Is abortion of pregnancy for any reason biblically impermissible?

5/29/2024

sexual morality

t f B! P L

Those who call themselves strict fundamentalist Christians claim that abortion or abortion is not permissible for any reason, even in cases where the pregnancy was brought about by a sex crime, that the baby should be born and raised, and that if you choose abortion or abortion, you are guilty of murder before God, but is this really Is that really so? 

Abortion and herem

Genesis 38:24 And it came to pass, about three months after, that Judah was told, saying, "Tamar your daughter-in-law has played the harlot; furthermore she is with child by harlotry." So Judah said, "Bring her out and let her be burned!"

Exodus 21:22 "If men fight, and hurt a woman with child, so that she gives birth prematurely, yet no harm follows, he shall surely be punished accordingly as the woman's husband imposes on him; and he shall pay as the judges determine.

Numbers 5:23 'Then the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall scrape them off into the bitter water. 24 And he shall make the woman drink the bitter water that brings a curse, and the water that brings the curse shall enter her to become bitter. 25 Then the priest shall take the grain offering of jealousy from the woman's hand, shall wave the offering before the Lord, and bring it to the altar; 26 and the priest shall take a handful of the offering, as its memorial portion, burn it on the altar, and afterward make the woman drink the water. 27 When he has made her drink the water, then it shall be, if she has defiled herself and behaved unfaithfully toward her husband, that the water that brings a curse will enter her and become bitter, and her belly will swell, her thigh will rot, and the woman will become a curse among her people. 28 But if the woman has not defiled herself, and is clean, then she shall be free and may conceive children.

There is no place in Scripture where abortion or abortion as a response to an unwanted pregnancy is explicitly mentioned. In the original language from Exodus 21:5, it depends on the translation whether the baby is “alive due to premature birth” or “has died due to miscarriage. Furthermore, although the word “the woman herself” is not used, the phrase “when the fruit has gone out of her” is ambiguous, so this is a case that should be considered flexibly based on the degree of grief of the family when a baby that was to be born to an amicable couple dies in miscarriage. The Bible sometimes uses ambiguous expressions and leaves it to the reader's conscience. 

In the relevant passage in Numbers 5, it is expressed that if a woman commits adultery, if that is the case, “her belly will be bitter,” but the original word for belly is sometimes used as “womb.” So it would seem that if a woman commits adultery and conceives a fetus, she will have a miscarriage. Since God's power works miraculously to absolve, it would seem that God, who sees the heart, would condemn them for a certain period of time because of their unfaithfulness despite the satisfying state of their marriage in the loving relationship in which they became husband and wife. If they had repented and grieved, they would have been forgiven and healed because God had worked miraculously at that time each time they repented and grieved. (Just as Miriam was healed of leprosy in Numbers 12:9 when she disobeyed Moses. Also Hosea 3, as when a man is commanded to love his wife who commits adultery. But now that the Law of Moses has been abolished, there is no longer this condemnation.)

In many cases, strict Christians say that even in the case of an unwanted pregnancy after being a victim of a sex crime, the baby should be born and raised without abortion. Some people say that the pregnancy was planned by God, but that is not true.

Ecclesiastes 9:11 I returned and saw under the sun that-- The race is not to the swift, Nor the battle to the strong, Nor bread to the wise, Nor riches to men of understanding, Nor favor to men of skill; But time and chance happen to them all. 12 For man also does not know his time: Like fish taken in a cruel net, Like birds caught in a snare, So the sons of men are snared in an evil time, When it falls suddenly upon them.

James 1:13 Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.

There is no place in Scripture that declares that abortion should not be performed, even in the case of an unwanted pregnancy. Jeremiah 1:5 says, “I know from the womb,” so a third person would say that abortion should not be performed, and if it were, it would be murder. First of all, in Jeremiah's case, it is not a life born from an unwanted pregnancy. And, in some cases, it would be impossible for the person involved to raise the child of the perpetrator, even after the trauma. 

Also, when David committed the sin of adultery, the first child born to Bathsheba was to die (2 Samuel 12:15-19). (2 Samuel 12:15-19) Although not rape, David used his power as king to have sexual relations with Bathsheba, and the resulting child died. (2 Samuel 12:15-19) So, it would be permissible for the victim of sexual intercourse to take appropriate measures against the pregnancy, such as abortion or termination of pregnancy.

Furthermore, Moses, Joshua, and others sanctified (killed) the infants, including those of the local nation, in order to eradicate the evil in the situation of burning children and offering them to evil spirits.

  • Judgment against the idolatrous Israelites (Exodus 22:20)
  • Sanctification against the Midianites (Numbers 21)
  • Sanctification in the battle of Jericho (Joshua 6, etc.)
  • Sanctification against the Philistines and Amalekites (1 Samuel 15)
  • Judgment against the Israelites who coveted the gold and silver used for pagan idols, judgment against the Hittites, Emorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites (Deuteronomy 7:26; 20:16-18)

Deuteronomy 22:25 "But if a man finds a betrothed young woman in the countryside, and the man forces her and lies with her, then only the man who lay with her shall die. 26 But you shall do nothing to the young woman; there is in the young woman no sin deserving of death, for just as when a man rises against his neighbor and kills him, even so is this matter. 27 For he found her in the countryside, and the betrothed young woman cried out, but there was no one to save her.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven: 2 A time to be born, And a time to die; A time to plant, And a time to pluck what is planted; 3 A time to kill, And a time to heal; A time to break down, And a time to build up;

Ecclesiastes 8:11 Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.

It may seem cruel, but infants and other infants die painlessly because their intelligence and emotions are still undeveloped, and they descend to Sheol where they are judged by God and entrusted to a future resurrection. In the case of a life born in the midst of evil, if the parents are evil, it is impossible to raise the child in Satan's world, so the child is reset and sanctification is brought about. 

From these scriptures, if a woman who has become pregnant as a result of a sex crime is unable to care for her child due to emotional distress, she will have no choice but to have an abortion. If forcing the victim to give birth to a child causes her emotional distress by increasing her burden, then abortion as a medical procedure would be unavoidable, and the medical personnel and the party involved would not be held culpable.

Also, the perpetrator should be immediately put to death according to the law. That is what is indicated in the above scriptures. Even in the Bible, all perpetrators of rape have died in God's judgment. And we should also stop punishing them as great sinners and unforgivable sinners because they have committed abortion and are therefore guilty of murder. It is in God's hands whether the fetus from an abortion will be resurrected in the future, and from the fact that the apostle John states that people commit murder simply because they hate others in the first place, hatred, malice, and slander without a reason are more serious sins than abortion.

Of course, we are not stating that it is okay to get pregnant repeatedly through consensual sex and then abort it. That would be a sin. However, in the case of an unwanted pregnancy resulting from a sex crime, if the victim feels burdened and wishes to have an abortion, there is no clear basis for condemning that choice from Scripture. The point is that Christians around the victim should always support and sustain him or her.

Conclusion

When victims of sexual abuse suffer from unwanted pregnancies and have no choice but to have abortions or abortions, we should respect their wishes and pray for their wounds to be healed. Ignore the niceties and nonsense of psychopaths who say that the baby should be forced to be born and raised by a woman.

It is not a sin to choose abortion after such damage.

About Me

My name is JP. Please use this as a reference for yourselves. As an ex-Jehovah's Witness, I will post the results of my thorough research from an original language perspective.

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