Thinking with grace rather than justice, part 10; John 15:18.Title: Thinking with grace rather than justice, part 10; John 15:18.
Taboo: Any social prohibition or restriction that results from convention or tradition.
2. Abortion has become one of the greatest distractions to Christianity in recent history.
Gen 2:7a Then the Lord God formed [yatsar – make out of preexisting material] man of dust from the ground,
yatsar (Gen 2:7) = to make out of preexisting materials referring to the body of man or his biological mechanisms.
This is the only time He would do this in the forming of the two first humans since after this the biological part of man is made mediate in the womb of the mother.
Gen 2:7b and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life [plural – soul and spirit]; and man became a living being.
Only after the breath of lives did the man become a living being.
Isa 42:5 Thus says God the Lord, Who created [past tense] the heavens and stretched them out, Who spread out [past] the earth and its offspring, Who gives [present] breath to the people on it, And spirit to those who walk in it,
A newborn does not breathe until it exits the womb.
The development of biological life in the womb is entirely dependent on the mother. Soul life is dependent entirely on God. The original breath of life — the moment Adam became a human being — set the pattern for the first dramatic instant of human life for all humanity. A newborn baby draws its first breath when God imparts His divine breath into the infant’s nostrils. This is soul life created and combined with the biological life of the newly emerged child.
Every soul was known in eternity past. They are God’s possession and He imputed them to bodies at birth as He wished. If there is a still birth or an abortion God knew about it in eternity past and no soul was destined for it, but for some other body.
Certain passages of Scripture declare the continuation of God’s direct role in creating human life after the Fall. These passages speak literally of immediate, not mediate, creation by God.
Isa 2:22 Stop regarding man, whose breath of life [neshamah] is in his nostrils;
Isa 57:16 "For I will not contend forever, Neither will I always be angry; For the spirit would grow faint before Me, And the breath of those whom I have made.
Numerous other passages of Old Testament Scripture confirm God as the continuing Creator of human life.
After the fall, God did not delegate the prerogative of reproducing human life to mankind.
The Book of Job affirms that God continues to establish human life. During overwhelming suffering Job unquestionably recognizes God’s indispensable role. After Job lost his wealth and saw his servants and children slain, he states:
Job 1:21 "Naked I came from my mother's womb [mibeten], And naked I shall return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord."
min – from; beten – womb. The Hebrew combines them into one word – mibeten = from the womb.
Another preposition could easily be used to indicate “in the womb.”
At death the soul and the body separate and return to their origins, Eccl 12:7.
Eccl 12:7 then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.
The body formed in the womb of the mother is formed directly from the ground. Our increase in mass in the womb and after birth comes from what we eat. Fruits and vegetables come from the ground and the animals eat those to build their own muscle which we eat. The chemicals that make up every part of our biological mass and function come from the ground.
Job 33:4 The Spirit of God has made me, And the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
Zech 12:1 Thus declares the Lord who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him.
As the body and brain form in the womb the genetic code of the mother and father are in every cell along with the father’s OSN. When the soul is imputed by God at birth it is immediately influenced by the genetic code and OSN. I picture it like putting milk in a vat full of cultures which will quickly infiltrate the milk’s molecular balance and curdle it; or a perfectly healthy person walking into a day care in the middle of winter and getting infected with a flu virus or cold. The soul breathes and the first thing it breathes is genetic information and OSN virus. The soul immediately becomes a prisoner of the OSN and so God does not become the author of sin, nor of the tendencies of the sin nature.
The boundaries of physical life:
Eccl 3:2 A time to give birth, and a time to die;
Isa 9:6 For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;
Matt 11:11 "Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist;
Luke 2:11 for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
Job 14:1 Man, who is born of woman, Is short-lived and full of turmoil.
Job 15:14 "What is man, that he should be pure, Or he who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
Job 3:11 Why did I not die at birth, Come forth from the womb [mibeten] and expire?
Job 3:12 "Why did the knees receive me, And why the breasts, that I should suck?
Job 3:13 "For now I would have lain down and been quiet; I would have slept then, I would have been at rest,
Verses 11-13 describes a death directly after birth. The soul was imputed at the breathe of life but then death came. He would have slept and been at rest, meaning he’s a person with body and soul and the soul had returned to God and the body to the dust from which it was made.
Job 10:18 Why then hast Thou brought me out of the womb? Would that I had died and no eye had seen me!
Job 10:19 'I should have been as though I had not been, Carried from womb [mibeten] to tomb.'
Job 10:18-19 describes a miscarriage (which would also be the situation of an abortion). This the body without a soul and is described as being as though I had not been.
Luke 1:15 For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and he will drink no wine or liquor; and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, while yet in his mother's womb.
Here we have a blatantly terrible use of the preposition ek.
ek koili,aj[ek koilios] = from womb. Ablative denotes separation = out from or away from.
Luke 1:15 for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth.NIV
Luke 1:15 For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb. KJV
Luke 1:41 And it came about that when Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
Now this is a reflex action through the excitement of Elizabeth or the 6 month fetus can understand words and concepts. One commentator, and one that I usually enjoy very much, stated:
“Even before his birth, John rejoiced in Jesus Christ just as he did during his earthly ministry.” This is nothing but emotional rather than doctrinal.
So according to this commentator, not only did fetus John understand the complex emotion of joy associated with good news and understand words so as to understand the news, but he knew that the fetus Jesus was just a stomach away.
This also strikes an emotional chord [pun] for mom’s who have felt the kicking and rolling to the dads who are sure their able to talk to the fetus through the womb and playing music etc. Mom having too much coffee might do the same. It’s a reflex. I’m sure you’ve had a doctor strike you just below the knee cap with a little hammer. At a certain age the fetus’ ears develop and sounds will likely affect a reflex action. It’s not cold to think so. I used to think my dog understood my words.
Luke 1:42 And she cried out with a loud voice [super excited], and said, "Blessed among women are you, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!
How excited would you be if you just found out that your relative was going to be the mother of the Messiah?
Luke 1:43 "And how has it happened to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
Luke 1:44 "For behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy.
By focusing on this silliness one misses the main point of this passage. I almost missed it as I was thinking of the falsehoods. Elizabeth is a great woman. She wasn’t there when Gabriel told Mary the great news. Gabriel appeared to Elizabeth’s husband and he didn’t believe him. But when Elizabeth got pregnant she treasured it and completely believed that Mary, her relative, was the mother of her Lord. We don’t see her asking how, as Mary did, a virgin could bear a son. We only see her super excited, full of joy and of faith. No one is born with this deep of faith. This deep faith only comes from one who has striven with God for a long time and has persevered under the grace of God. I think God was paying her a compliment in this passage and most everyone misses it due to the nonsense. |