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- Newsgroups: talk.abortion
- Path: sparky!uunet!wupost!uwm.edu!news.mr.med.ge.com!news.mr.med.ge.com!nuge
- From: nuge@newport.med.ge.com (James A. Nugent)
- Subject: Re: Bible says abortion is murder? WHERE?
- In-Reply-To: ray@netcom.com's message of 25 Jul 92 07:00:10 GMT
- Message-ID: <NUGE.92Jul26225251@newport.med.ge.com>
- Lines: 62
- Sender: news@mr.med.ge.com
- Nntp-Posting-Host: newport
- Organization: GE Medical Systems, Milwaukee, WI
- References: <1992Jul20.001531.1356@cbnewsj.cb.att.com> <5628@catnip.berkeley.ca.us>
- <NUGE.92Jul24114732@newport.med.ge.com> <!hjm5gn.ray@netcom.com>
- Distribution: na
- Date: 27 Jul 92 03:52:51 GMT
-
- In article <!hjm5gn.ray@netcom.com> ray@netcom.com (Ray Fischer)
- writes:
-
- > nuge@newport.med.ge.com (James A. Nugent) writes ...
- > >In article <5628@catnip.berkeley.ca.us> tanj@catnip.berkeley.ca.us
- > >> Now, as far as I know, the only biblical reference to it is Exodus 21:22
- > >> (I think it's that-- I just moved and my bible is still packed) where the
- > >> penalty for causing a woman to miscarry is monetary compensation. Doesn't
- > >> sound like murder to me.
- > >
- > > It appears that they considered the unborn as "property." Of course
- > >to get to verse 22 you had to notice this (verse 21):
- > >
- > > "If, however, [a man strikes his male or female slave witha rod and]
- > > the slave survives for a day or two [before dying] he is not to be
- > > punished, since the slave is his own property."
- > >
- > > I think (hope) our standards of morality and "property" have evolved
- > >beyond the Code of the Covenant in Exodus. What do you think?
-
- > So then, you agree that the Bible cannot be used as a standard for
- > morality?
-
- That's right. Not like a cookbook. Especially the O.T. You
- have to read it critially and consider the historical framework as
- well as author's intent and audience.
-
- > >> My friend kept on saying, "The Church says... the Church says..."
- > >
- > > Yup. Early Church teaching, the Didache Apostolicae (Teachings of
- > >the Apostles, ~ 100 AD) says:
- > >
- > > "You shall not kill the fetus by abortion, or destroy the infant
- > > already born."
-
- > And 1200 years later the same church burned people at the stake for
- > possessing a Bible.
-
- How about owning a Didache? Was that bad, too? Anyway, 800 years
- after that, I took a Catholic scripture class, and even brought along
- my Bible, a translation commissioned by the Catholic Church. Am I in
- trouble?
-
- > Sorry, you don't get to pick and choose and expect it to be a convincing
- > argument.
-
- Who's making an argument? I'm just telling you what they said,
- and where. If I wanted to convince you of validity of a Church positon
- I'd have to just that, not just quote it.
-
- > Either the Bible and the Church are useful authorities, or
- > they're not.
-
- You're trying to make a black and white with no gray, no room
- for thinking critically about it. Isn't that what you accuse us of
- doing?
- --
- Jim Nugent
-
- nuge@med.ge.com
-
- nugentj@med.ge.com
-