...Is Abortion Moral? (From a Biblical Christian Perspective) Name of Author College Abortion refers to the removal of the pregnancy tissues, which includes the fetus and the placenta from a pregnant woman's womb. The other terms that are similar are termination of pregnancy or elective abortion among others. There have been several arguments on whether abortion is morally right or not. The argument follows the opinions generated from the religious followers who are mostly against abortion. Child abandonment, infanticide, and abortion were allowed under the Roman law during the times of Jesus (Bokenkotter 1990). It is surprising to find that Jesus never addressed the case since for Christians to read. Even if He did, it was never documented. This concern can make a Christian fail to know whether abortion is condemned by God or not. From the Bible, there is no clear evidence on whether abortion is moral or immoral. However, drawing lessons from some of the verses in the bible clearly indicates that the practice of abortion violates the moral obligations. A good example is from the book of Jeremiah in the Bible, in chapter one from verse four to five, which say that before the birth of Jeremiah, the Lord had consecrated him. The Load had already chosen prophet Jeremiah to be a famous prophet to the nations. God Himself new Jeremiah as a human being before birth and considered him to live in order to carry out His mission. God could not have allowed Jeremiah to die. Biblically it is...
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...World values. Western societies values, morals and ethics became debatable, with some people striving for change and others clinging for stability. Battle lines had been drawn and the Liberals and Conservatives were ready to duke it out on a number of issues. One of these debates centers on a woman's right to have and abortion. According to the Webster's dictionary and abortion is defined as a miscarry, something misshapen or unnatural. An abortion is a procedure in which an embryo or fetus is prohibited from developing by artificial means. One could argue that this is next to murder. How can we as a society sanction the murdering of developing babies? Also it can equally be stated that abortion is unnatural and a health hazard to women who have undergone the procedure. Whatever the case, abortion should be outlawed because it is immoral and mothers should face the responsibilities of their actions. Many arguments can be used in order to put an end to abortion or at least in order to establish dialogue. One of the oldest arguments against abortion is the religious standpoint. Western society (Canada & U.S.A.) is historically a Judeo-Christian culture with Judeo-Christian values. Although in recent times we have become an increasingly pluristic society the Old World thinking is still at the heart of our social relations and laws. The Bible says "Thou shalt not kill" thus prohibiting people from harming others or themselves. Abortion and its advocates violate this law. They...
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...dynamic religion that gives depth and meaning to the lives of the individuals and the wider community who follow its teachings. This can be seen through the practice of initiation through Baptism, the ethical teachings which are supported by sacred texts and the example of Jesus Christ, this is further enhanced through the development of Feminism to bring about greater equality within the church. ! Throughout the development of Christianity an immense change in its beliefs, doctrines and practices has arisen. A notable impact on Christianity has been made by Feminist theologians as they strive to procure a voice and input for women within religious movements and traditions to which they belong to (Buckley, Amy, 2014). The aim for Christian feminists is to accelerate the equality between women and men spiritually, morally, and socially. It has been occurrent and more prevalent of feminists defending and fighting for their rights within religion over time trying to attain their eminent goals (Wikipedia, 2015). The goals that are sought to be achieved within feminist theology comprise of language within the sacred texts (e.g bible) to be gender inclusive, expanding the status of women and allowing them to be of religious authority, in addition to equality in general (ChristianityToday.com, 2015). Feminists within Christianity have worked towards altering the view that many have power and control over them to grant them coequality (Buckley, Amy, 2014). Since the uprise...
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...| | Abortion is the process by which a developing child is removed from its mother’s womb. Is it morally right to kill another human being? Abortion is an act of violence towards the child and mother no matter what the situation is. Who gave human beings the right to decide which human being is worth life? Why do we allow people to hold such power to something that providence has created? Once a child has been given a chance to come on this earth it should have the right to live full life, and given a chance just like the rest of us. A woman may undergo the physical part of abortion, but she is not the only one affected by the act, how about the emotional and mental stress that the close ones and family go through? Our society is has turned upside down. What happened to morals and values, appreciation of the gift of life? Have we become so engrossed in the things that are of less significance and forgotten how this world came to be? We have allowed morals, values and ethics to become debatable and in this process the important aspects of our cultures are getting lost. According to the Merriam Webster dictionary abortion is the termination of a pregnancy after, accompanied by, resulting in, or closely followed by the death of the embryo or fetus. Nicely put as a definition, but I see it as the murdering of developing babies. Everything that is created has a purpose and meaning, by killing a fetus we are depriving the child of its purpose and meaning. The main argument...
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...realize. Religion and ethics are obviously intertwined as it exist countless studies of Christian ethics, Islamic ethics, Hindu ethics and so on. Both religion and ethics serve a common need in our society. Societies are built on the plank of co-existence and mutuality. Ethics is the study of what "ought" to be. It is a theoretical study and is otherwise referred to as the study of morality. Moral is an important part in ethics. Ethics as a branch of “philosophy”, has three components (Feiser 2003): "meta-ethics" studies the sources and meaning of ethical terms; "normative ethics" does the more practical task of examining the moral standards that regulate right and wrong conduct; and "applied ethics" examines controversies such as abortion, infanticide, animal abuse, environmental concerns, homosexuality and capital punishment. To behave ethically is to behave in a manner consistent with what is right or moral. Ethics is simply the principles used by people that control their conduct. Religion is a system of thoughts, feelings, and approach that is shared by a group of members and that gives the members an object of devotion; a code of behavior by which individuals may judge the personal and social consequences of their actions, and a frame of reference by which individuals may relate to their group and their universe. There is a spectrum of views about how religion and ethics are related from the view that religion is the absolute bedrock of ethics to one that holds that ethics...
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...Catholics View on Abortion It is not right to destroy a human at any stage of life, whether it is a single cell, or a fetus, an infant, or an octogenarian. These are all natural stages of human development, but science establishes the beginning of human life at conception. From the moment of conception, a distinct human being is present. Abortion, therefore, kills a developing human being. This is a fact, not a moral or religious assertion. After the birth of a human being, our society has laws in place to protect it from murder. Thus, it would seem that we have chosen birth as the moment after which the laws of murder apply to a human being. If the process of birth is important enough to be the event that bestows on a human being its legal rights, it is entirely logical to ban a procedure that so effectively blurs the legal line between murder and abortion -- between the “born” and the “unborn.” Abortion is murder no matter what kind of laws the Government makes. In 1973 the United States Supreme Court made a decision on the case of Roe vs. Wade, the Court found that a woman had the right to choose whether or not to abort a pregnancy within certain constraints. However, according to the Court if a fetus were a person, abortion would be found impermissible. While this decision made an attempt at establishing a legal precedent, from a moral and religious standpoint, it is wrong. Upon the moment of conception, the human embryo is a person; and as a result, the fetus...
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...relationship between faith and justice. He contends that faith is about trusting in God and God’s mercy and does not require promoting justice. Also, he insists that justice is a socialist idea, not a Christian one. Overall, making a bold observation that faith has nothing to do with justice. Although, this host has strong opinions, he needs consider more factors before making such bold points. Everyone has their own opinion and not all Christians understand faith in the same manner. According to one of Avery Dulles’s writings, The Assurance of Things Hoped For, faith has multiple understandings throughout both Testaments of the Bible. Faith can be defined as an acceptance of God’s promises and demands. “In the Old Testament faith is depicted as the appropriate response to God’s faithfulness to his covenant promises” (Dulles 17). Overall, faith is tested by obedience and fidelity. In the New Testament, it refers to faith as Pistic which is a Greek word that means faith and further, a truth in God. Moreover, faith means personal trust in Jesus as the bearer of the kingdom (Dulles 17). According to Dulles, faith can be clustered into small identifiable groups which represent the different types of approaches. Dulles discusses seven different models that describe how Christians understand faith. There is the Praxis, Affective-Experiential, Personalist, Propositional, Transcendental, Obediential and Fiducial Model. The Praxis model suggests that faith is doing justice like...
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...THEO 201: Theology and Culture #2 Introduction The theological concept that human beings have been made to reflect the image of God can be a major deciding factor for many modern ethical arguments. Some of the practical applications that come with being made in the image of God include our ability to make decisions and decide what is moral and unmoral. While different theologians may share contracting views on what it means exactly to be made in the image of God, it is important that we study what it means to be made in God’s image so that we can better understand our connection to Him. In this paper I will be sharing what I have found being made in God’s image means in relation to our everyday lives as well in the ethical decisions that we...
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...The medical ethics topic that I have researched is the issue of abortion. Abortion is the deliberate termination of a pregnancy. In the UK, every year around 200,000 women abort unwanted pregnancy. Abortion was legalised in the UK in 1967 through the Abortion Act which allows women to have a free abortion on the NHS if signed off by two doctors. It is a highly controversial issue due to many people showing that it is highly necessary but others say that it’s too easy to have. It was legalised to avoid issues such as back street abortions from occurring as many women were killed or severely injured by them. There are three main methods which are used to abort a foetus; an early medical abortion which can be used up to twelve weeks of pregnancy, vacuum aspiration which is used between seven and fifteen weeks of pregnancy and surgical dilation and evacuation which is used from fifteen weeks of pregnancy. Central to the theological debate are the different views as to when life begins, whether abortion is murder or should it just be seen as another form of birth control? Roman Catholics believe that life begins at the point of conception and preserving life is a ‘primary precept’ whereas the Islamic view is that life begins at 120 days of gestation. These different viewpoints show that abortion is even controversial within different religions. Another clear point of controversy withinthe topic is whether abortion is classified as murder. Albert Schweitzer developed the idea of...
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...Notes for the Course: Religion and Ethics in our Modern Society, 2012 By Dr H Ndlovu Definition and Nature of Christian Ethics Ethics is derived from the Greek word “ethos” that is also comes from another word “ethika.” Ethika means norms, conventions, values, customs the society. Thus ethics is a discipline that examines one’s moral standards or the moral of a society. These are absorbed from family, church and friends. Why Study Ethics There are nine reasons why human beings have to study ethics. 1. Human beings are capable of reasoning from cause to effect with the understanding that everything done has effect. 2. Human beings are capable of making choices after comparing the alternatives, that is, internal and external. People have two cells namely: a. Real – what we have now b. Ideal – what we are aiming at 3. Human beings are self – conscious. This means we can study ourselves by being a subject and be the object at the same time. 4. Human beings are finite or limited not knowing what will happen from the next moment or next door. Thus, we must have principles to apply when situations comes. 5. Human life is an active dynamic phenomenon – We do something as if we do nothing. 6. People also can be taught to be good (Isaiah 1 :18) 7. Human beings are capable of filing an obligation 8. Human beings are also capable of understanding what moral terms like freedom, dignity and so on affects other people. 9. Finally, human beings need to survive. Human civilization...
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...Biblical Christian Worldview: One Man’s insight to Romans 1-8 A Paper Presented to Professor Kraeger of Liberty University Lynchburg, VA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Introduction to the New Testament BIBL 110-B32 By Ken Kramer February 8, 2014 INTRODUCTION The epistle Romans was authored by the apostle Paul while in Corinth in AD 56-57 and has been called “the most profound work in existence”.The book of Romans was also dubbed the “purest Gospel” by Martin Luther. Paul wrote the epistle because he felt he needed to establish the Roman believers in their faith and doctrine. In Romans Paul teaches us many crucial aspects of the Christian life. Let’s explore what we can learn from Romans 1-8 about how we should view the natural world, our human identity, our human relationships, and culture. I believe Paul needed to show them, and in turn us, how utterly lost and hopeless they were in order for them to truly understand the magnificent grace of God as displayed in the Gospel. The awesome and incredible design of nature alone delivers a clear and unmistakable message about God’s person and Power. Romans declares that the wrath of God is revealed against all godlessness and wickedness of people, and that what can be known about God is plain to them, because God made it plain to them, and that since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities (His eternal power and divine nature) have been clearly seen, being understood from what...
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...Abortions…. Right or Wrong? Abortions are undoubtedly one of the most controversial topics in our society today. One of the main reasons is because it is often debated as to when a fetus actually becomes a human being. Some people argue that having an abortion is no different than using any other type of contraception. Other people believe that a human being is formed at conception therefore having an abortion is in fact killing another human being. As we all know it is a severe crime to kill another person as it is punishable by death in some states. So to make this legal you have to say that a fetus before a certain week is not considered a living person. The federal government has its views on abortions as well as does many churches but ultimately the people make up both of those parties so it really comes down to whether they are pro-choice or pro-life. The first thing that must be decided is when does human life begin? According to the Association of Pro-Life Physicians, “life begins at fertilization, when a sperm unites with an oocyte”. In order for something to be considered a living creature it must meet certain elements and a fetus at even one day meets all of those elements. That means if you take a pro-choice approach to abortion then you are choosing to go against the science that has helped us evolve from where we were hundreds of years ago if you choose to say that having an abortion within the first twelve weeks is not killing a human being...
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...According to Ken Hemphill, Life Answers, “A Worldview, whether Christian, or secular, is the unifying perspective from which we organize our thinking about life, death, art, science, faith, learning, work, money, values, and morals. A Worldview is our under lying philosophy of life.” To Summarize, a worldview is your beliefs of life through what you have seen or heard. This definition made me think. Is what I believe or my Worldview true or full of presuppositions? We, as humans tend to believe what we hear or see without doing any further research. Are our worldviews truly factual? Is one strictly a Naturalist, does not believe in God. God does not exists, Pantheist, believes reverence for the universe rather than a belief in a creator on in God, or Theists, believes God exists and there is only one God who is the creator, or can one be a combination? In reference to the following questions below which category would you fall into? When questioning the question of origin, or how did life begin? A Naturalist would answer with what you see is what you get. Naturalists do not believe in a supernatural and man has no control over their existence. When talking to a pantheist God did not create the world. Man just appeared. They do however believe in God. A Theist would tell you we were put on this earth by God. “God is the creator of all” (psalm 139:13) “God created Heaven and Earth” (Genesis 1:1). From a Christian, they would tell you that God created the world in six days and...
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...Christian Social Thought puts it, the “encumbered self.” Religionists are not simply free-will individuals bound to choose their religious convictions as they choose between McDonalds or Burger King. Rather, people of faith are fundamentally identified by their faith convictions and communities. These commitments are seemingly foreign to the court that Hitchcock describes. Will religious institutions, as a community of faith, be able to withstand employment discrimination lawsuits posed by individuals? Will parents, as the children’s most fundamental community, continue to be able to pass on religious values, through private education and homeschooling, even if deemed divisive and irrational by society at large? Furthermore, a liberal worldview that views true knowledge as rational and leaves issues of faith to personal speculations necessarily gives religious believers a disadvantage in the area of church-state relations. As Hitchcock accurately explains, the court, by defining religion as irrational and subjective belief may provide the benefits of the free exercise clause to political and philosophic viewpoints, including secularism. On the other hand, the establishment clause restricts the actions of traditional religions such as Christianity, while allowing other “faiths” to escape. This disadvantage plays out not only in traditional church-state issues such as funding (e.g., faith-based initiatives) but also in the rapidly escalating church-state discussion surrounding moral...
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...their two children, Jonathan, and Bethany. Tennent (born on September 24, 1959) did his college education B.A. from Oral Roberts University, quickly followed by a Masters’ degree from Princeton Theological Seminary. He later did a Doctorate of Philosophy degree from the University of Edinburgh's in Scotland, where his dissertation was on Brahmabandhab Upadhyay, an Indian theologian. His teaching career started at Toccoa Falls College. At Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Massachusetts, he served as professor of world missions and Indian studies. He was elected to his current office as president of Asbury Seminary in 2009. He still a visiting professor at the Luther New Jr. Theological College of Dehradun, India. He authored "Building Christianity on Indian Foundations" together with "Christianity at the Religious Roundtable". He has also published items in the series “Encountering Mission” and “Invitation to Theological Studies.” In November 2009, Tennent had signed an ecumenical statement differing categorically with rules and laws permitting abortion, same-sex marriage. Often called the Manhattan Declaration, it called on evangelicals, Catholics, and Orthodox not to comply with every matter within set of laws that went against their religious consciences. Summary Tennent’s work seeks to integrate systematic theology together with missiology from the perspective of numerous non-Western theological viewpoints. His work starts off with a general view of...
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