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while i don't want people to have abortions, i recognize (and think others should too) that most of the people who are adamant proponents of bans on abortion are NOT going to be among those adopting children, feeding babies and otherwise helping families who are going to be in serious need of help after they have these children.
Read this:
http://www.notyourmamasreligion.com/articles_vi...
I do not believe that is supported by the fullness of The Gospel. Yes, in our natural life (our adamic nature) we are sinful and there is nothing that we can DO in order to attain righteousness or Godliness.
But, a thourough understanding of Romans 6,7,8 will clear up the picture for you. As believers we have entered into a new nature - Christ's nature - which is eternal life. The scripture is very clear that we were with christ at crucifixion, resurrection, ascencion, and seated in Him at the right hand of the Father. Through the surrender of our desires and passions and the allowance of Christ's life to be manifest as our life (Read Romans 12) we have renewed minds. Holy and acceptable to God. We have become holy, righteous, children of a loving Father - not by what we DO but by who we ARE .... the trick after that is to LET Christ be our life.
I believe that the Catholic stance on birth control is a very nuanced position which addresses the ethics of the matter without reducing it to a good/evil polemic. Basically the stance is that by preventing life, you might not be destroying life but you are doing injustice to the life-giving system that God created. It's not that sex is not for pleasure, but that God created it for both pleasure and the creation of life, and hence but practising it with birth control, you are subtracting from the totality of sexuality in the form that God created it.
But, that said, it isn't addressing the distinction between preventing implantation and destroying the fetus. I think a (somewhat) arbitrary line could be drawn between stifling creative potential and destroying the created being. As Jim West pointed out, if preventing implantation was murder, then every 'night effusion' and every sperm that doesn't make it to an egg is an act of murder (genocide?) to some degree.
Personally, I would tend toward there being an ethical difference between the two. But I'm curious the arguments of those who disagree.
In which case, preventing the blasocyst from adhering to the wall of the uterus is akin to starving it to death. Certainly problematic ethically.
But, I think my previous comment still applies to other forms of contraception.
Since then, I've gone back and forth on this issue several times. Strangely, this came up with my husband just days before I began reading about it on the internet. I'll be interested in the comments. I must admit I'm not exactly disagreeing with Dr. White.
As I understand it, birth control pills actually have 2 different functions, as mentioned above. However, the latter function is regarded as statistically insignificant - 0.0001% or something like that. I think God is more worried about our attitude of heart, and attitude to sex, than something like that. If we took into account all our actions that could, in 0.0001% of cases, lead to sin, I think we'd tie ourselves in knots.
(As a clarification, I would say that I don't think using the "morning after" pill is right, though)
I do respect that there is a great difference of opinion here, even among my closest Christian friends. In fact, I am the only Protestant that I know that has a problem with birth control, so believe me, I don't say this from a place of judgment, I am just speaking my conscience.
A skin cell or sperm cell is VERY different from a fertilized egg - no matter how long you let a skin cell or sperm cell grow, it will never develop into a full adult human person. The fertilized egg will.
Is killing an adult different is than killing a baby, since they are "different"? NO! They are both humans, just at different stages of development. The same goes for the embryo. From the moment the sperm and the egg come together, you have a human being in its earliest state of development - you don't have some other kind of thing. Maybe it doesn't have a soul yet, we don't know when that happens. It seems only reasonable to me to assume that God allowed this new human life to be created, and we should not carelessly kill and dispose of it.
I agree that it is debatable as to whether other forms of birth control are acceptable - condoms, spermicides, etc. - and that many loving Christian spouses have chosen to use birth control and it hasn't ruined their lives. But I still think anything that would prevent implantation should come in a different category, and I would encourage Christians to think and pray about it.
As a matter of fact, the line of research on stem cells which uses existing body cells is bringing closer the day when a scraping of skin cells COULD be induced to grow into a person. The genetic coding is all there. I don't favor reproductive cloning, but I think creating a new pancreas for a patient with pancreatic cancer, one that the body would not reject, is a good thing indeed.
As to deep coma or vegetative state, if I were kept in such a state only by artificial life support, I personally would want it disconnected if it becomes clear that recovery of brain function is unlikely. That includes, after a few weeks, nutrition from a feeding tube. I would want to let nature take its course. I would not authorize anyone to cut my throat.
I think you'll find I'm not the only pro-life Christian woman who feels this way. Kudos to Dr. White for preaching that message.
There is no evidence as to whether or not pills do prevent implantation. You can read many articles and opinions on the matter. I believe everyone needs to make a personal choice as to whether or not they are willing to take that risk.
For me, personally, although I did take birth control pills for a while, after reading the unconvincing evidence in support of either side, I chose to no longer take them. I do not want to risk preventing an embryo to implant.
And yes, I think this has been the view of some Baptists for quite some time. I go to a Baptist church and have heard of many people who hold this view.
once a month, an egg fall to be fertalized, when it is not fertalized it dies and the woman bleeds. the birth control pill allows the same to happen, only if you decide to have intercourse it will prevent the egg from being fertalized, that is it. when you go off the pill, it may take a little while to get pregnant, but you will.
It is not killing or murdering.
I am a Babtized person, and im on the pill because, i am 23 and do not want a baby this time, and condoms can break, so i use condoms also, but i would like backup.
so that is the truth about birth control!
I have been on birth control pills for 4 or 5 months now, and i've taken the morning after pill once before. I never would have considered myself to be a "murderer" in any way. The main purpose of the pill is to prevent ovulation, and i dont think that people should think that the tiny chance of the pill causing a fertilized egg to be rejected is abortion. When i take the pill it is certainly not my intention to abort any form of living baby inside me. However im not sure that i think a fertilized egg is considered a baby. the egg has no heartbeat, no brain, no developing organs. the egg only has potential to grow into a human being. i dont think its abortion unless you do somthing to harm the already attached and growing baby embryo. Therefore, i dont consider myself a murderer, i consider myself a responsible person.
Id rather be able to care for the children I have by my own means then going to a goverment office and claiming money for my family that I did not earn.