...the problem is that if you're looking at it from a traditional Christian perspective then your nine week statement is just as arbitrary as any other. While the Bible doesn't say anything about abortion, there are plenty of early Christian works that nearly made the Bible that do explicitly prohibit abortion generally:
οὐ φονευσεις τεκνον ἐν φθορᾷ οὐδε γεννηθεν αποκτενεις - Didache 2:2.
Thou shalt not kill a child in the womb, nor shalt thou kill one born.
NB: Barnabas repeats the exact phrase with the sole modification that it puts the word παλιν, "already" before γεννηθεν, "born". The text of "thou shalt not kill" in the Septuagint is identical: οὐ φονευσεις.
Because I know how touchy you are on dating issues, let me quote from the critical apparatus:
The Didache may have been put into its present form as late as 150, though a date considerably closer to the end of the first century seems more probable. The materials from which it was composed reflect the state of the church at an even earlier time. The relative simplicity of the prayers, the continuing concern to differentiate Christian practice from Jewish rituals (8.1), and in particular the form of church structure - note the twofold structure of bishops and deacons (cf. Phil. 1:1) and the continued existence of traveling apostles and prophets alongside a resident ministry - reflect a time closer to that of Paul and James (who died in the 60s) than Ignatius (who died sometime after 110).
As a result, while I applaud your newly-found logical skills (
), Jeordam can fall back on a Christian tradition that makes no distinction on the timing of abortion unless you can somehow qualify the statements made in the Early Church.
οὐ φονευσεις τεκνον ἐν φθορᾷ οὐδε γεννηθεν αποκτενεις - Didache 2:2.
Thou shalt not kill a child in the womb, nor shalt thou kill one born.
NB: Barnabas repeats the exact phrase with the sole modification that it puts the word παλιν, "already" before γεννηθεν, "born". The text of "thou shalt not kill" in the Septuagint is identical: οὐ φονευσεις.
Because I know how touchy you are on dating issues, let me quote from the critical apparatus:
The Didache may have been put into its present form as late as 150, though a date considerably closer to the end of the first century seems more probable. The materials from which it was composed reflect the state of the church at an even earlier time. The relative simplicity of the prayers, the continuing concern to differentiate Christian practice from Jewish rituals (8.1), and in particular the form of church structure - note the twofold structure of bishops and deacons (cf. Phil. 1:1) and the continued existence of traveling apostles and prophets alongside a resident ministry - reflect a time closer to that of Paul and James (who died in the 60s) than Ignatius (who died sometime after 110).
As a result, while I applaud your newly-found logical skills (

Political correctness is the pettiest form of casuistry.
ἡ δὲ κἀκ τριῶν τρυπημάτων ἐργαζομένη ἐνεκάλει τῇ φύσει, δυσφορουμένη, ὅτι δὴ μὴ καὶ τοὺς τιτθοὺς αὐτῇ εὐρύτερον ἢ νῦν εἰσι τρυπώη, ὅπως καὶ ἄλλην ἐνταῦθα μίξιν ἐπιτεχνᾶσθαι δυνατὴ εἴη. – Procopius
Ummaka qinnassa nīk!
*MySmiley*
ἡ δὲ κἀκ τριῶν τρυπημάτων ἐργαζομένη ἐνεκάλει τῇ φύσει, δυσφορουμένη, ὅτι δὴ μὴ καὶ τοὺς τιτθοὺς αὐτῇ εὐρύτερον ἢ νῦν εἰσι τρυπώη, ὅπως καὶ ἄλλην ἐνταῦθα μίξιν ἐπιτεχνᾶσθαι δυνατὴ εἴη. – Procopius
Ummaka qinnassa nīk!
*MySmiley*
This message last edited by Tom on 26/10/2012 at 07:33:16 PM
God Distances Self From Christian Right
26/10/2012 01:56:18 PM
- 1308 Views
Do you really think God would condone abortion? *NM*
26/10/2012 03:28:25 PM
- 385 Views
Depends on when a fetus is a being, which the GOP contends is "at the moment of fertilization."
26/10/2012 03:57:44 PM
- 617 Views
Actually, I don't see any place in the Bible where God is....
26/10/2012 04:00:19 PM
- 800 Views
Where did I say one word about God accommodating our sin?
26/10/2012 05:55:52 PM
- 658 Views
You're technically right, Joel, but...
26/10/2012 07:32:10 PM
- 636 Views
Almost may count in hand grenades, but definitely not in canon.
26/10/2012 10:28:57 PM
- 713 Views

Your lack of scientific understanding is everything in this instance.
26/10/2012 10:44:05 PM
- 648 Views
Because whether God intends rape is aaaall about science, right?
26/10/2012 11:08:16 PM
- 571 Views
You're getting rather emphatic.
26/10/2012 11:27:07 PM
- 627 Views
Broad fundamental change to US law by controlling all three branches of government provokes that.
27/10/2012 12:44:59 AM
- 636 Views
Condemn women to die? What a strange way to look at this.
26/10/2012 07:17:16 PM
- 682 Views
women *did* die before abortion was legalized, there should be no dispute of this aspect
26/10/2012 07:27:28 PM
- 712 Views
So we legalize an illegal act because some are willing to harm themselves to do it? *NM*
26/10/2012 10:02:37 PM
- 352 Views
no, we legalize the act so that it can be performed safely without killing both mother *and* child *NM*
26/10/2012 11:08:52 PM
- 365 Views
Very good point, but that was not (at least soley) what I meant, no.
26/10/2012 11:12:32 PM
- 635 Views
If something should be illegal in its own right, it is nonsense to legalize it because criminals
26/10/2012 11:40:41 PM
- 666 Views
If banning it saves no lives but inevitably takes more, the ban is counterproductive.
27/10/2012 12:48:51 AM
- 672 Views
That is absolutely absurd. It saves the lives of all...
27/10/2012 12:59:16 AM
- 698 Views
you're still missing the point that abortions will still be performed if it were illegal
27/10/2012 01:02:57 AM
- 606 Views
I'm not missing the point, you are.
27/10/2012 01:21:39 AM
- 758 Views
This isn't necessarily true, though it is often due to other factors.
27/10/2012 02:48:00 PM
- 660 Views
People who want abortions badly enough to have one will, whether or not law makes it "convenient."
27/10/2012 02:58:52 AM
- 591 Views
Telling a woman whose life was in danger not to save it with abortion condemned her to die
26/10/2012 10:48:53 PM
- 602 Views
There is no proof that you would accept that a fetus is a child.
26/10/2012 11:31:50 PM
- 606 Views
Fantastic question.
26/10/2012 11:43:51 PM
- 637 Views
No, I would err on the side of caution; have often said as much in just those words.
27/10/2012 01:18:19 AM
- 617 Views
Sure there is; show me a fetus acting indepedently and consciously.
27/10/2012 01:15:00 AM
- 626 Views
Perfect example of media sensationalism
26/10/2012 04:13:41 PM
- 710 Views
I agree with your larger point and am not trying to be argumentative
26/10/2012 04:29:23 PM
- 675 Views
yeah, but what do women know about women's issues? this is man talk time!
26/10/2012 05:01:58 PM
- 636 Views
THAT is the whole problem with his comment.
26/10/2012 05:59:40 PM
- 602 Views
Or it could mean....
26/10/2012 11:50:53 PM
- 655 Views
Having addressed this in response to Legolas in moondogs thread on Mourdock, I will just link that.
27/10/2012 01:43:48 AM
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I agree
26/10/2012 07:27:21 PM
- 697 Views
It's always a slippery slope, talking about what God did and did not intend.
27/10/2012 12:06:22 AM
- 654 Views
There is a logically consistent way; you did not ask for it, so I will be brief.
27/10/2012 02:53:09 AM
- 637 Views
Pregnancy cannot be separated from its cause.
26/10/2012 05:51:28 PM
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God intends everything.
27/10/2012 04:40:58 PM
- 733 Views
"Intends" is a big word.
27/10/2012 09:23:13 PM
- 651 Views
It is sad that this is getting more press than the Bengazi scandal *NM*
26/10/2012 05:58:22 PM
- 340 Views
that's probably because it's more relevant to most people's lives *NM*
26/10/2012 06:06:10 PM
- 360 Views
This entire scandal really speaks to the Calvinist heresy in particular.
26/10/2012 07:10:38 PM
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I was trying REALLY hard to avoid putting it in precisely those terms.
26/10/2012 10:12:17 PM
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Well, but really, the fundamental crux of the issue is precisely that.
27/10/2012 01:03:26 AM
- 636 Views
True, but disputing founding articles of faith benefits from tact.
27/10/2012 02:02:48 AM
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Come on, Tom.
27/10/2012 03:29:39 AM
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I believe HE grasps the difference between predestination and determinism well.
27/10/2012 09:33:14 PM
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The comment that sparked this was moronic even to the vast majority of religious conservatives. *NM*
26/10/2012 09:42:51 PM
- 353 Views
Yet its author remains the only Senate nominee for whom Romney is running ads.
26/10/2012 10:53:37 PM
- 620 Views
Is the senator's comment more disgusting to you than the President's vote against the
26/10/2012 11:54:55 PM
- 628 Views
how does one vote against a bill which passed by unanimous consent?
27/10/2012 12:11:37 AM
- 623 Views
As a state senator in 2001 in illinois he was the sole opponent to the aforementioned bill. *NM*
27/10/2012 12:14:08 AM
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[citation needed]
27/10/2012 12:15:41 AM
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It was an illinois state bill. *NM*
27/10/2012 12:23:12 AM
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yes, i finally found *something* regarding a state bill which he did oppose
27/10/2012 12:34:40 AM
- 630 Views
The BAIPA became federal law 2 years before Obamas Senate win; he says he would have voted for it.
27/10/2012 02:33:26 AM
- 611 Views
Once he started taking fire for it he said he would have voted for it? Well that clears that up.
27/10/2012 07:09:21 AM
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He "took fire" for a federal law passed before he was in Congress?
27/10/2012 04:08:25 PM
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amazing
28/10/2012 05:04:21 AM
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Women are certainly encouraged to weigh in, but everyone is entitled to thoughts on the matter
28/10/2012 02:22:55 PM
- 623 Views