Today's quote: - "The days of our years are three score years and ten; and if by reason of strength the be four score years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off and we fly away," PSALMS XC,10.
Comment - The above quote seems to contradict a religious belief that asserts that life begins at conception, for "four score years does not apparently include the nine months of gestation. There are several theories of the beginning of human life, some even scientific that will be addressed here.,Before you hold a position or belief about abortion, embryonic stem cell research or any other issue related to the creation of life, you must determine when you believe life begins. Once you find an answer to this question, everything else falls into line. But no matter the belief you arrive at, or already have, may not be the correct one, for they be many who disagree with it, and it therefore becomes a question that will never be settled to everyone's satisfaction - but then, if we are a society of different thoughts, and ideas, and thankfully we are, then whatever believe each of us may profess should not, and must not be imposed on others in a way that wold deprive them of that which they believe.
So let's look at the theories to see which of them affects, if any, your personal belief about when life begins.
Genetic View: Conception, Life begins when the sperm and the ovum are united. During fertilization, the genes originating from two sources combine to form a single individual with a different and unique set of genes. This process takes up to 48 hours..
Embyrological View, 14 days:. Life begins at gastrulation -- the point at which a developing embryo forms distinct layers that grow into different organs. Embryos are capable of splitting into twins as late as 12 days after fertilization resulting in separate individuals. Gastrulation commences when the zygote, now called an embryo, implants into the uterus.
Neurological View, 6-24 weeks: Life begins when the brain produces measurable waves. Death is marked by the loss of the pattern produced by a cerebral electroencephalogram (EEG). If life and death are based upon the same standard of measurement, then the beginning of human life would be recognized when a fetus acquires a recognizable EEG pattern. There is much disagreement about when this occurs.
Ecological View, 25-27 weeks: Life begins when the fetus can survive outside the uterus. Viability is generally determined by the sufficient maturation of the lungs. With modern medicine, a premature baby can breathe outside of the womb as early as 25 weeks after conception
Birth View, 7-9 months: Life begins at birth. When the fetus emerges and separates from the body of the mother, whether naturally or surgically, a child is born. This typically occurs at 9 months, but frequently occurs several weeks early.
Awareness View: There is a sixth view of life promoted by some philosophers. They believe that neither a fetus nor an infant is a human being because it does not possess a consciousness of itself. In the article "Abortion and Infanticide," Michael Tooley argues that abortion and infanticide are both acceptable because life does not begin until the human child gains self-awareness. This generally occurs around 18 months after birth.
St. Francis of Assisi said, "You are born, your live and you die." So that from his point of religiosity, you do not live until you are born, which is life as described in the "Birth View" above. So he, too, disagreed with the church's current position that life begins at conception. A farmer plants a seed in the ground, but it is not a plant until it sprouts from the soil.
None of the above has changed my views regarding the beginning of human life, and it is my belief as an American citizen, and a self-considered constitutionalist that the First Amendment prohibits the making of any laws "respecting an establishment of religion" which any law or Court decision to reverse the Decision in Roe vs. Wade would violate the Fourth Amendment as an invasion of privacy. The First Amendment also prohibits the government from enacting laws prohibiting the free exercise of religion. But one's freedom to exercise one's religious beliefs does not infer a right to impose those beliefs on others. To do so is, in plain language, Un-American.. How dull a world this wold be if everyone thought alike, It would be as, though we were nothing more than robots. There would not have been a Mozart, a Salvatore Dali, a Maimonides, a Jesus, a Moses, a Pavarotti. As the French would say, "Vive le diffiierance!"
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