The Bible on Life

For a long time I've argued that I'm pro-life. By that I mean human life. And in that I'm opposed to unwarranted taking of human life. Also for a long time I've argued that science claims that life begins at conception. Only two types oppose that scientific view: the rabid "we're going to let women kill their babies when they want and you can't say anything about it" types and "we're in favor of abortion so we'll reinterpret science to agree" types. Basic biology holds that life begins at conception. Having said all that, I have also said that I don't base my beliefs on science; I base my beliefs on Scripture. Does the Bible say when life begins?

There are those who would say, "Yes, it does. Life begins at birth." They largely base that on Genesis where "the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature" (Gen 2:7). "See," they say, "Adam didn't become a 'living creature' until God breathed into his nostrils the 'breath of life'." Well, now, that's interesting. Oh, and it's not just there. There are multiple places where "the breath of life" is used to describe the living (man and animal) (e.g., Gen 1:30; Gen 6:17; Gen 7:15; Isa 57:16). So apparently this "breath of life" defines "life" whether it's human or animal. That is, anything that breathes is in view here. Thus, life begins at birth -- at first breath.

That all seems fine until you examine the rest of Scripture, and it's always best to interpret Scripture with Scripture. We read, for instance, in the Christmas passages that when pregnant Mary visited Elizabeth, "when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb" (Luke 1:41). If the fetus named John wasn't alive, how did this happen? If it wasn't human, what made him leap? We're saying that a non-living human reacted to the presence of the non-living Savior? There seems to be something wrong with that. So we look back at the Genesis 2 passage and discover something interesting. Adam didn't become a living creature when he breathed; he became a living creature when God breathed. And if you look back at the other texts, you find this same theme. In Job, for instance, we read, "The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life" (Job 33:4). It does not say "My breath gives me life." It specifically references breath "of the Almighty." In Ezekiel's "dry bones" vision, God says to the bones, "Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live" (Ezek 37:5). It appears, then, that this "breath of life" isn't our breathing in and out -- our human respiratory system at work -- but life bestowed by God. It's interesting in view of this, then, that the Hebrew word for the Spirit of God is rûach -- literally "wind" or "breath" -- and the Greek word is pneuma -- literally "a current of air" or "breath." (You may notice that we get words like "pneumatic" from that root, based on "air pressure".)

I would suggest, then, that the breath that made Adam a living creature was not his own breath, but the spirit that God endowed him with. If this is not true, we have a very weird case with John in his mother's womb -- John whom the Bible calls a "child" or "infant." (It's interesting, too, that most of the people that make this argument from Scripture don't believe in Scripture. In that second link above from the Dailykos, the author making the argument stresses, "I do not believe that scripture is holy. I don't believe that it is perfect. I do not believe that it is free from errors." "Stresses" as in all bold type. Instead, he holds, "It's very, very important to note that the bible is not meant to be the center of the Christian faith. Jesus, and his teachings, are meant to be the center of the Christian faith." He misses entirely the fact that we would have no Jesus and no teachings, certainly with any reliability at all, if we have no Scripture -- Word of God. And he argues that the Bible argues that it is metaphor, not perfect or literal ... although he is trying to take the Genesis 2 passage literally.)

If you're going to interpret Scripture with Scripture, "Life begins at first breath" doesn't hold water. Life -- the human spirit -- is given by God, but that doesn't equate to "first breath" as in the example of the infant-in-the-womb, John. If you're going to interpret "human life" with science, life begins at conception. Either way, abortion is the termination of a human life. The dictionary defines "murder" as "the unlawful killing of one human being by another," so the only way in which this isn't "murder" is in the fact that our society has made it legal for one human being to kill another human being. Maybe that's okay with you. God certainly forbids it. I'm pro-life.
________
(Note: There are also those who argue that the Bible is okay with abortion based on Exodus 21:22. I've addressed that here. Basically, while some translations say that if hitting a woman causes a "miscarriage" and nothing worse, the guy pays a fine. Don't fall for it. It doesn't say that. It says that if it causes the child (it uses that word) to "come out" and there is no other "harm" -- the child isn't injured -- then he is fined. "Miscarriage" isn't in there, nor is "abortion.")