biblically speaking, where does life begin? (punishment, blood, creation, Mormonism)

[Comprehend]

Originally Posted by Bick

You asked the question, "where does life begin?"

While there is no doubt that a fetus is alive, yet, to me, it becomes a human being at birth, when it breathes in its first air.

I relate this to Gen. 2:7, "..the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul."

Bick

assuming that is literal, wouldn't that be the only example of a person who came to life in such a manner? He was dust before, not a living fetus. Are you saying that an unborn child is not a human being and then it magically changes into a human when it draws it's first breath? What if the baby is born not breathing and they have to rush it to the ICU and get it breathing? for the time that it has not drawn breath is it human?

[sojourner]

Originally Posted by Bick

You asked the question, "where does life begin?"

While there is no doubt that a fetus is alive, yet, to me, it becomes a human being at birth, when it breathes in its first air.

I relate this to Gen. 2:7, "..the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul."

Bick

BINGO!!!

[doppelgänger]

It begins, as all things begin, with the Word. When I associate some experience/knowledge with the symbol "life," then life begins.

[michel]

Originally Posted by Katzpur

Since it is the spirit that gives the physical body life, and since the spirit can exist as a living, cognizant entity without a physical body, I believe the Bible at least aludes to the idea that we, as living spirits, existed pre-mortally. Mainstream Christianity does not accept this as true doctrine, but Mornomism does. If you'd like to explore this belief further, just say the word.

I know that we do not see eye to eye on certain beliefs, but this is certainly one area where we do . Now that I have said that, I shall ruin what I have just said, because, by my belief in reincarnation, our spirit is "without End".

[Mike182]

Originally Posted by Katzpur

Nope! I almost never use the Book of Mormon to support my beliefs on this forum, and I'm not going to do so this time either. I hope you don't mind if I go ahead and post it here, for that reason. With the exception of my first paragraph, my arguments come strictly from the Bible.

ack! my appologies, my assumption that your reply would be totally based in the BOM was completely ignorant of me,

Thanks for replying

[Katzpur]

Originally Posted by michel

I know that we do not see eye to eye on certain beliefs, but this is certainly one area where we do . Now that I have said that, I shall ruin what I have just said, because, by my belief in reincarnation, our spirit is "without End".

It kind of sounds like you're saying that unless one believes in reincarnation, he must believe that the spirit is not eternal and ceases to exist at some point. Would you mind elaborating on why you think that (if you do) or clarifying what you actually meant (if I misunderstood you). Thanks!

[SoyLeche]

There's one "story" in the Bible that makes me think that (physical) life begins before birth. I don't think it's by any means conclusive though.

What I am thinking of is the experience that Elisabeth had when Mary came to visit. When Mary entered - John (6 months along) reacted. That seems to indicate to me that he was "alive".

On the other hand, there is something in the Book of Mormon that makes me think otherwise. The night before his birth, Christ "talked" to a BoM prophet (from what I can tell, he heard the voice - didn't see a vision). So, unless Christ was talking from the womb to the other side of the planet, his spirit wasn't in the womb yet.

[sandy whitelinger]

Originally Posted by Bick

You asked the question, "where does life begin?"

While there is no doubt that a fetus is alive, yet, to me, it becomes a human being at birth, when it breathes in its first air.

I relate this to Gen. 2:7, "..the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul."

Bick

I have a problem with this in that there is life which has the breath of life and does not breathe air; for example fish.

You might make a case that life begins before conception if you use a passage from Exodus 1 where it states that all of the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were 70 souls. It seems to suggest that they were souls before the were conceived.