gnosis92

I want to make it clear that personally, I'm an agnostic-atheist the bible is a fairy tale type, ex-christian

There are plenty of passages in the bible which would suggest god isn't pro-life (not pro-choice either), passsages about ripping open pregnant women and killing women who have known a man by laying with him. The verse in the law of moses about striking a pregnant woman and causing her to miscarry is pretty ambiguous about pro-choice abortion.

But I do agree that there exist some verses in the bible that a christian who believes in jesus could use to support his or her own anti-choice position, just as there are verses anti-war christians could use (as well as pro-war).

the verse in psalms about how god knew him before he was born and knit him in my mother's womb, and the verse in gospel of luke where the pregnant elizabeth receives the holy spirit, are two verses a pro-life christian could credibly believe his imaginary god would be opposed to abortion. there are also verses about being fruitful and multiply and children are god's blessing.

I do think the above verses would suggest that the writers of those particular passages may regard that their god ensouls the embryo at conception (or shortly after), and so an abortion is the wrongful taking of god's miracle. that pregnancy is god's gift (think of sarah and abraham) and even thinking of abortion is a blasphemy against god's gift, and goes against god's plan and providence.

so when it comes to abortion a lot of christians use the what would jesus do, and jesus in their mind could credibly cite those verses in the bible and the reasoning that god created adam and eve in his own image, and the embryo is in the image of god and would be pro-life. jesus after all cited adam and eve in his reasoning against divorce. (though moses allowed it). abortion is destroying god's image (much as god forbids idol worship and graven image of divinity), and that a woman body does not belong to the woman, it is on loan from god (same is true of men btw). the law of moses clearly teaches against a libertine type use of the body. if eating pork causes uncleaness so would an abortion.

i do think that there are verses in the bible that a christian could use to support a pro-life ethic. it's much less clear that the bible supports a pro-choice position but it's also clear the bible is against religious tolerance and idol worship.

the same applies to homosexuality. there are verses which support the idea that god regards it as wrong.

Roland

Some see the following verses as actually a recipe for an abortion:. After all, if this woman is pregnant, I doubt the fetus would survive this prescription:

Numbers 5:12-28

12 "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'If a man's wife goes astray and is unfaithful to him 13 by sleeping with another man, and this is hidden from her husband and her impurity is undetected (since there is no witness against her and she has not been caught in the act), 14 and if feelings of jealousy come over her husband and he suspects his wife and she is impure—or if he is jealous and suspects her even though she is not impure- 15 then he is to take his wife to the priest. He must also take an offering of a tenth of an ephah of barley flour on her behalf. He must not pour oil on it or put incense on it, because it is a grain offering for jealousy, a reminder offering to draw attention to guilt.

16 " 'The priest shall bring her and have her stand before the LORD. 17 Then he shall take some holy water in a clay jar and put some dust from the tabernacle floor into the water. 18 After the priest has had the woman stand before the LORD, he shall loosen her hair and place in her hands the reminder offering, the grain offering for jealousy, while he himself holds the bitter water that brings a curse. 19 Then the priest shall put the woman under oath and say to her, "If no other man has slept with you and you have not gone astray and become impure while married to your husband, may this bitter water that brings a curse not harm you. 20 But if you have gone astray while married to your husband and you have defiled yourself by sleeping with a man other than your husband"- 21 here the priest is to put the woman under this curse of the oath-"may the LORD cause your people to curse and denounce you when he causes your thigh to waste away and your abdomen to swell. [b] 22 May this water that brings a curse enter your body so that your abdomen swells and your thigh wastes away. [c] " Then the woman is to say, "Amen. So be it."

23 " 'The priest is to write these curses on a scroll and then wash them off into the bitter water. 24 He shall have the woman drink the bitter water that brings a curse, and this water will enter her and cause bitter suffering. 25 The priest is to take from her hands the grain offering for jealousy, wave it before the LORD and bring it to the altar. 26 The priest is then to take a handful of the grain offering as a memorial offering and burn it on the altar; after that, he is to have the woman drink the water. 27 If she has defiled herself and been unfaithful to her husband, then when she is made to drink the water that brings a curse, it will go into her and cause bitter suffering; her abdomen will swell and her thigh waste away, and she will become accursed among her people. 28 If, however, the woman has not defiled herself and is free from impurity, she will be cleared of guilt and will be able to have children.