you hid these things from the wise and understanding, and revealed them to infants.

Supplication: asking for things we want God to do, for others (also known as intercession) or for us.
Examples: Matthew 6:11 Give us today our daily bread.
Mark 14:36 He said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible to you. Please remove this cup from me. However, not what I desire, but what you desire.”
Romans 10:1 Brothers, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God is for Israel, that they may be saved.

(The material above is currently available as a graphic, oriented in landscape mode, so that it may be projected. See here. You are free to use that graphic for any non-commercial use.)

All of the types of prayer above are things we tell God, and we should tell this sort of thing to God. But prayer should be two-way communication. We should listen for God’s voice, and pay attention when He speaks to us, audibly or in our thoughts.

The above is an excerpt from my recently published e-book, Does the Bible Really Say That?, which may be obtained free of charge, or purchased from Amazon for $0.99, which is the lowest price Amazon lets an author set. Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, public domain.

The previous post in this series is here.

Thanks for reading!

Sunspots 439

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

Christianity: National Public Radio reports on preachers who handle snakes. There are some of them.

Computing: National Public Radio on how various companies (and perhaps the government) are finding out about us from our on-line activity.

Humor: (or engineering) Wired reports, with photos and a video, on a pen made of magnets. It can do some interesting things, indeed.

Philosophy: The Skeptical Zone has a post considering moral behavior in chimpanzees, or at least in a single chimpanzee.

Politics: ABC News reports that North Carolina government workers can not make use of climate change projections, in planning for the future of the NC coast, because the state legislature has made it illegal to do so. If you don't like the science results, just make outlaw them. Right.



Image source (public domain)

Does the Bible really say that? Excerpt from my book, 4

(A previous post in this series discussed the fact that the Bible was written for a different culture than the one we live in.)

Besides the question of the culture that the Bible was originally written within, and for, there’s also the question of the purpose of the writing. We must be careful in drawing conclusions about the purpose for a particular section of the Bible, because we aren’t God, and don’t know His purposes exactly. Also, God most likely had more than one purpose in mind when He allowed, or caused, many Bible passages to be written. Sometimes, the main purpose seems to be quite clear. Not always.

The main purpose of the verses concerning how long Jesus was in the tomb was not to discuss Jewish burial customs, or to establish a timetable of what happened. . . . Luke 23 tells us that Jesus was not in the tomb when his followers got there on Easter morning. It doesn’t tell us when Jesus left the tomb. We can guess, but we don’t know. He could have arisen very early in the morning, before daylight, or just before the women arrived. But the main point remains. Jesus was not in a sealed, guarded, tomb. He arose!

. . . The genre of Biblical writing is related to the purpose. Bible students classify the writing of the Bible into several different genres, such as poetry, history, law, apocalyptic literature, parables, doctrine. (There are other ways of classifying sections of the Bible.) In almost no case, with the exception of the parables of Jesus, is the genre indicated – the Bible doesn’t tell us. We just have to figure it out. Occasionally, there is controversy over which genre a particular part of the Bible belongs to. This is true of the first part of Genesis. I’m not going to discuss the controversies over that section of the Bible, other than to say that there are such controversies, and that we should be careful not to be too sure that we know what the right answer is.

The above, except for the opening parenthesis, is an excerpt from my recently published e-book, Does the Bible Really Say That?, which may be obtained free of charge, or purchased from Amazon for $0.99, which is the lowest price Amazon lets an author set. Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, public domain.

Thanks for reading!

Noah's ark - attempts to build replicas

National Public radio has posted a report on several attempts, some completed, some ongoing, to construct full-scale, or scale models, of Noah's ark. These are in at least three continents, and there is, or has been, more than one attempt in the U. S. I find the report fascinating. There are photos, and links to related matters.

One thing especially caught my eye. It is this, quoting one of the persons leading a replica attempt: "Not only are we thinking through the different kinds of animals represented onboard and how you deal with 12 million tons of waste every day . . ." Twelve million tons? A day? I have trouble imagining how and where that figure came from, if, indeed, the quotation is accurate.

The persons building the ark say that, according to the Bible, the ark was 300 by 50 by 30 cubits. (See Genesis 6) Let's say that a cubit is two feet, which is almost certainly an overestimate, and assume that the shape of the ark was a rectangular prism, that is, that it wasn't pointed on one end, and that the bottom was the same size as the top. Using those assumptions, the volume of the ark would be 300 x 2 x 50 x 2 x 30 x 2 = 3,600,000 cubic feet. If one-quarter of that volume was animals (which would mean that they were very closely packed -- don't forget that there would have had to have been food enough to be turned into waste, and that amount of food would have taken up a lot of room, plus air to breathe, cages, etc.), then there would have been 900,000 cubic feet of animals on the ark. I take that to be generous, for sure. But anyway. A cubic foot contains about 7.5 gallons, so I'll say 8. A gallon of water, and animals are about as dense as water -- most float, or at least don't sink easily -- weighs about 8 pounds. 900,000 x 8 x 8 = somewhat less than 58,000,000 pounds of animals. That's 29,000 tons. There's no way that 29,000 tons of animals could generate twelve million tons of waste per day. Either NPR has misquoted the individual, or the individual hasn't been thinking very carefully.

Here's information on claims that Noah's ark has been found. Here's a post on some questions about the flood.

Thanks for reading.

Abortion: Some thoughts for Christians

This is a long post. Here is a table of contents:What is abortion?
Is abortion murder? Exodus 21:22-23
Was killing babies considered murder in the Bible?
God knew us before we were born
What my church believes
Does human life begin at conception?
Cloning?
Must Christians have an explicit Biblical basis for opposition to abortion?
Abortion, conscience, and the law
Motives
Wrong tactics
Conclusion

What is abortion?
Abortion is an important issue. In the last part of the 20th Century, many conservative Christians, protestant and Roman Catholic, considered it to be the most important public policy issue. Many still do, although attention to the issue has declined somewhat.

What is abortion? Here’s what the Wikipedia says: “Abortion is the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo* prior to viability. . . . An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced. The term abortion most commonly refers to the induced abortion of a human pregnancy.” The article includes a dozen or more quotations of definitions of abortion, from other sources, besides this one. This post uses that definition, and will not call a spontaneous loss of a fetus an abortion, but a miscarriage. Most writers make this distinction, but, unfortunately, some don’t.
*A fertilized egg develops into an embryo. After about two months of development, it is no longer called an embryo, but a fetus. For clarity, this post uses “baby” to mean a fetus that has been delivered, born, and is no longer inside its mother. Until birth, it’s a fetus.

This post will not call failure to implant a fertilized egg in the uterine wall, no matter what causes the failure, an abortion. Some people believe that prevention of implantation is wrong, and it may be, but definitions are important. See the “What my church believes” section for more on this matter.
 
Why is abortion an important issue, for Christians and others? The main reason is that it is seen as a form of murder, and murder is prohibited by the Ten Commandments. In Matthew 5, Jesus went further than the Sixth Commandment, to say that “21 You have heard that it was said to the ancient ones, ‘You shall not murder;’ and ‘Whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ 22  But I tell you, that everyone who is angry with his brother without a cause will be in danger of the judgment;” (World English Bible, public domain. All scripture quotations, unless indicated otherwise, are from this source. “Without a cause” was probably not in the original manuscript.) Most likely, Jesus was emphasizing the importance of our motives, related to murder, as being, for us, as or more important than carrying out the act.

Is abortion murder? Exodus 21:22-3
Is abortion murder? The Bible doesn’t explicitly say so, or that it isn’t murder. In fact, the Bible doesn’t use the word abortion. Techniques to cause abortions were non-existent, or ineffective, and probably risky, and, most likely, the very idea of having an abortion would not have occurred to most people in Bible times.
 
One passage that is probably relevant is in Exodus 21:
22 If men fight and hurt a pregnant woman so that she gives birth prematurely, and yet no harm follows, he shall be surely fined as much as the woman’s husband demands and the judges allow. 23 But if any harm follows, then you must take life for life . . . (World English Bible, public domain)

We must be cautious about attaching too much significance to any one particular Bible verse. However, this seems to be the only passage in the Bible that gives any indication of how to treat someone who has caused the premature death of a fetus. (At least it seems to deal with that, according to  some translations.) This verse is in the middle of a group of miscellaneous laws, apparently given to Moses by God, on Mount Sinai. Exodus 20, the previous chapter, is the first setting forth of the Ten Commandments.


The Blueletter Bible gives several translations of Exodus 21:22. The King James Version uses the phrase “her fruit depart from her,” in place of the “gives birth prematurely,” of the World English Bible, about the consequences of a pregnant woman being hit during a fight between men. That’s obscure, and could mean either a miscarriage, a premature birth, or possibly something else. The New KJV also says “gives birth prematurely.” The New Living Translation agrees, but has a text note, indicating that “she has a miscarriage” is a possible rendering. The New International Version agrees with the NLT, both in the translation given, and the text note. The English Standard Version says “her children come out,” which is ambiguous. Note that it says “children,” not “baby” or “fetus.” The New American Standard says “gives birth prematurely,” and, in a text note, says that “Or, an untimely birth occurs; lit her children come out,” which indicates that the ESV is translating literally in this case.* The Revised Standard Version says “there is a miscarriage.” There are five other translations given by the Blueletter Bible. They use “her fruit depart,” “her children come out,” “she be delivered,” “her fruit depart from her,” and “gives birth prematurely.” The New American Bible, approved by the U. S. Catholic bishops, uses “she suffers a miscarriage.” The Contemporary English Version says “suffers a miscarriage,” but has a text note with “gives birth before her time.”
*Literal translations are not always the easiest to understand. Consider, for example, trying to translate the phrase “take a crack at,” into another language. She would probably mess it up — another phrase hard to translate — if she translated each separate English word literally, into, say, Swahili!


The fine referred to in this passage suggests that the result was a miscarriage, not premature birth. Why assess a fine for a premature birth, unless it was so premature that the baby didn’t live?


Going to commentaries, I have found some important ones that comment on this passage. The Pulpit Commentary treats the matter as a miscarriage. Adam Clarke says this:
And hurt a woman with child - As a posterity among the Jews was among the peculiar promises of their covenant, and as every man had some reason to think that the Messiah should spring from his family, therefore any injury done to a woman with child, by which the fruit of her womb might be destroyed, was considered a very heavy offense; and as the crime was committed principally against the husband, the degree of punishment was left to his discretion. But if mischief followed, that is, if the child had been fully formed, and was killed by this means, or the woman lost her life in consequence, then the punishment was as in other cases of murder - the person was put to death; Exodus 21:23.

John Calvin believed that a miscarriage was equivalent to murder. Keil and Delitzsch, on the other hand, were convinced that the loss of a fetus was not equivalent to the death of a person who had already been born. Some of the commentaries I looked at didn’t consider the matter.

I am not a Hebrew scholar, and, in this case, it wouldn’t matter if I was. Some other Hebrew scholars would disagree with me, no matter how I translated this passage, as documented above. But there is one conclusion from all of this uncertainty: it is possible, perhaps even likely, that Exodus 21:22 means that an accidentally caused miscarriage was not treated in the same way as an accidentally caused death. The Mosaic law covers accidental killing (Numbers 35). If such occurred, the person who did the accidental killing was forced to flee to one of the cities of refuge, and, if he left there, he could be killed by a relative of the person he had killed — life for life, even in the case of an accident. There is no suggestion of such a result in Exodus 21. If an accidental miscarriage was not treated in the same way as an accidental death, then, most likely, an abortion, if such had occurred, would not have been treated in the same way as an intentional murder.

Added January 26, 2016: Ken Schenck, Bible scholar, has dealt with abortion in general, and with the Exodus 21 passage in particular, here.


Was killing babies considered murder in the Bible?
There are Old Testament passages that indicate that little children were not specially protected, at least not in war:
Numbers 31:15 Moses said to them, . . . [about the Midianites] 17 Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man by lying with him.


Deuteronomy 2:32 Then Sihon came out against us . . . 34 We took all his cities at that time, and utterly destroyed every inhabited city, with the women and the little ones. We left no one remaining.


Psalm 137:8 Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction,
he will be happy who rewards you,
as you have served us.
9 Happy shall he be,
who takes and dashes your little ones against the rock.


Isaiah 13:13 Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place in Yahweh of Armies’ wrath, and in the day of his fierce anger. . . . 16 Their infants also will be dashed in pieces before their eyes. Their houses will be ransacked, and their wives raped. 17 Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, who will not value silver, and as for gold, they will not delight in it. 18 Their bows will dash the young men in pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb. Their eyes will not spare children.

Jeremiah 20:14 Cursed is the day in which I was born.
Don’t let the day in which my mother bore me be blessed.
15 Cursed is the man who brought news to my father, saying,
“A boy is born to you,” making him very glad.
16 Let that man be as the cities which Yahweh overthrew,
and didn’t repent.
Let him hear a cry in the morning,
and shouting at noontime;
17a because he didn’t kill me from the womb;
and so my mother would have been my grave 


Hosea 9:14 Give them—Yahweh what will you give?
Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.
15 “All their wickedness is in Gilgal;
for there I hated them.
Because of the wickedness of their deeds I will drive them out of my house!
I will love them no more.
All their princes are rebels.
16 Ephraim is struck.
Their root has dried up.
They will bear no fruit.
Even though they give birth, yet I will kill the beloved ones of their womb.” 

Hosea 13:16 Samaria will bear her guilt;
for she has rebelled against her God.
They will fall by the sword.
Their infants will be dashed in pieces,
and their pregnant women will be ripped open.
(In these quotations from Hosea, “Them” refers to the Northern Kingdom. So does “Samaria.” This is God, speaking through Hosea.)


The passages above indicate that abortion may not be murder, since God directed, or God’s people carried out, infanticide, the killing of babies, as part of warfare against the enemies of Israel.

However, there's also this passage: Amos 1:13 Yahweh says:
“For three transgressions of the children of Ammon, yes, for four,
I will not turn away its punishment;
because they have ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead,
that they may enlarge their border. ...”


God knew us before we were born
On the other hand, there are passages that indicate that God is concerned with us, from the time of birth, even before birth:
Judges 13:5 for, behold, you shall conceive, and give birth to a son. No razor shall come on his head; for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb. He shall begin to save Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. (This is about Samson. This idea, about Samson, is repeated elsewhere in Judges.)


Psalm 22:9 But you brought me out of the womb.
You made me trust while at my mother’s breasts. (Similar thought in verse 10. The phrase, “out of the womb,” and similar wording, probably means “from birth,” not prenatal, in the Bible.)


Psalm 71:6 I have relied on you from the womb.
You are he who took me out of my mother’s womb.
I will always praise you.


Psalm 139:13 For you formed my inmost being.
You knit me together in my mother’s womb. (Although most, or all, of the passages in this section are probably about young babies, this one seems to be speaking of a fetus, or even an embryo. There are only two other passages in the rest of this section that seem to be about a fetus, not a baby.)


Isaiah 49:1 Listen, islands, to me.
Listen, you peoples, from afar:
Yahweh has called me from the womb;
from the inside of my mother he has mentioned my name. (Similar thought in verse 5)


Jeremiah  1:4 Now Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 5 “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.
Before you were born, I sanctified you.
I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.” (This one, too, is apparently about a fetus or embryo.)


Luke 1:15 For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and he will drink no wine nor strong drink. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.
 
1:41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 She called out with a loud voice, and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 Why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For behold, when the voice of your greeting came into my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy!” (This doesn’t definitely say that John the Baptist was aware of Mary’s entrance, and recognized Jesus as a fetus, but it may have been so. I know from personal experience that fetuses can react to sounds, so it is possible that fetal John the Baptist was just responding to Mary’s voice.)


Galatians 1:15 But when it was the good pleasure of God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me through his grace, 16a to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the Gentiles
 
There may be other passages, that I have missed, related to the status of either unborn, or very young children.

What my church believes
Here’s what my own church, The Wesleyan Church, has to say about abortion:
The Wesleyan Church seeks to recognize and preserve the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death and, thus, is opposed to the use of induced abortion. However, it recognizes that there may be rare pregnancies where there are grave medical conditions threatening the life of the mother, which could raise a serious question about taking the life of the unborn child. In such a case, a decision should be made only after very prayerful consideration following medical and spiritual counseling. The Wesleyan Church encourages its members to become informed about the abortion issue and to become actively involved locally and nationally in the preparation and passage of appropriate legislation guaranteeing protection of life under law to unborn children. (Indianapolis: Wesleyan Publishing House, The Discipline of The Wesleyan Church, 2012, Special Directions, A. Christian Social Concern, paragraph 410:11.)

Notice that only one exception is allowed, namely when the life of the mother is at stake. The reason for that seems to be that, unless someone else’s life is saved by having an abortion, an abortion takes a life, so it is wrong.


There are other religious bodies, and, no doubt, some individual Wesleyans, who believe that abortion is permissible in some other circumstances, such as after a rape, or as the result of incest. Some people believe that it would be permissible to abort a badly deformed fetus, or one who would be badly deformed at birth. There are, of course, even those who believe that abortion is allowed if the mother is unable to care for the baby, or as a means of birth control. And there are some people, perhaps some of them Christian, who say that a woman should be able to have an abortion for any reason at all, because we are talking about her body.

One of the universities owned by The Wesleyan Church plans “to sue [the federal government] over the Affordable Care Act, specifically, over mandates that require employee health plans to include all FDA approved contraceptives. . . . the university doesn’t have a problem with conventional birth control, it’s the morning after pill and the week after pill . . . that destroys human life.” (source)


The Discipline, which contains the official doctrine of my church, does not say so, but apparently officials of this university believe that human life begins at conception, and, therefore, should be protected. They do not believe that using a birth control method that prevents conception is wrong. (This would include condoms, diaphragms, and regularly used birth control pills.) As I understand the Roman Catholic position, they believe that abstinence from sexual relations, entirely, or during a woman’s fertile period, is the only acceptable means of birth control.


Does human life begin at conception?

This is an important question. But it is not a scientific question. It’s a policy question, a legal question, a theological question, a philosophical question. And it isn’t exactly the right question. The real question is, “How should we treat a fertilized human egg?” Because it doesn’t matter so much whether a fertilized egg is a human life, or not, as it matters how we deal with such. It would be possible to agree that human life begins at conception, but deny that a fertilized egg deserves any protection. The same question applies to treatment of an embryo, or fetus, at whatever stage of development you please to consider.

OK. How, then, should we treat a fertilized human egg — a zygote? The Bible does not speak to this question directly. But the discussion above, about whether abortion is murder or not, is relevant. If an induced miscarriage is not equivalent to killing an adult, then it makes no sense to say that destroying a zygote is murder. But the discussion above indicates that the Bible doesn’t give firm guidance on the matter.


Some biological facts are relevant.
1) A unique human genotype is established at conception, or fertilization. In identical multiple births, all the siblings have that same genotype.
 
2) Identical twins, and other identical multiple births, come from one and the same zygote, which splits into two at some point after conception. The Dionne quintuplets were the most famous identical siblings. They were the result of splitting of a single embryo. At least 6 such splittings must have occurred, in their case. (One split - 2 embryos; a second split, three embryos, a third, four embryos, a fifth, five embryos, and a sixth, six embryos. A sixth fetus was miscarried, during the pregnancy.) In this, and other cases, it is not exactly correct to say that a human life began at conception. It began, in the case of identical siblings, some time after conception.
 
3) Various critical stages in embryonic development take place after conception. For that reason, some have suggested that we say that human life begins at one of these stages, or that, at and beyond this particular stage, the embryo or fetus should be protected from harm, as much as is possible. These stages include implantation in the wall of the uterus, which takes place at a week after fertilization, or later; a beating (but not fully functioning) heart, which occurs later, at about four weeks; blood movement, at about five weeks; or brain waves, which come still later, at about six weeks after fertilization. It is almost certain that an embryo, at that stage, is not undergoing what we call thinking. It is not even certain that a late stage fetus is capable of what we experience as thought. See here for information on brain waves during development. I won’t try to define thought, but, of course, such a definition would be important if the ability to think was a criterion for being human. One reason that it might be so used is that some believe that it is necessary to be able to think, in order to have a soul. I won’t try to define a soul, either, nor, in this document, to discuss the question of whether the soul is part of the brain’s functioning, or is a separate entity of some sort. Many others have discussed such questions!

Quickening, when the mother can feel the movement of the fetus, comes still later, and has sometimes been proposed as the point at which we should say that human life begins, and begin to give the fetus human rights. Viability, meaning that the fetus has matured to the point where it would have a good chance of survival if the mother gave birth prematurely, is another point at which we might begin to treat a fetus as a human being, with rights. In fact, the Roe v. Wade court decision, famous for making abortions legal, does just that. Roe v. Wade forbids abortion at and beyond the point of viability. Viability depends, in part, on how good hospitals are at keeping a premature baby alive, and it is to be expected that, as new techniques become available, the point of viability will become somewhat earlier. Finally, of course, some have proposed that birth is the time at which someone should be treated as human, and protected.


Cloning?
Cloning needs to be defined. Here’s one definition: “The process of creating an exact copy of a biological unit (e.g. a DNA sequence, cell, or organism) from which it was derived, especially by way of biotechnological methods . . . Cloning can be natural or artificial.”

The production of identical siblings is one type of natural cloning. Cutting off a piece, or pieces, of a plant, so as to grow more plants, is another. Creating an exact copy of a DNA sequence is not directly related to the topic of abortion, and creating an exact copy of a cell may not be, but creating an exact copy of an organism is. How so?


The Wikipedia says that “Therapeutic cloning involves cloning cells from an adult for use in medicine and transplants, and is an active area of research. Reproductive cloning would involve making cloned humans, for couples wanting to have a child, but cannot naturally.”


There has been a fierce debate over proposals to use human embryos, produced by in vitro fertilization, to produce embryonic stem cells. (The embryos would be destroyed, or at least not allowed to develop past an early embryonic stage.) Many people, including, but not limited to Christians, have opposed this sort of research as a type of murder. See here for the Wikipedia article on stem cells.


One type of therapeutic cloning, which has not been developed very far, is to take the nucleus of a human cell, from an adult, and place that nucleus in an unfertilized human egg. Under the right conditions, such a cell can develop, and, apparently, begin to turn into an embryo. Embryonic stem cells were produced, and, in further experiments, might be harvested and used. (See here for a recent report on these experiments. Harvesting didn’t take place in the procedures reported on.) If embryos produced normally should be protected in the same way adults and children should, should embryos produced in this way also be protected? The article says that most scientists trying to produce stem cells for therapeutic purposes are developing techniques to reprogram adult cells so that they turn into cells like embryonic stem cells. Such research poses no danger to human embryos, and there is little or no ethical or religious objection to it.


In vitro fertilization is not the same as cloning, but there are similar ethical and religious issues. In a fairly common scenario, a woman is induced, by the use of hormones, to produce several eggs at the same time. These are fertilized, perhaps with her husband’s sperm, perhaps with sperm from a sperm donor, and the resulting embryos are allowed to develop for a few days, after which an embryo is inserted into the woman, and, if all goes well, a baby is born in the usual way. The ethical and religious objections are to discarding, or indefinitely storing, human embryos that are not used.


Many people oppose the use of reproductive cloning in humans. (Reproductive cloning has been successfully done in various kinds of mammals, but not, so far, at least, in humans.) There are many reasons for this opposition. One objection is that, when carried out in animals, there are a significant percentage of defective organisms produced, and this would probably be the case in human cloning. Another objection would be that such a technique would involve discarding unused embryos. Another is that cloning someone who is alive, or was, might lead to unfortunate comparisons between the original and the clone. Another objection is that such a technique, if developed, might lead to a form of slavery, where a cloned person’s organs or tissues might be harvested so as to prolong the life of the original person. For these, and other reasons, the Wikipedia says that “Most scientific, governmental and religious organizations oppose reproductive cloning.”


Cloning raises another issue, perhaps a bogus one. That is this. If, through cloning, it would be possible to take the nucleus of adult cells, and use them, such that an embryo, a fetus, and, eventually, a baby would result, should human nuclei from, say, muscle cells, be protected, in the same way that many people think a fertilized egg should be? If protection of embryos is because of their potential to develop into adults, should we similarly protect, for example, tooth cells, when a dentist removes them, when extracting a tooth? Given proper treatment, such cells might be capable of development into an adult, after all!


Must Christians have an explicit Biblical basis for opposition to abortion?
In a word, “No!” Why this response? One reason is because of another issue. The Bible doesn’t say, in so many words, that slavery is wrong. It was common in Bible times, in the countries where Bible events took place. Jesus said nothing against it. Paul seems to have been expecting Onesimus to return to slavery under Philemon. Nonetheless, Christians, in North America and elsewhere, came to realize that it is very wrong. There are Biblical principles that were invoked in the struggle to overturn slavery. The Bible says that we should use the Golden Rule: Matthew 7:12 “Therefore whatever you desire for men to do to you, you shall also do to them; for this is the law and the prophets.” Would we want to be treated as slaves? Not if we are normal. So why should we treat someone else a slave, or allow such treatment?


Now, clearly, slaves are human beings (although they haven’t always been recognized as such). And, as such, they fall under the purview of the Golden Rule. If human fetuses or embryos are human beings, they should, too, and no normal person would want to be, as it were, flushed down a hospital sink. So why should we do this to a fetus or embryo, and why should we allow others to do so?

The abolitionists also noted that the Ten Commandments include a prohibition against taking what doesn’t belong to you, and argued that slavery was taking someone’s life, or at least their freedom, away from them.*

Suppose that we aren’t sure that most, or all, abortion is murder, but realize that there’s a possibility that God may consider it so. Wouldn’t it make sense to avoid abortion, in that case? Why take the risk? But even if we are sure that it isn’t murder, there are reasons for opposing most or all abortions.
 
Abortion, conscience, and the law
Throughout the centuries, Christians have held that what God tells them to do, or not do, is more important than what the law says, and disobeying, under various kinds of threats, even death, is proper behavior. (Although the Bible says that, under most circumstances, we should obey laws.) There are some laws, or orders, given by a person in authority over us, that Christians should disobey. Carefully and respectfully. Currently, under U. S. law, abortions are legal, up to the point of viability. (Viability means that a baby born at that stage of development would have a good chance to live.) See the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision.

Here is an attempt to give guidance on some special circumstances:

No Christian, or other health professional, should be required to participate in performing an abortion. This includes training in the procedures. An exception would be if the woman’s life is in imminent danger, and there is no one else who can perform the abortion. (Performing an abortion without training would also put the woman at risk, but that risk would have to be calculated. Especially in third-world countries, health professionals are often called upon to perform procedures that they haven’t been trained for, and taxi drivers have sometimes had to deliver a child.) Refusal to participate should be done with the realization that doing so may have career consequences of various types, up to and including losing a job.

The paragraph above would also apply to pharmacy workers, and provision of devices or medicines to assist in birth control, except in some special circumstances. (See above — not every Christian thinks that the use of all birth control devices or medicines is sinful.) These circumstances are of two types. One, the person wanting birth control material should be able to obtain it at another location without undue hardship. Two, refusing to participate should be for the sake of conscience, not a political statement. Does that professional believe that consumption of alcohol or tobacco, or looking at pornography, is sinful? If so, do they refuse to participate in selling such material, if their place of business offers these items for sale? If they aren’t bothered by doing that, or wouldn’t be, if their place of business began to sell pornographic magazines, tobacco, or alcoholic beverages, even though they considered the use of these to be sinful, then refusing to dispense birth control material seems to be more a political statement, rather than a refusal for conscience’s sake. 

How the professional would act would depend, in part, on what type of material was being asked for. A professional might have no objection to the use of ordinary birth control pills, but object to so-called morning after medication.

No religious organization should be required to help provide birth control material, or financial support for abortion, that they cannot participate in in good conscience. (See the case above.) They should understand that such refusal may lead to loss of governmental, or other, support or various kinds.

 Here are four tests, in the matter of acting according to conscience, even against laws and directives:
1) Would such an action be a political statement, or truly a matter of conscience? (see above, in this section.)
2) Is the person contemplating disobedience obedient in other areas? Does she pay taxes completely and honestly? Does he abide by traffic laws? If the answer to any of these is “no,” then refusing to support abortion or birth control for the sake of conscience is suspect behavior. Where was that conscience when he went 55 in a 35 mile zone? When she didn’t report all her tips, or took something as a business expense when it wasn’t?
3) Is the person willing to condone people of different beliefs acting according to their conscience? For example, even though I am not a Muslim, and believe that Muslims are wrong in many of their beliefs, especially about salvation, and the role of women, I believe that a Muslim woman should be allowed to wear clothing according to her conscience, so long as this does not assist in some sort of violence. Muslims should be allowed to build mosques, and Jews should be allowed to build synagogues, and have their own religious holidays. (As I understand it, U. S. law does not allow certain practices, which some say are essential to practicing their religion. These include animal sacrifice, or polygamy. Our respect and tolerance for others does not need to include such practices.)
4) Are you really acting for Christ? Do you measure up to the Biblical signs that you are a Christian? (Not being a habitual sinner; maintaining a relationship with Christ, and Christ’s followers; keeping Christ's commands; bearing fruit. See here for more on this.)

There are people who have been arrested, jailed, or otherwise inconvenienced, because of their conscientious opposition to abortion. Even Christians who may not agree with their views, or their tactics, should respect such persons, so long as they haven’t engaged in any of the wrong tactics indicated in this post.

There are also Christians, who, at least partly because of their views on abortion, have adopted children, thus making the motive of not being able to care for a child a little weaker. They, too, are to be commended. It seems to me that, if a Christian is against abortion, that, in addition to whatever action might be taken because of that, he or she should strive to be especially charitable toward poor and/or ignorant women who have no other practical means of birth control, toward women who have been raped, or toward women whose health is threatened by pregnancy.

Motives
As indicated above, Jesus considered motives to be critical, in assessing whether an action was permissible or not. One question, not only about abortion, but about all other important acts that we might carry out, or not, is “Why do I want to do, or not do, this?” 

Many abortions seem to be undertaken for frivolous, selfish reasons. Even some people who are not opposed to abortion, in general, are opposed to abortions so that a woman can take a ski vacation, for example. Some abortions are undertaken to avoid having expenses, even when these expenses could really be handled, but would prevent the person living a more lavish life style. This seems selfish. Some abortions are undertaken to avoid the consequences of another kind of wrong-doing, sexual relations outside of marriage. Many people think that two wrongs do not make a right. (Although the Bible doesn’t explicitly say that.) A few abortions take place because the woman has been raped. It might, indeed, be quite difficult for a woman to accept, and love, a baby produced by such an act. Other abortions take place among poor women who have not engaged in sexual relations outside of marriage, but who cannot afford, or do not understand, the use of birth control methods other than abortion. Sometimes, such women also fear the health consequences of a full pregnancy. Is sincerely believing that you can’t afford to take care of another child, or that having another child will make life considerably harder for children you already have, a selfish motive? That’s a hard question.


Wrong tactics
Those who oppose abortion have, unfortunately, sometimes engaged in wrong tactics. The most obvious is murder, or attempted murder, of physicians who perform abortions, or bombing abortion clinics. The Wikipedia has an article on anti-abortion violence. There are other wrong tactics. Politicians who oppose abortion have said some outrageous things. Todd Akin, candidate for the US Senate, infamously said that, in cases of what he called “legitimate rape,” women hardly ever get pregnant. In the first place, there is no such thing as legitimate rape. In the second, there is no special biological mechanism to defend against pregnancy, that is put into action in case of rape. (Akin had implied that there was.)

I have seen distortion, perhaps deliberate deceit, in an anti-abortion ad campaign. I’m not an expert in this area, but I’m pretty sure that there have been other cases of exaggeration, distortion, and deceit by the anti-abortion movement. Unfortunately, most likely some of these have been deliberate. (Of course, these tactics have almost certainly also been used by pro-abortion advocates. But that doesn’t excuse their use, especially in the name of Christ.)

Conclusion
Everyone has biases and prejudices, including this author. Many writers try to work around these, and be fair to other views. This post has tried to do that, looking at what the Bible says, rather than mostly at what others say it says. Unfortunately, it is difficult, nearly impossible, to find good unbiased sources about this particular subject. Most conservative Christian writers are convinced that abortion is murder, although the Bible isn't clear on the matter.

This post has dealt with some difficult issues, and I am not certain that my conclusions are correct, but here they are:
1) I conclude that the Bible is not clear as to whether abortion is murder.
2) Even if it is not clear, Christians may legitimately believe that most, or all, abortion is wrong, based on the Golden Rule, on God’s concern for at least some babies, even fetuses and embryos, and on avoidance of selfish acts, acts for the wrong motive.
3) Christians should not engage in questionable practices, including violence, acceptance of rape, or deceit, because of their opposition to abortion.
4) Under certain circumstances, Christians may refuse to participate in carrying out medical procedures, including provision of medicines, that violate their beliefs.

This post is an expansion of part of a post on medical ethical questions that Christians should consider. I am grateful to the Bible, and other sources that have influenced this post, and to one of the pastors of my church, who provided the impetus for this post and the one on medical ethics. (Most likely, he and I don’t agree on all points.) All the mistakes, in position, Biblical interpretation, citation and grammar, are my own.

Thanks for reading! Comments would be appreciated.

*This paragraph was added on November 9th, 2013, after I heard a discussion of the origin of my church, The Wesleyan Church, which began as primarily an anti-slavery church, by Bob Black, historian of my church. I thank him.

*  *  *  *  *
Added August 25, 2014. 
After the post above was written, the U. S. Supreme Court ruled, in Burwell vs. Hobby Lobby, that "closely held" corporations could be exempt from the Affordable Care Act's ("Obamacare's") requirement "to cover certain contraceptives for their female employees." The Green Family, owners of Hobby Lobby, claimed that doing so violated their beliefs, and the Court upheld that claim.

Unfortunately, the facts suggest that Hobby Lobby's objection to contraceptives was more political than religious. Here's a summary article, stating that, by a Christian writer. The article has links to evidence that Hobby Lobby sells lots of merchandise made in China, which, beside having terrible working conditions, which a Christian ought not to tolerate, and officially denying religious freedom, has millions of abortions every year. 

The company's retirement plan seems also to show serious hypocrisy. It invested in companies that make the abortifacients that Hobby Lobby claimed it didn't want to pay for for its employees! See here and here. Oh, dear. 

*   *   *   *   *   *

Added September 29, 2014: National Public Radio reports on studies around the globe, indicating that making abortions illegal doesn't seem to stop them -- it just means more women die or are hurt by the procedure.

Added October 1, 2014: Here's a sensitive article on abortion, which shows sympathy for all sides of the issue. 

Added December 10, 2014: The passage from Amos 1, above, was added. 

Added on January 8, 2015: Abortion is, in part, a political issue. I have posted on what's wrong with the political left and right in the US. 

Added on June 13, 2017: quotation from Hosea 13.

Sunspots 438

Things I have spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

Christianity: The Skeptical Zone has an analysis of the Intelligent Design movement, with documentation, that claims that the Intelligent Design Movement is trying to establish a theocracy, or, as the article puts it, "totalitarianism."

A post, in the BioLogos Forum, from a man who discovered that, unfortunately, some people have lost their faith because they have been told that you can't believe that the earth is very old, and be a Christian, and who also discovered that it is possible to disagree over origins, and still love and respect fellow believers.
Computing: Wired says that we shouldn't keep our laptops plugged in all the time.
Politics: (and health) National Public Radio has published an on-line Obamacare calculator, which is supposed to calculate how much you will have to pay for health insurance, if you purchase your own.
Science: NBC News reports that a new island has been formed, off the coast of Pakistan, as the result of a volcano.
NASA has found evidence of clouds on a planet outside the solar system, according to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.


Image source (public domain)
documentation, that claims that the Intelligent Design Movement is trying to establish a theocracy, or, as the article puts it, "totalitarianism."

Does the Bible really say that? Excerpt from my book, part 3

Here is an example of Biblical writing:

Psalm 114:1 When Israel went out of Egypt,
the house of Jacob from a people of foreign language;
2 Judah became his sanctuary,
Israel his dominion.
3 The sea saw it, and fled.
The Jordan was driven back.
4 The mountains skipped like rams,
the little hills like lambs.
5 What was it, you sea, that you fled?
You Jordan, that you turned back?
6 You mountains, that you skipped like rams;
you little hills, like lambs?

The above is a poetic description of the passage through the Red Sea, in Exodus, and also of the passage across the Jordan River, decades later. Are we to suppose, from this, that the mountains and hills skipped like rams and lambs?  No. This is poetic exaggeration.

Apocalyptic literature is literature about end times, and/or that has an obscure meaning.

Ezekiel 1:26 Above the expanse that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone; and on the likeness of the throne was a likeness as the appearance of a man on it above. 27 I saw as it were glowing metal, as the appearance of fire within it all around, from the appearance of his waist and upward; and from the appearance of his waist and downward I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and there was brightness around him. 28 As the appearance of the rainbow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness all around. This was the appearance of the likeness of Yahweh’s glory. When I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard a voice of one that spoke.

Ezekiel doesn’t seem to be able to find words to give a good description. “Likeness,” “appearance of,” and “as it were” occur a dozen times in these three verses of apocalyptic literature. It seems that Ezekiel saw things that he really couldn’t describe well, and he did his best to let us know that he had seen some wonderful things. These included something like a man (God the Son, perhaps? An angel?), and that’s about all we can say for sure.

The excerpt above shows two examples, perhaps extreme, but examples, nonetheless, illustrating that at least some of the poetic literature in the Bible was not meant to be taken literally, and that at least some of the apocalyptic literature in the Bible cannot be taken literally, because God is trying to obscure some aspect of it, because the person who wrote it doesn't grasp it fully, because the reader can't grasp it fully, or some combination of these three.

Thanks for reading! Here's the previous post in this series.

Sunspots 437

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

The Arts: Connie Willis, winner of Nebula and Hugo awards, on why she is fascinated by stories about time travel.

Health: NPR reports on how people eat more food that isn't all good for them when their sports team loses, and less when it wins.

NPR also reports on "Mountain Dew Mouth," and, in particular, how some health professionals want to restrict the intake of soft drinks with sugar and acid.

The BBC reports on a 'dramatic' drop in the number of HIV infections, world-wide.

Science: A golden eagle has been photographed in the act of attacking (and bringing down) a deer, with a report by Nature World News.



Image source (public domain)