Acknowledgement that some abortions might not be murder — i.e., that they
might not involve the separation of an innocent human soul from a human
body — is not the same as lending support to all or any abortions. If one
considers that children are a gift from the Lord, then, barring rare
circumstances, a woman’s awareness that she is pregnant may be
considered a signal of God’s intent to give her a gift. Shouldn’t it be
incumbent upon Christian parents to co-operate with what appears to be
a divine intention, regardless of whatever ignorance we may have about
exactly how and when this gift will be given? Istm that the right Christian
approach to pregnancy (barring those rare circumstances) is one of
co-operation.

On the question of ensoulment and some related issues, I welcome you
to consider three essays I wrote some time ago, which can be found
near the bottom of the homepage of the Curtisville Christian Church website
– http://www.curtisvillechristian.org –
or you can go directly to the first essay at
http://www.curtisvillechristian.org/Biogenesis.html .

Yours in Christ,

James Snapp, Jr.

The traducianist would say that it is impossible for their to be a case where the soul is not present in and with the body since it is vitally connected to it. It would be like saying what if there was a body without cells? Mysteriously, although you cannot test it or see it in a microscope, the immaterial aspect, according to the traducianist, is a part of the body from the beginning and the body cannot be without it. A good definition of death is the separation of the immaterial from the material. This separation is mysterious and unnatural and make the resurrection necessary so the we, in the resurrection, can be complete once again.

While the body is born with the effects of the fall, so is the soul. These effects do vary and the immaterial will always most certainly be deformed by sin. When God redeems the world, the complete person, body and soul, material and immaterial, will be restored.

With a creationist view, could God choose not to give a soul to someone? Or is it guaranteed that every single child born will be provided with a soul, which is promptly corrupted?

Oddly enough, though, from a purely secular point of view, abortion is untenable. Greg Koukl at http://www.str.org has an incredible argument against abortion in which he never appeals to the Bible. There’s just one question to ask: “What is it?” If it’s just tissue, then who cares about privacy or choice or anything else — just cut it out like a mole. If it’s a human, then no issue of privacy or choice will even matter. He then goes on to show that no matter how we define human, that definition either applies equally to a fetus or is arbitrary.

As with Michael, I have no answers, only more questions.

You are right about the different translations of Gen 2:7. Most would say that we should translate this as “living being” rather than soul. It uses the same phrase for the animals. The idea is that when God breathed into them, He breathed life, not a soul. This would better support Traducianism.

I am in full agreement with you that any choice that one has to make in such a situation would be beyond my comprehension.

Thanks for the comment.

It sounds like you are equating soul and spirit as one and the same, Michael. I know other people would say that humans are made up of physical, soul, and spirit where spirit is the life-giving “substance” and soul is more like the personality/mind of a person.

I have not sorted this all out for myself. Abortions seem to me to be not what God or nature or anything else would want. Yet, what would you tell a married couple when the doctor advises them that if the baby is not aborted, both the baby and the mother will die? If you believe any abortions are murder, then I guess you have to say, “Oh well. God gives life and he takes life and that’s the way the cookie crumbles” so to speak. It may be that the mother feels so closely connected to her baby that despite the fact that she has been told she will die, she just cannot choose to end her baby’s life anyway. Perhaps she will say that God can produce miracles and she will hope for a miracle. I pray that none of us and no one we love will ever have to face such a decision.