Another example of this is from genesis 1:27 :”So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created him; male and female he created them.” This means that all humans are unique, they are the only creatures created in God’s image. It can also influence a Christian’s attitude towards abortion because it says if we kill an unborn child we are killing one of God’s creations.
“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground with out your Father’s will, but even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.” This verse from taken from Matthew 10:29-31. It reminds us that it matters to God how we show respect for our life’s and others lives and we should be thankful our mothers kept us and didn’t have us aborted. That’s why some Christians may disagree with abortion because they would see it as not respected some ones life.
Some Christians see that all creations belong to God so as we are one of God’s creations we have no say over weather we can abort out unwanted child or not. In genesis 1:1-31 “ in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…………..And God saw everything that he made, and behold it was very good.”
“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” This is telling us that God made us all so wonderful and that we should thank him for it. We shouldn’t kill someone before they’ve even left their mothers womb.
Another one comes from Isaiah 49 verse 15. It says: “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? “ This shows us that even if a woman does have her baby aborted she will still have loved it and will not forget it; It may even send the woman into depression that she no longer will have her baby growing inside of her.
B1
A typical Roman Catholic Church view believes in the sanctity of life, that all life comes from God. As they believe this, they would see abortion as wrong. They condemn it as grave evil. Christian writers from the first century author of the Didache to Pope John 11 in his encyclical Evangelism Vitae (The gospel of Life) have maintained that the bible forbids abortion, just as it forbids murder.
In 1995 Pope John 11 declared that the church teaching on abortion “is unchanged and unchangeable.” They back up this believe with various statements from the AD years. And various bible quotes e.g. “ what man of sound mind, therefore will affirm, while such is our character, that we are murderers?. . . . .when we say that those women who use drugs to bring on abortion commit murder and will have to account to God for the abortion.” This came from the plea for Christians 35 [A.d.177]
Some stories from people from the catholic faith are ones such as a student who discovered she was pregnant 3 weeks after she splitting up with her boyfriend and she wants to be a journalist. She would have to keep the baby and jeopardize her future and forget her dreams.
B2
A typical Church of England view on abortion is firstly a roman catholic church says; “abortion is murder. It should not be allowed.” Secondly the protestant church says abortion should only be allowed in some cases. These cases are:
* The life or health of the mother is under threat.
*The baby is likely to be born severely abnormal.
*The lives of the mother or any other children would be made a lot worse,
*there was great poverty or very poor housing (social conditions.)
Although some Protestants do think abortion is wrong.
A Methodist statement on abortion adopted b the Methodist Church in 1976 says that Christians believe that God created man and that man is created in his image and thought marred by sin in an eternal being. It believes that the value and importance of all human life by keeping in mind the fetus has a right to live. Also they have another side to the abortion argument that keeps in the interests of the mother, therefore seeing that the fetus relies on the mother for the first 20 weeks of pregnancy; she should have a right to decide weather or not to continue the pregnancy. A statement they use from Para 9 says “there is not a moment from pregnancy onwards when the fetus lacks human significance.”
The Methodist church feels that the decision of abortion should not be carried out lightly and adequate and that counseling should be given to the woman to enable that she understands all the alternatives and the issues involved.
The last thing the Methodist Church states is that all abortions should take place before the 20th week of pregnancy. It also says that abortions should not be allowed on demand.
B3
One of the charities that Christians support is a pro-life charity called Life charity.
One of the members of this is a doctor who works in a hospital. He says that 1 in 3 women have abortions and that after they can feel doubt, guilt and isolation. This doctor tells us that the 4 questions that a woman should consider before having an abortion are:
- When does this little baby have a life of its own?
- What relationship des the women have with the baby?
- What happens in an abortion?
- What are the choices/feelings?
He feels that a bond can be broken through parent and child by an abortion despite the body is not perfectly formed until week 10.
This charity can help give women counseling after having the abortion as there may be pressure coming from partners, family or even doctors. Though they do feel the issues are more complicated when the pregnancy is a result of rape or incest. Often they can send the mother to a hostel after to help them re build them selves.
B4
Christians say that there is no sin that God will not forgive, except that of not accepting. An abortion id just one of the sins that nailed Jesus to the cross, and just before he died he said: “Father. Forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. - Luke 23:34”
They believe that God wants to forgive every woman that has had an abortion. Even the man who has asked a woman to abort their child even if they don’t want to. Then he will forgive any one who was involved in helping someone else obtain an abortion and the people who perform the abortion.
If we want to enjoy Gods forgive though, we have to be willing to admit ton ourselves and to God that having an abortion is a sin. To be bale to see reject abortion is just a way of getting out of though situations in the future and then we must ask God ourselves for forgiveness as this will make him happy.
Christians believe that God is always eager to forgive our sin and give new life. Also take away the penalty – eternal death – for sin. As it says in Romans 8:1 that God promises; “therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
C
Some reasons that some Christians would agree to abortion is firstly, every women has the right to choose because it’s her body. This is because no one should make a woman do something she does not want to do.
Secondly, if abortion is not allowed lots of women will risk their lives by having “back –street” abortion clinics. These places will be very unhygienic which may cause a lot of infections amongst women. Also it means that there would be an awful lot of unwanted pregnancies.
Thirdly, if a child will be born extremely handicapped then it is best for it to be aborted. This means that having a kid who will always not be able to do many things life and could be bullied quite a lot in school maybe it would be best for it to be aborted rather than have to life its whole life suffering.
Fourthly, if a woman is having a baby because of rape or incest then it is best to have an abortion. If they had this child it would always be a reminder of what happened and many women may find it hard to forget and move on with life and in result could end up hating the child, Also it may not fair to lie to the child about its real father.
Fifthly, we should not make abortion illegal because every person should make up their mind. Everyone has their own right to do what they want and no body can change their mind about it.
Although some Christians may argue and say that is abortion is wrong and should not be allowed. Some of their argument would be firstly; an aborted fetus can suffer great pain as it is aborted. It isn’t faro to put the baby through pain before it has even had a chance to live.
Secondly, you can never tell how damaging an aborting can be to the mother. Some women can suffer from depression for a long time after, often some women could hide their true feelings away and could be tormented for the rest of their lives abut what they did, but no one would every be able to help them because they wouldn’t know.
Thirdly, even a handicapped child can have a good happy live. Just because they are handicapped doesn’t mean they won’t be able to do anything in life, they can still go to school and earn and play and basically live life to the full just like every other person. There is nothing that we can do that they can’t.
Fourthly, an unborn child has rights. It is a human being from the time it is conceived. This child can not speak out and as it is still inside its mother’s womb but we should give this baby a chance to live before we take its life away from it, it has done anything wrong to deserve to be killed.
Fifthly, if more people took care about contraception there would be no need for abortions. People should start thinking before they act. More education should be given out about safe sex,
Sixthly, some would see that abortion is just like murder, it’s just like killing a body, you just can’t see the body. Why a woman should get away with killing her unborn baby but if someone kills some they get put in prison, why is this different? Surely veveryone should be treated the same.
Seventhly, children can be adopted if they are not wanted. They should still be given the chance to a happy life even if they are put with a family who they don’t originally come from. At least they will have a chance at a happy life with some one who loves them.
