Reader Questions Pro-Life Argument
By Editorial Staff
Published April 2008
Letters column
The Forerunner teaches much totally false material regarding abortion rights and uses the Jews’ own scriptures, twisting them in such a way as to threaten the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of pro-choice Jews. The Forerunner can only deceive naive people and children. I am neither of these. Please check out the following material for a proper biblical understanding of the status (legally, biblically) of the unborn, and why Jews are pro-choice.
1) The Bible’s definition of life is “breathing.” (See Psalms 150:6; Ezekiel 37:10; 1 Kings 17:22.)
2) The Bible’s definition of person is “a breathing creature.”
3) Exodus 21:22-25 commands a fine to be paid for the death of an unborn child; but execution is commanded for the death of a woman. (See Leviticus 24:17)
The Hebrew for “living man” is nephesh adam; this does not include the unborn.
- Name withheld
Editor’s Note: It would be grossly unfair to classify all Jews as pro-choice. There are many Jews, including many Rabbis, involved in the pro-life movement who base their stance firmly on the Jewish scriptures.
While the Hebrew word nephesh may be translated as “life,” “soul,” and “breath,” the Jewish scriptures do not teach that only that which has breath is a living soul. A more accurate determination of a living being is found in Leviticus 17:11; “For the life of a creature is in the blood.” Unborn infants have flowing blood and a beating heart at 3-4 weeks. In fact, unborn infants do breathe by exchanging oxygen for carbon dioxide through the mother’s umbilical cord.
A careful study of the Hebrew legal code regarding the status of unborn children reveals that they are considered living human beings. Exodus 21:22 has often been erroneously used to downplay the hideous crime of aborting children. The event mentioned in Exodus 21 refers to an accident or involuntary manslaughter. The men fighting in this passage were not seeking to harm the woman or her child. The child’s death is considered manslaughter and the prescribed punishment is in keeping with the rest of the Jewish Law concerning manslaughter.
Other passages in the Jewish scriptures show that an unborn infant is definitely considered a nephesh adam. In Hebrew, the same word is used to identify babies in the womb and those out of the womb. Genesis 25:22 says, “the children struggled within her (womb).” The word “children” is the Hebrew word ben, which is used interchangeably to depict a person already born, or one yet in his mother’s womb – there is no difference.
Probably the best known passage in the Bible concerning pre-born human life is Psalm 139: “For thou didst form my inward parts; Thou didst weave me in my mothers womb. I will give thanks to Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; wonderful are Thy works, and my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from Thee, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth. Thine eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Thy book they were all written, the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them” – Psalm 139:13-16.
Not only is a unique human being present in the womb, but God Himself is intimately involved in the developing process. To destroy a child yet in the creative hand of God is murder.
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