The California Collection/TheCaliforniaCollection.cdr/his065/btg0889a.arj/BTG0889A.TXT

Text File | 1990-02-15 | 2KB | 39 lines

DID YOU KNOW...

that the Bible identifies the unborn child as fully human?

"Why died I not from the womb? Why did I not give up the ghost when I
came out of the belly? Why did the knees prevent me? or why the
breasts that I should suck? For now should I have lain still and been
quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest, with kings and
counselors of the earth, which built desolate places for themselves;
or with princes that had gold, who filled their houses with silver: Or
as an hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants which never saw
light. There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be
at rest. There the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of
the oppressor. The small and great are there; and the servant is free
from his master." Job 3:11-19.

In this important passage of Scripture we see suffering Job wishing he
had not been born. He envies those already in the grave, free from the
pain and hurt of this life (17-19).

But note that he compares (14,15) the state of deceased kings and
counselors and princes (i.e., those who had grown to adulthood) with
the state of those who died while still in the womb (v. 16). The dead
do not cease to exist, Job tells us, but rest from human activity. By
using the personal pronoun "I", Job shows that the unborn have
personal identity as well. That Job's evaluation is correct is borne
out by the testimony of God Himself (Job 42:7,8).

The point is this: The eternal nature of man, and each individual's
unique personhood─adults and children─is likewise present in the
unborn fetus. There is neither scientific nor Biblical justification
for the position that the unborn are not human.

(Condensed from an article by Dr. Gary Gordon. Write ICR for a free
copy.)