When does life begin? Many people believe it is at fertilisation that life begins, so abortion is wrong, whereas others firmly believe it is not until you are born. This means that people can be against contraception such as the Pill or condom. Again, the bible can be used to give a guideline to Christians and others to certain decisions in their lives about life and death. Psalm 139 v 13 states that “You created me, you put me together in the womb”
2. Explain how these teachings may affect the life and beliefs of Christians when dealing with medical life and death issues.
Christians try to live their life how God tells them to in the Bible, although there are many controversial issues facing Christians of today.
“God” was born many years ago before today’s many controversial issues had to be faced. The teachings in the Bible can be interpreted into the use of today’s problems and concerns. Christians can follow a lot of the teachings in the Bible strictly, but there is the main problem that it was written before many of these problems came before the public eye. These teachings can affect the decisions on all people, not just Christians, in a lot of different controversial topics. The following are subject in which people need guidance when making a decision, as it could affect the rest of their lives:
Contraception: it is believed in many strict religions that contraception prevents the life that God wants to put on this planet; therefore it is going against the verse “The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away”. Many Christian denominations though are not so strict and believe that if it is meant to be then we can’t stop God doing what he wants.
Abortion: this is a harder subject to comment on because there are so many different views and opinions. I personally believe that it is up to the woman what she wants to do because it is her body, yet for a Christian woman it would be much harder because of the issue of that it could be considered murder of an inocent child. The other views are that you have to take into consideration of the mothers’ health and age. If it could seriously dangerous on the health for example, then it may be beneficial to have an abortion. It would be hard for anyone to make these decisions without some guidance, and this is where people could turn to the Bible for a source of what could be right or wrong.
Statistics show that 1 in 3 women will have an abortion and that there are some 600 abortions performed a day in this country alone. This means that some women feel that it must be acceptable to have an abortion.
In vitro fertilisation (IVF): this could be seen as going against the laws of nature. Because of the modern advances in technology, people no longer feel the need to pray for a miracle and rely on science to help them out. In Vitro Fertilisation give couples the chance to have children if they aren’t capable of them, and the reference
“You created me, you put me together in my mothers womb” can be used to say to couples that what they are considering is against the law of nature.
Genetic Engineering: at the moment we don’t hear a lot about genetic engineering, but with the latest advances in technology it isn’t surprising that the world is beginning to experiment on human foetuses. Genetic engineering can be used to change the DNA of a child with problems, and this can be good and prevent genetic diseases from going further down the generations.
3. “Christians should always follow the bible when making and medical decisions.”
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There are or can be many different answers to this statement, and different viewpoints. The first is those who say that it is totally true. The arguments put forward by theses are long and many. The first is that the Bible states the will of God and therefore must be obeyed at all times. He is speaking to us directly through the written word, and if we do not obey these instructions and orders with total obedience, we will go to Hell.
The opinion of God is that He is a fair and just God, so will forgive our many sins, but we have to ask to be forgiven. Therefore the use of the Bible in making medical decisions is imperative if the person in question wants to be forgiven and go to heaven. The Bible is also considered to be a source of ancient wisdom from Gods Son Himself. This means that the Bible is law spoken from Jesus himself. It has been tradition in the culture of many countries to have a God that is important above everything else. Many other religions are focused all on one God (or many Gods) totally in their everyday life.
The Bible has worked for many thousands of people and guided them in many decision, although there is a conflict between the old and new testaments. The old focuses more on “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”, while the new is written when Jesus was here and focuses on the subject of forgiveness.
Another focus on this statement is those who say the Bible is totally wrong. The reasons for this are mainly to do with the type of lives we live today and the culture we now have compared to when Jesus was alive on Earth. Many people say that the Bible was written for when we worked mainly on the land with limited or no education. It was for those who had a blind faith in a God when we knew so little about science and how things worked. They were the times when there was not many medical decisions to be made because little was known about medicine. The only issue that could be resolved using the Bible and its words is the issue of abortion, because there were probably back-street abortions then.
There is also the issue that many people find the rules in the Bible too strict and rigid. It seems too old fashioned for many people today who find that there are different types of problems in the world today, such as Genetic Engineering and IVF, neither of which was heard of in the times when the Bible was written. Many people feel that it is their decision to make and they shouldn’t rely on a book to make decision for them.
The third idea is that people should incorporate into their daily life a little of both ideals. They can fit in the bits that can be used to relate to today’s problems, but not worry about the bits that go on about the things that were a worry in the years of Jesus. People may feel that it is too huge a decision to make on their own, and need a bit of help in whatever they need to make a decision about. This is where the Bible can be seen as a source of comfort to those who need it and also a guide to those who feel that they need some help with certain decisions. The outcome of these decisions may need the Bible as a source of help for those who may feel that they could have made the wrong decision.
I feel that it is important for an individual to make the choice depending on their own circumstances, and they need to weigh up what is best for them. The individual in question may be a devout Christian and use the Bible as the Be All and End All of each decision and base their life around it and its teachings, yet there may be others who drift and are in need of guidance now and then. I think it is up to the individual to make their minds up for themselves.
