Life Ethics - Abortion, Reproduction and Genetics

Sovereign Grace Family Church

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September 27, 2019

00:00: Before class, somebody asked me what we read in the book doesn't have anything to do with abortion.
00:06: And I said, that's right.
00:07: The book is the foundation of law and the Christian and it won't tie into what we're doing in class.
00:14: It's giving you foundations for ethics and it's secondary to what we're doing in class.
00:19: So just understand that.
00:21: Don't don't don't worry that they're not connecting because they're not supposed to.
00:26: It's a it's a secondary learning.
00:28: It's what you're doing on your own and it should influence how you answer these questions.
00:32: But it's not always going to directly relate to the question at hand.
00:37: So as I already mentioned, the subject tonight is abortion.
00:39: But let me back up for just a second and say this.
00:42: The subject of tonight is life ethics.
00:45: So that is the the name of of this lecture.
00:50: And under the subject heading of life ethics, we are going to deal with abortion, reproduction and genetics.
01:14: Next week, we'll get to death ethics, which deals with things like suicide and other difficult things like euthanasia.
01:22: And that'll all be next week.
01:23: So just to give you an idea of how we're doing and what we're doing.
01:26: If you have the syllabus, you know these things.
01:28: So let's begin with the subject of abortion.
01:32: And I'm going to try to keep this in our time frame for tonight.
01:37: We are all familiar with the scenario.
01:41: A young woman just about to finish high school engages in a sexual encounter with her boyfriend and becomes pregnant.
01:53: She was already on the way to great success, having been accepted into a prestigious school and is looking forward to a very bright academic future.
02:04: Upon finding out her boyfriend abandons her and to make matters worse, her parents are encouraging her to simply get it taken care of and get on with her promising life.
02:18: She feels alone, afraid and that if she has the baby, her life will be over.
02:30: Before we begin to discuss the ethical dilemma of abortion, we must first admit that this scenario is an all too common occurrence.
02:42: I have friends who stand outside of abortion clinics and I have stood outside of abortion clinics and pleaded with women not to kill their babies.
02:53: And often those women are being escorted by family members who are pressuring them to get it taken care of.
03:03: It's heart wrenching to see these young women being encouraged to destroy the life within them for the sake of convenience.
03:14: There are two camps in the abortion debate.
03:18: Most of this you may know, but I just want to say these things because I think they're important for us to address.
03:24: We understand that within the abortion debate, the two camps are typically known as the pro-choice and the pro-life camps.
03:38: Ever since the legalization of abortion with the landmark Roe v.
03:41: Wade decision was handed down in January of 1973, which essentially legalized abortion on demand, since then two groups have emerged.
03:50: The pro-life movement advocates belief that it is ethically wrong to terminate a pregnancy because the baby in the womb is a person and has the right to life.
03:59: The pro-choice advocate believes that it is ethically wrong to demand a woman to keep the pregnancy which she does not want and she should have the right to end the pregnancy.
04:11: And there is a sense in which both sides have varying degrees.
04:16: Not all pro-life advocates would say abortion is always wrong.
04:23: Most pro-life advocates say there are some extreme cases where they would allow for an abortion, such as rape or incest.
04:32: In fact, I would argue that you probably have not heard of any legislation that has tried to be passed in the last few years regarding abortion that did not include some form of exception, generally in the case of either rape or incest or some kind of genetic abnormality.
04:53: Almost every pro-life person, and again, I'm not saying every, I said almost.
05:01: So we're going to get to the...
05:03: I see the eyes already beginning to cross.
05:06: Hang with me.
05:08: I'm stating truth and facts as it is, not as it should be.
05:12: But in almost every case, even people who say they're pro-life will at some point bend and say, well, in that case, it would be allowed.
05:23: Likewise, pro-choice advocates would say there is a point where abortion should no longer be an option, such as the case if the baby can survive outside the womb.
05:33: A lot of pro-choice advocates would say, well, that's the point at which it shouldn't be allowed.
05:37: Now that's beginning to get less and less as more radical forms of pro...
05:44: And they're not even really using the pro-choice moniker as much anymore.
05:47: Now it's just simply pro-abortion and we've got abortion songs and we've got abortion literature that's pro-abortion.
05:56: And so it's actually becoming more aggressively pro-abortion, but we see that.
06:02: But the reason why I'm bringing this up is because just because someone says I am pro-life or someone says I am pro-choice, does not mean that they have a monolithic or ubiquitous position upon which they stand.
06:18: There is differences in both camps depending on who you talk to.
06:26: There are those who say abortion should never be allowed for any reason and there are those who say abortion should be allowed at any time for any reason up to and even after birth.
06:37: There are people who believe that a child born, if it's unwanted, could be killed even if it comes out of the birth canal alive.
06:45: Even though that's typically referred to as homicide, there are those who believe that the baby outside the womb is still worthy of death if the mother doesn't want it.
06:55: So it can become aggressively pro-abortion in that regard.
07:00: But I want you to notice very quickly, just before we even really dig deep, is the use of language.
07:08: The side which favors abortion has not gone by the term pro-abortion.
07:15: For the last 40 years, they have used the term pro-choice.
07:22: Why would they use the term choice? Well, because abortion, even today for most people, has a negative connotation.
07:35: But the word choice has a very positive and, might I add, a very American connotation.
07:45: What is more American than the ability to choose? What is more American than the ability to have the freedom to choose? Therefore, the idea that you are pro-life, they will say, no, no, you're not pro-life, you're anti-choice.
08:06: And therefore anti-American.
08:12: It has been rightfully said that the one who defines the terms wins the argument.
08:20: And that's what that is.
08:22: It's an attempt to define the terms so to win the argument.
08:28: Because nobody wants to be anti-choice.
08:35: What are the arguments for the pro-choice side? Well, I have taken to compiling some of their arguments.
08:45: And I just want to say from the outset, I'm pretty strong on this issue.
08:52: And so my biases may come out at some point.
08:56: I really am trying to be honest and fair and genuine to at least try to see the other perspective.
09:04: But this is a hard one for me.
09:07: So what I did was I went and I got quotes from pro-choice advocates stating their positions so as to at least allow them to speak for themselves.
09:18: I went to different places, but where I found some interesting were from MIT.
09:25: Are you familiar with MIT? A very prestigious school.
09:31: This is their pro-choice campus group.
09:35: And I pulled down some quotes from some of their students.
09:41: Now, the first one is an undergraduate student in chemistry.
09:45: So not a dummy as far as somebody is at MIT is an undergraduate student of chemistry.
09:55: This is somebody who at least should be articulate.
09:59: So I'm going to allow this person to speak.
10:02: Quote, I am pro-choice because I don't think that there is any reason why a woman should have to face all the consequences from something she did not do alone.
10:11: If a guy can get a woman pregnant and then run away, there's no reason why she should be the one responsible for everything.
10:19: Having more options puts a woman on more equal footing with men instead of being someone of whom they can take advantage.
10:26: In addition, I believe that it is best for a child to not be born at all than to be born hated to a mother who is forced to have him because she had no choice and not because she wants the child.
10:44: So consider the foundations of the argument.
10:47: One, I believe this is a girl.
10:50: If I remember correctly, this is a young lady.
10:53: I didn't write their names down.
10:54: I just put what their school, what their study was in.
11:00: But I believe this was a young lady.
11:01: And her argument essentially is that the man can abandon his responsibility in the pregnancy.
11:09: We know this does happen.
11:11: No one would disagree that men impregnate women.
11:14: And what's amazing is a man can impregnate 10 women at a time or more.
11:20: He can have sexual encounters every day for 30 days and get every one of those women pregnant and not give any responsibility to any of them.
11:28: He could leave every one of them, leave the state, run away.
11:33: Now, they could all try to chase after him for child support, but we know how difficult that can be sometimes.
11:40: But you understand what I'm saying.
11:42: It's possible that a man could just be out to impregnate and could very well do that.
11:50: So it isn't as if she's speaking of something that isn't true.
11:53: There are men who impregnate women and then abandon them, and oftentimes that's a reality that has to be considered.
12:03: Now, I am not saying that I accept that as a reason for abortion.
12:06: I'm simply saying let's consider what she's saying.
12:10: She's saying that that gives the right to abortion in her mind.
12:16: And she also went on to say that if the child was going to be born hated, it would be better to not be born.
12:25: Now, I have an even harder time justifying any type of thinking like that, but that is her argument.
12:32: So we're just listening to the arguments at this point, not engaging with them.
12:36: We're just hearing them.
12:38: I'll read another one.
12:40: This is a graduate student, so someone who is at the master's level or higher, in biology.
12:48: The single most important factor for women's advancement in society is our ability to control our fertility.
12:55: I'm pretty sure this one was a woman because she said our, and I'm only basing, you know, sounds as if.
13:02: Without that, we are trapped by the realities of pregnancy, childbirth, and childrearing.
13:07: Rather than a privilege and a gift, these aspects of being female become an unbearable burden.
13:13: Attempts to limit women's reproductive freedom are no more than a gambit to keep women in their place, a gambit in the guise of religious moralism.
13:23: True, the guise can run deep, and many so-called pro-lifers genuinely believe that killing a fetus is equivalent to killing a human being, but such religious feeling has no place in the public policies of a country that claims to separate church and state.
13:37: In the words of Supreme Court Justice O'Connor, Kennedy, and Souter, quote, at the heart of liberty is the right to define one's own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life, end quote.
13:51: No one wants to plan an abortion, but the best way to prevent abortions is to prevent unwanted pregnancies through sex education, improved distribution of birth control, and general empowerment of women to shape our own individual lives.
14:06: All right, so that one was a little more pointed, used a little bit more graphic language, saying women are shackled and bound, almost as in a slavery condition, and even quoted three Supreme Court Justices about what it means to have the ability to choose one's own concept of existence, of meaning, and of the universe.
14:37: I will say this, as much as I disagree with all of this, there's one point that I want to really just simply mention.
14:44: She says no one wants to plan an abortion.
14:47: It's actually not true.
14:49: There are people who now have been, it's been on the news, it's been in several articles, that there are people who are going and getting pregnant and having abortions on purpose.
15:02: And I'm not exaggerating.
15:04: This isn't something I read in the Inquirer.
15:08: What it is is it's the newest line of sexual fetish, because once a woman is pregnant, according to the article that I read that I really wish I hadn't, she becomes more sexually active and now is no longer able to get pregnant or have a menstrual cycle, and therefore they have unwanted sexual time for several months, and then she goes and has an abortion.
15:34: It's the sickest thing I've ever heard, and I'm sorry to even have to share it with you.
15:38: I'm glad we're all adults and are mature enough to talk about things like this.
15:41: So when she says no one wants an abortion, I say, well, some people are nuts.
15:47: Be careful with that universal negative.
15:49: No one.
15:51: It's pretty crazy.
15:54: I think that's enough.
15:56: I don't think I need to read any more.
15:58: I have more, but I'm good.
16:00: We've heard two arguments from two what I would consider to be somewhat well-educated young women.
16:08: I want to quote for you from the BBC.
16:11: Now you know what the BBC is, the British Broadcasting Company.
16:15: This is from their ethics guide.
16:18: This is something they publish, and their ethics guide is in favor of abortion, and this is their reasoning why.
16:25: Number one, women have a moral right to decide what to do with their bodies.
16:30: Number two, the right to abortion is vital for gender equality.
16:34: Number three, the right to abortion is vital for individual women to achieve their full potential.
16:40: Number four, banning abortion puts women at risk by forcing them to use illegal abortionists.
16:47: And number five, the right to abortion should be part of a portfolio of pregnancy rights that enables women to make a truly free choice whether to end a pregnancy.
17:00: These arguments, these five, remind us that even in the abortion debate, we should regard women as a person and not just a container for a fetus.
17:12: I'm still reading, by the way.
17:13: I'm not making my own commentary.
17:15: I'm reading, continuing, just so you know.
17:18: We should therefore give great consideration to her rights and needs as well as those of the unborn.
17:23: Women's rights activists do not take a casual or callous attitude toward the fetus.
17:29: The opposite is usually true, and most of them acknowledge that choosing an abortion is usually a case of choosing the least bad of several bad courses of action.
17:39: Now, just for a second, I want to take issue with that last part.
17:42: Why is it bad? Because they just said it.
17:47: I just read the BBC's statement, right? And the last paragraph is, it's the least bad of many bad options.
17:53: But why is it bad? According to them, if they're saying it must be a right and it must be allowed, then why is it bad? I've heard abortion compared to the removing of a tumor or the removing of any number of types of cells inside of your body that may become aberrant.
18:12: And so if that's all it is, then it's not bad.
18:16: So they've sort of tipped their hat in this argument because they've said it should be allowed, but it's still bad.
18:24: Do you remember when Bill Clinton was in office? He said abortion should be three things.
18:28: What were they? Safe.
18:35: Well, it was safe.
18:41: The second one means cheap, but I can't think of the word.
18:44: Affordable.
18:46: Safe, affordable, and rare.
18:50: That was the three words.
18:51: It was safe, affordable, and rare was the argument from the Clintons during their 90s administration.
18:59: And here's the issue.
19:01: Why rare if it's not bad? If there's nothing wrong with it, why does it matter if it's rare or not? So even in that statement, safe, affordable, and rare, there is some implicit acknowledgement that it is bad because no one would say that cancer treatment should be safe, affordable, and rare unless we're saying that cancer should be rare, and maybe that's the argument that's being made, but I don't think it is.
19:37: I think what they're saying is it's a last resort, rare.
19:41: But why if it's not bad? So those are some of the pro-choice arguments, and I'm not going to, but I would like to go take a shower after having made them.
19:57: Now, again, I have a bias and I have no shame in it.
20:01: There will be times where I have no shame in saying I think this is a complete farce, and all of the arguments I've given you so far are easily responded to, and we are going to try to respond to some of them as we go tonight.
20:14: But I want to now present to you what is typically known as the pro-life position.
20:20: Notice I haven't yet said what is the biblical position because that's still coming because the pro-life position tends to be more political than biblical.
20:30: In fact, we have had pro-life groups come to the church that said, well, we're willing to stand for life, but we're not willing to use the Bible.
20:39: Well, we don't really want to partner with you then, and we've said that.
20:44: If we're not willing to use the scripture upon which to stand, we're not going to partner with your organization.
20:49: We've had people get upset with us for that, but we start our argument with the scripture.
20:55: But again, having said that, I'm sort of jumping ahead of myself.
20:58: We've looked at the pro-choice arguments, at least a few.
21:01: I know there's a thousand more, but I think the main ones we've sort of checked off.
21:07: Women should have the right to choose, especially in the case where it's either a financial, emotional, or physical distress situation.
21:17: And it limits a woman's ability to be successful because it creates for her a distress that it doesn't create for a man in causing her not only to have to have the baby, but also to have to deal with it once it's born, either through adoption or rearing the child herself.
21:36: So we understand what the arguments are.
21:39: Now for the pro-life arguments.
21:41: And again, when I say the pro-life arguments, I am speaking from more of the political pro-life.
21:46: Pro-life advocates usually base their argument on personhood, the personhood of the child in the womb.
21:55: If the child is a person, then all rights to personhood ought to be maintained, including the right, the most fundamental right, the right to life.
22:07: The problem is the concept of personhood is not easy to define.
22:14: What makes someone a person? Someone will say, well, personhood is based on sentience.
22:19: So are you not a person if you're in a coma? Because you're sentient, but you're not when you're in a coma.
22:26: So are you not a person anymore? I mean, again, this argument can really begin to fall apart.
22:31: How do you really understand personhood? When does personhood begin? And is life and personhood the same thing? Often pro-choice arguments are attempted to be based on scientifically quantifiable data.
22:57: Scientific advances, particularly in the past century, have given large volumes of information that are used by pro-life advocates to conclude when life begins.
23:07: So the whole idea behind most of what you hear from the pro-life advocates are things like this.
23:13: Within 18 to 25 days, there's a heartbeat.
23:16: You heard that.
23:17: That's true.
23:18: Within eight weeks, there's brainwaves and fingerprints.
23:22: That's true.
23:24: Within 12 to 13 weeks, the fetus is sucking his thumb and recoiling from pain.
23:29: That's true.
23:30: All of the genetic information, the entire genetic code that generates the particular characteristics of a human being is established at the very moment of conception.
23:39: That's true.
23:44: But none of that defines a person.
23:50: It just says it's a life.
23:54: It is a life, a person.
23:57: That's the argument that the politicians are trying to make.
24:03: And where it becomes a real issue is the pro-choice side will say, yes, it has all of these things, but that doesn't make it a person.
24:14: How do you define personhood? Remember what I said earlier? He who defines the terms wins the debate.
24:25: How do we define what is and what is not a person? This is really where the issue lies.
24:34: Because if we believe that personhood begins at conception, because no one really denies that life begins at conception because that's scientifically quantifiable.
24:45: We know what life is.
24:46: We know when it starts, and we know how it starts, and we can actually see it under microscopic conditions starting.
24:53: But does that make it person? That's the question, and that's the argument.
25:01: How many of you have ever seen the film The Silent Scream? Okay.
25:08: I would encourage you, if you have the stomach for it, to look it up.
25:15: It is not, and it's really, I only tell you to look it up because you might not even find it.
25:24: I have watched it.
25:27: I did weep while watching it.
25:31: The Silent Scream is a film.
25:37: It is not altered.
25:41: It is not CGI.
25:44: It is actually a film which is an abortion taking place under a sonogram.
25:59: So you can see it happening.
26:04: And the baby recoils in pain, seeks to move out of the way of the device that's doing the action, and it is proof that babies feel pain and have the wherewithal to try to protect themselves.
26:36: But does that make them person? Now, again, I would argue yes, but this is the question, right? The question is, what is personhood? What does it mean? If the ability to want to protect oneself is not at least a part of personhood, I don't really even know how we would define it.
26:56: And that's what we see.
26:58: And that movie is considered propaganda by the pro-choice side because it is so damning to their position.
27:07: It is a legitimate film, though.
27:09: Look it up.
27:10: Research it.
27:11: And if I'm wrong, you tell me.
27:13: But I've done the research and I've seen it is what it is.
27:19: And it is used to demonstrate that the babies can feel pain.
27:29: One of the arguments that is often made by the pro-life side is known as SLED.
27:44: SLED is an acronym.
27:47: How many of you know this? You've never heard of this? Okay.
27:53: SLED is an acronym which is usually taught to pro-life advocates as a way to try to make the argument for the personhood of the child in the womb.
28:11: SLED stands for, number one, size.
28:13: Here's the argument.
28:22: Does the size of a person make them more or less of a person? No.
28:31: A child is just as much a person as an adult.
28:34: A small person is just as much a person as a large person.
28:39: And so we would never use size to determine a person's personhood.
28:45: Therefore, a child in the womb, though they are much smaller, maintain all of the critical parts of what it means to be human.
28:56: Therefore, their size cannot make them less of a person.
29:00: So that's the first argument.
29:02: The second is level of development.
29:11: Level of development, that is to say, does a person's level of development make them more or less of a person? For instance, a 13-year-old girl is more developed than an 8-year-old girl, and a 20-year-old woman is more developed than a 13-year-old girl, and a 50-year-old woman is more developed than any of them.
29:38: Does their level of development add to or subtract from their personhood? The answer is no.
29:45: Therefore, they are persons.
29:47: Again, I think this is a pretty decent argument.
29:50: That's why I'm telling it to you.
29:51: But again, we're not using scripture yet.
29:54: This is all the political stuff.
29:58: The third one is environment.
30:07: Does a person's environment make them more or less of a person? Ask the question.
30:15: Let's consider it for a second.
30:18: If you are in a position where your life is very difficult and you can't make enough money to support yourself, you are poor and you don't have enough to eat, you don't have enough to drink, you are destitute, does that environment take away from your personhood? No, not at all.
30:42: In fact, we would say that your personhood, the dignity of personhood, would demand that such a person would receive aid and not their personhood removed.
30:54: But I want you to consider it for a moment.
30:57: Recently, a presidential...
31:01: I don't know if you call him a candidate.
31:02: He's a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination.
31:06: Bernie Sanders made the argument that we should encourage and even pay for abortions in countries where there are less facilities and less ability to provide for these children.
31:26: And therefore, because they're coming into a bad environment, they shouldn't live.
31:31: They should be aborted.
31:33: So at least they're consistent in that regard, even though I think such an argument is awful.
31:41: But you understand what I'm saying.
31:42: Environment doesn't make a person.
31:44: Good environment, bad environment, in the womb, doesn't matter.
31:48: Doesn't change personhood.
31:50: Environment doesn't change personhood.
31:51: The last one, and this is huge, is degree of dependency.
32:03: The degree of dependency.
32:07: And here's a good visual.
32:12: We've all had family members who have grown old, who have, in their aged condition, had to receive care when they were unable to care for themselves.
32:26: Maybe they were in hospice or in an ICU facility where they had to be fed intravenously, where they had to be given breathing through the use of a respirator to keep their self alive.
32:47: We would say they are tremendously dependent, would we not? And yet, would we say they're not persons? No, we would not.
32:57: In fact, the whole reason why we have invented the breathing machine, the whole reason why we have invented the feeding tube, the whole reason why we have invented all of these things to allow for such care is because we believe in the dignity of the person.
33:12: Therefore, degree of dependency cannot determine personhood.
33:20: Now go backwards into the womb.
33:25: In the womb is the most dependent a child will ever be.
33:29: But does that make them not a person? Simply because they are dependent.
33:36: And this is an argument you might hear.
33:38: Someone says, well, the baby is fully dependent on the mother, so the mother should have the choice to end the life of the baby.
33:47: And I raise my hand and I simply say, at what point did the baby stop being dependent upon the mother? The day it was born? No.
33:58: The second day? I got a 2-year-old that still wants mama every day.
34:03: I got a 4-year-old and a 6-year-old, and my 21-year-old still needs mama.
34:09: But the level of dependency has changed, thankfully.
34:13: But you understand, degree of dependency does not a person make.
34:18: So this is the...
34:19: Again, I'm not really saying this is bad at all.
34:22: It's good to know.
34:23: It's a nice little easy to remember set of statements.
34:27: But it's not Scripture, though.
34:30: This is simply a...
34:32: I hate to call it a worldly argument.
34:34: It's an argument from logic and reason.
34:38: And, hey, all truth is God's truth.
34:40: So it's okay if we can have a logical argument and you want to use this.
34:44: But I would just simply say this.
34:45: Don't use this apart from Scripture.
34:47: Don't replace Scripture with something like this.
34:50: Because Scripture is the foundation.
34:52: This is just...
34:54: If you want to argue what it means to be person, here's a good logical way to do that.
34:59: But now let's ask the question.
35:01: Is the Bible clear on this issue? Is the Bible clear on this issue? Because we're here to do Christian ethics, right? So far we've looked at pro-choice from the world's perspective.
35:12: We've looked at pro-life from the more political, worldly perspective.
35:15: Now we're going to ask the question, Is the Bible pro-life or is the Bible pro-choice? You may be surprised.
35:22: You may not be.
35:23: I don't know.
35:23: But you may be surprised to know that there are people who try to argue that the Bible is pro-choice.
35:34: Pete Buttigieg is a mayor who is also on the Democratic slate of people who are running for the Democratic nomination for president.
35:50: Has recently made the argument publicly that the Bible says that we are not alive until we take our first breath.
36:00: And therefore, children in the womb do not breathe.
36:05: And therefore, children in the womb are not alive from a biblical perspective.
36:15: Well, just for a second.
36:21: Again, I'm not going to advocate his position.
36:24: But let's at least try to understand his point.
36:27: He's going back to Genesis 2 where it says, Adam was formed from the dust of the ground and God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.
36:37: And therefore, what constitutes life is breath.
36:43: Now I think the Greek word for that is baloney.
36:45: And you all know how I feel about that Greek word baloney.
36:50: That's what it is.
36:51: But that's his argument.
36:53: At least that's one person attempting.
36:56: Now this guy, I don't know how much you know about Pete Buttigieg and I don't want to get into his life.
37:01: But he's got a lot of other issues.
37:04: Biblically and personally speaking.
37:07: But the point of the matter is, he makes the argument that breath is the beginning of life because babies don't take a breath until they're born.
37:15: Therefore a child should be able to be aborted because they are not true life up until the moment they take their first breath.
37:25: Partial birth abortion is that very thing.
37:28: The child is big enough to survive outside of the womb.
37:33: So the baby is forced into a preemptive labor.
37:38: The arms and legs are brought out but the head remains inside the womb where a pair of forceps are introduced into the cervix and snaps the spinal cord of the child before it can be removed and take its first breath.
37:57: And that would be what he's advocating by saying without a breath, there's no life.
38:07: Another argument that seeks to make a biblical argument.
38:11: I have a hard time.
38:13: I have stomach problems just doing this.
38:18: Another argument that seeks to make this point is that babies in Scripture are not seen as people but property.
38:27: This one I'll invite you to open your Bibles and look at because this is a pretty creative one, if I should say so myself.
38:34: This is in Exodus 21, verse 22.
38:41: It's eisegetical.
38:42: It's also, there's an issue of interpretation here that I'm going to explain because depending on how you translate one word, it does lay one side or the other.
38:58: But the idea that they argue is that Exodus 21, 22-25 proves that babies in the womb are not considered people but they're considered property, therefore they're not life, they're not persons.
39:09: So let's read the text.
39:10: Exodus 21, 22 says, When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman so that her children come out, but there is no harm, the one who hit her shall surely be fined, as the woman's husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine.
39:26: But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
39:36: So here's the argument they make.
39:38: In verse 22, it says, When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman so that her children come out, that word children come out could be translated miscarriage.
39:49: And in some Bibles it is translated miscarriage.
39:53: So now hear it that way.
39:55: When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman so that she miscarries, but there is no harm, and in that sense it would be to her, the one who hit her shall surely be fined, as the husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine.
40:11: So here's the argument.
40:13: The baby in that sense dies, and yet there's no punishment except a fine, and therefore the baby is a piece of property while it's in the womb, not a person.
40:28: Now here's the response, if you'd like a response to that.
40:32: The word translated child come out.
40:35: No word is to be translated outside of the context, and the word is not normally translated miscarry.
40:45: And there is another word which does mean miscarry that is not the word that is used here.
40:51: The word that is used here typically means simply to give birth, but in the sense of giving birth in distress.
41:00: So the idea is a premature birth.
41:04: But I believe based on the context, the baby is not dead, because it says there is no harm.
41:14: You have to interject, or as you said brother, you have to isogee the phrase no harm to her.
41:26: That's introducing something into the text that isn't in the text.
41:30: The text says no harm, and I think that it means no harm.
41:37: And in that sense it becomes an argument for the pro-life position, because what it's saying is if a woman is struck, and she gives premature birth, but the baby is okay, he still owes a fine.
41:53: But if somebody dies, if there is harm, whether it be to her or the baby, life for life.
42:07: And that's again, but you see now where it depends on how you translate the word, children come out in ESV, whether it should be translated, and hey if you want to take a job this week, an extra bit of work, I'm sure you'd love a little bit of extra work, go look up the word.
42:23: See where you come out on it.
42:24: I am fully convinced that the child is prematurely born, but is not dead, based on the context.
42:34: Yeah, exactly, he used the word prematurely, which is still, it's implied in the word, and I think that's a good way to translate it.
42:49: Oh yes, now, let's leave that there, because...
42:57: Or forget about it, just throw a grenade, you don't have to die.
43:03: the, my, I don't know, well, well, there's a lot to discuss in that, it's sort of personal for me, my first family doctor, that I ever remember going to as a child, it turned out later that he was an abortion doctor, and somebody did murder him, so, it kind of hits close to home, the first guy to ever give me a physical, was later killed, because he was an abortion doctor, and so, yeah, it do happen, the person who did take his life, felt justified in doing so, that's another conversation, and I really don't want to open the door to that, because that could lead, some place I don't really want to go.
43:50: I've got a quick question.
43:51: Yeah, please.
43:53: Where do most other countries, just kind of out of curiosity, where do most other countries stand on abortion? It varies widely, but there are new legislations that are coming out, and a lot of countries that used to forbid, because a lot of countries are Catholic, like Ireland and places like that, are governed a lot by their leaders that are Catholic, and therefore were anti-abortion, but are now allowing for it.
44:20: I believe I saw something, I was actually going to share an article this week, and I want to say it was in Australia, but I could be wrong, so forgive me if I am, but it has just introduced new abortion legislation, up to the point of birth, allowing for abortion up to, so it's always, it's just like America, it changes, even though the legislation in 1973 for the Roe v.
44:43: Wade, that's not where it ended.
44:46: There has been legislation and different things changing all along, and there are still places in America where it's very difficult, because the city councils have stood up and said, we're not going to allow this here.
44:56: It might be allowed by the Supreme Court, but we're not going to allow it in our city.
44:59: We're not going to allow them to have places to do it.
45:02: And I kind of believe that's the answer.
45:05: If you want to know from a political perspective, I believe that cities should be taking stands, and I believe the pastors should be leading the charge to say, we're not going to do it here, because that can happen, and it can happen in a legal way.
45:21: In this case, though, I have to talk to you about it later, because I don't want to diverge into this, but there are ways that cities, if cities can become sanctuary cities for people who are coming into this country illegal, then we can become sanctuary cities for babies in the womb.
45:35: That's the argument.
45:36: There are cities that are standing up against federal law and allowing themselves to not be under that jurisdiction and saying, we're going to take a stand on this.
45:46: Stands have been taken in other cities, and we could take that stand if we had the desire.
45:52: The problem is the desire is not there.
45:55: Honestly, if you think about it, though, you go back to 50, 60, 70 years ago, you go back to the time of the Nazi killing and the Holocaust.
46:11: What would have been the change if there would have been pastors and people who stood up and said, you know what, we're not going to have that happen in our city.
46:20: Now, they might have had to take up and actually fight, but things might have been different.
46:26: So I'm just saying, I get a little passionate about it, and forgive me if I sound like I'm really just, I know what you mean by federal and state law and those things, but there are cities that are doing it and they're being successful.
46:35: And so I think it's possible.
46:37: It's just not easy.
46:38: Nothing worthwhile ever is.
46:42: Might I continue just because of time? I have a few more things I want to say on this.
46:46: The last 30 minutes is going to be the second two parts because they're a lot shorter.
46:50: I knew I was going to spend the first hour on this.
46:57: The pro-life argument from a political position is one thing, but I think it's much easier and much more effective and much more correct for Christians to make their arguments from the Bible.
47:09: But where do we go to make our arguments? The first and most profound and easy is the prohibition against murder.
47:18: There is a prohibition against murder in the Old Covenant.
47:21: We've learned about the difference between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant.
47:24: There is a prohibition against murder in the New Covenant.
47:27: Jesus clearly expands on the prohibition of murder in Matthew 5.
47:34: We also have in the Scriptures a proclamation that within the womb God is doing something.
47:45: Psalm 139 verse 13 to 16 speaks of God's intricate work on the child while in the womb.
47:54: It says, You formed my inward parts.
47:57: You knitted me together in my mother's womb.
48:00: I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
48:03: Wonderful are your works.
48:04: My soul knows it very well.
48:06: My frame was not hidden from you when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
48:11: Your eyes saw my unformed substance.
48:13: In the book there were written every one of them, the days that were formed for me when as yet there were none of them.
48:20: Psalm 139 verse 13 to 16.
48:22: It simply speaks of the child in the womb as being under the care and creative power of God.
48:31: So I would say that every child is a creation of God.
48:36: Is it scientifically that egg meets sperm and those two things produce life? Yes, but none of this happens without the hand of Almighty God.
48:47: And so there is an argument to be made there.
48:50: It doesn't prove when life begins, neither does it prove personhood, but it does speak of God's intricate care in forming a baby in its mother's womb.
49:02: It also speaks of God having a relationship with the child prior to its birth, saying that before you were formed I knew you.
49:15: Jeremiah 1.5 is often cited.
49:18: I think that it's a good verse, but it could be that you could argue that it's limited to Jeremiah specifically because it's a prophecy regarding his life, but it speaks of him as a prophet.
49:30: Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.
49:33: Before you were born I consecrated you and appointed you as a prophet to the nations.
49:37: One could argue that certainly Jeremiah's life in the womb was something that God saw as person and not just some other type of creature.
49:50: Here's one I really like to point to, and this is Luke 1.39-44.
49:56: Mary has gone to visit her cousin Elizabeth.
50:01: Jesus is in Mary's womb.
50:03: John the Baptist...
50:05: At that point he would just be John, but John the baby was still in the womb.
50:12: And I want you to hear this real quick.
50:15: In those days Mary rose and went with haste into the hill country to a town in Judah.
50:20: And she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.
50:24: And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb.
50:30: And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, Blessed are you among women! Blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leapt for joy.
50:55: So what we see is the baby in the womb experiencing an emotion.
51:04: What is more personal than the ability to experience an emotion? So if we're arguing for personhood, we see personhood in John the baby in the womb.
51:22: By the way, from a linguistic point of view, in Hebrew there is no difference between the word baby in the womb and the word baby out of the womb.
51:31: In Greek there is no difference between the word baby in the womb and the word baby out of the womb.
51:38: And in Latin, the word fetus means small child.
51:43: And that's the word that is normally associated with the child in the womb.
51:49: It does not mean a mass of cells.
51:52: It means a small child.
51:56: And by the way, as far as I understand it, that is what we are saying when a person says fetus.
52:06: We're saying child.
52:08: But I don't like the word fetus.
52:11: Because it's been adapted and adopted by the pro-choice movement to try to separate personhood from the child.
52:20: So I simply say the child in the womb or the baby.
52:25: So the Bible indicates three things that we need to consider.
52:27: Number one, a baby in the womb is worthy of legal protection.
52:31: That's the Exodus 21 passage.
52:33: The baby in the womb is a special creation of God.
52:36: That's the Psalm 139 passage.
52:38: And the baby in the womb is capable of feelings.
52:41: That's the Luke 1 passage.
52:44: Therefore, it would follow that the Bible takes the position which favors the protection of a child in the womb which is consistent with the pro-life position.
52:53: But not because of the pro-life position, but because of Scripture.
52:58: Now, there are ethical dilemmas, ones that unfortunately we will not get to fully embrace in conversation.
53:05: But here are a few that do come up.
53:09: And I'm actually going to give you homework this week.
53:14: Basically what your homework is this week is at the end of the night I'm going to give you a piece of paper that has five ethical dilemmas on it.
53:21: Some of them involve abortion.
53:23: You get to choose one and write a short response how you would answer this issue if you were faced with it.
53:29: And you can do this in lieu of the briefing.
53:32: I prefer you do both, but I understand some of you it's a time issue and you can only devote a certain amount of time.
53:37: So if you have to do one or the other, do this.
53:39: If you can do both, do both.
53:41: But here's a few of the things.
53:43: This isn't on the sheet.
53:44: We're going to read them later.
53:45: They're a little bit more intensive.
53:48: But the questions of what about rape, what about incest, what about when it's required to save the mother's life, what about the woman's health, what about a deformed fetus, what about the fetus having medical conditions.
53:59: All of these questions are answered, I believe, in the question of is the child a person or not.
54:07: Because the answer is if the child is a person, then if rape is involved, which is horrible, it doesn't take away from the personhood of the child.
54:22: If incest is involved, it doesn't take away from the personhood of the child.
54:26: If a child is going to be born with an abnormality that is like Down syndrome or something else.
54:37: And by the way, just so you understand, children with Down syndrome in America, since they have the ability now to determine that prior to birth, I think the number is 67 percent of children who are diagnosed with Down syndrome are aborted.
54:50: In Iceland, it's 85 percent.
54:53: And there's one country that has 100 percent abortion rate.
54:58: Every child diagnosed with Down syndrome is aborted.
55:00: They no longer have Down syndrome people in their country.
55:09: Yeah, that's what they argue.
55:15: So, this was not fun.
55:20: But this is the issue.
55:21: These are the issues we face.
55:22: I think the Bible is clear on this.
55:24: I think where the real sticking points come in for a lot of people is the what-ifs.
55:31: But again, if the issue is a person.
55:33: My answer to the what-if question is always this.
55:35: If the child were one year old, would we be having this question? People say, what if they're going to be born into a bad house? If the child was one year old, would you kill it because it was in a bad house? If the child was conceived and raped, would you kill it if it was one year old? Does being less than one year old make it less of a person? Does being less than a day old make it less than a person? I mean, it really does come down to a simple question, but it's not always an easy answer.
56:10: All right, so we're going to take our break.
56:12: And then we'll come back and look at the last two.
56:14: How about a seven-minute break? Because I really got a lot to say about these other two things.
56:21: There's an ethics guide.
56:27: All right, ladies and gentlemen, let's switch gears.
56:35: As we have already noted, I put something on your book there.
56:42: Travis and J.P.
56:45: As we've already, in our conversation during the break, it was brought up that the abortion issue is secondary to the issue of how children are made.
56:56: That was sort of what you were saying, right? It's secondary to what causes the abortion is children coming in as a result of sexual intercourse.
57:06: And so this next part is sort of going to piggyback on that.
57:08: We're going to talk about the subject of reproduction.
57:13: Closely related to the abortion debate is the question of reproductive rights.
57:18: Especially in the last several decades, opportunities for all kinds of new methods for both assisting and halting reproduction have been created.
57:27: Each of them come with their own particular ethical questions.
57:31: The long-held position of Roman Catholicism is this.
57:36: All birth control methods are sinful.
57:42: This is from Catholic.com.
57:46: In 1968, Pope Paul VI issued a landmark encyclical letter, Humanae Vitae, which is Latin for human life, which reemphasized the church's constant teaching that it is always intrinsically wrong to use contraception to prevent new human beings from coming into existence.
58:04: This includes sterilization condoms, other barrier methods, spermicides, coitus interruptus, the pill, and all other such methods.
58:15: That's, end quote, that is part of his encyclical.
58:20: What few realize is that Protestants basically agreed to that same thing up until about 1930.
58:28: So it has been the consistent teaching since the Reformation, even among Protestants, that any form of birth control was not in the will of God.
58:41: And since 1930, the majority of Protestant churches have relented that prohibition, and most would allow today for at least some form of birth control, whether it be a physical or pill form of birth control.
59:00: Most see the biggest difference between abortion and contraception as the moment life begins.
59:08: If life does not begin until conception, then the removal of the ability from the sperm and the egg coming together to form the life, then no life is lost.
59:21: Therefore, that is why most Protestants take the position that it's okay to have birth control of some sort because what it's doing is it is stopping the process of life forming.
59:33: Therefore, it is not the same as abortion.
59:38: However, there are more and more Protestants who are now questioning the biblical allowance for contraception.
59:50: I want to encourage you to look up an article.
59:52: I didn't print this one for you because it was a little too long.
59:56: And it is by our favorite briefing announcer, Dr.
59:59: Albert Moeller.
01:00:00: And the title of the article is, Can Christians Use Birth Control? My answer to you is listen to what he has to say, read it, and I will tell you it's not something that I'm going to try to justify either way.
01:00:22: But I'll simply add this.
01:00:29: It is something that as a pastor, I would have a very difficult time telling a family that they could not use any form of birth control, especially in the case where a person is physically, pregnancy would make them physically ill or something like that and they're using birth control to keep that from happening.
01:00:54: I would have difficulty telling them that it was a sin to use birth control.
01:00:58: However, as a Reformed theologian, I do believe in the sovereignty of God over every area of life, including the creation of life.
01:01:07: So I do have some issues personally.
01:01:09: And I'm just sharing this with you.
01:01:11: And you can feel free to chime in if you want.
01:01:13: But personally, I have issues with us always feeling like we have the right to take matters into our own hands.
01:01:19: And that's what it feels like to me is that we just seem to be taking matters into our own hands.
01:01:24: And again, I'm sharing a personal thought with you.
01:01:26: I'm not telling you what to think or how to think.
01:01:28: I'm just telling you what I think.
01:01:29: I think that it would be wrong of me to tell somebody it was a sin for them.
01:01:34: But it is difficult for me to come to that conclusion.
01:01:39: I have five children now.
01:01:42: And my wife and I don't know what the Lord has planned for us.
01:01:46: I'll tell you what, though.
01:01:48: Five is a lot.
01:01:51: And so.
01:01:53: Huh? What's that? But I'm just sharing with you.
01:02:01: I guess I'm just trying to be honest and say even on issues like this, it's a difficult.
01:02:05: I find it difficult to come down strongly and say this is absolutely a sin or absolutely not a sin.
01:02:12: I do tend to respect at least in a sense the Roman Catholic Church for taking a stand because this is not an easy stand to take.
01:02:21: It's not an easy stand to take.
01:02:22: Now, again, I don't often say nice things about Roman Catholics because I have a lot of issues with their theology.
01:02:28: But at least they're taking a position and they're taking a stand.
01:02:33: Whether we agree with it or not, it's, you know, that's another issue.
01:02:36: But along with contraception, there are a lot of other questions that arise.
01:02:43: And these are the questions regarding reproductive technologies.
01:02:48: Because these have really only become ethical issues in the last 50, 100 years.
01:02:53: These were not issues for our American forefathers.
01:02:56: These were not issues for our early church fathers.
01:02:59: These were not issues that were faced by the people of biblical times.
01:03:03: These are only really things that have been faced by the last 50 to 100 years.
01:03:08: And that are things like sperm donation.
01:03:12: Is that ethical or not? I'm not asking you to answer.
01:03:15: I'm just saying these are questions, right? Is it ethical for a man to provide for a woman who can't be impregnated by her husband because he's unable to do that? Egg donation.
01:03:30: Surrogate motherhood.
01:03:31: I know a pastor who, I don't know him personally, I know of a pastor whose wife could not carry a child.
01:03:41: And therefore they had a friend who offered to carry the child in her womb using the egg and the sperm of the husband and the wife that was placed there artificially.
01:03:55: To me it sort of really does dive quickly into the whole Hagar situation with Abraham.
01:04:03: It makes me go back to that as the only example I can think of from a biblical perspective.
01:04:07: And that did not end well.
01:04:12: Yeah, absolutely.
01:04:17: To circumvent the promise of God, which does play into it.
01:04:21: There's also the issue of what is known as IVF.
01:04:24: And IVF is in vitro fertilization.
01:04:28: And where IVF becomes a real issue is that it creates many living embryos.
01:04:36: Remember what I talked about earlier with the embryos being a lot of them having been created in the laboratory? And then some of them are introduced into the womb.
01:04:48: Those that are introduced, only one might make it.
01:04:51: And the rest are systematically destroyed.
01:04:56: Are we creating life and destroying life? That's an ethical question.
01:05:03: And if so, is this something that should be supported? Most pro-life advocates do not advocate for stem cell research for what is known as embryonic stem cell research.
01:05:19: Because the embryo has to be created by the joining of the egg and the sperm, thus creating life.
01:05:26: And therefore most pro-life advocates would say, no, we don't create life simply to do experiments on it and then to have it killed.
01:05:35: Well, what is that if not in vitro fertilization? Are we not creating life and then having most of that life destroyed? This is a major ethical dilemma.
01:05:51: It could lead to many conversations.
01:05:53: And I do want to say this.
01:05:56: I said I have five children.
01:05:59: But my wife and I were married for 13 years before she ever got pregnant the first time.
01:06:08: Our first two children are adopted.
01:06:11: And we never knew if God was going to allow us to have a baby physically.
01:06:18: So I have had these things introduced into my life as options by physicians at various times.
01:06:28: And I can say from the perspective of a person who was more than anything desiring to be a father that they are very tempting.
01:06:39: And I can sympathize with people who might feel like those are the only options for them or the right option for them.
01:06:49: But my sympathies do not my ethic make.
01:06:53: My ethic should be based on Scripture and not just because I can understand why someone would feel that way.
01:06:59: Go back to the issue of abortion.
01:07:00: I can understand why a mother of a child who has been abandoned, whose parents are pressuring her, I can understand why she feels the way she feels.
01:07:09: It doesn't make it right.
01:07:13: So I do encourage you to read the study that I handed you.
01:07:17: That goes further into the issue of IVF and the issue of surrogacy.
01:07:23: And if you did happen to get the book that I recommended from Dr.
01:07:28: Ray, Scott Ray, the ethics book, he goes a little deeper into the IVF issue.
01:07:34: Again, we could discuss it to death.
01:07:36: We could beat it to death.
01:07:37: But I'm just bringing it up.
01:07:38: It is an ethical issue that Christians have to deal with.
01:07:40: And as a pastor, and as a Christian, I say as a pastor I have to deal with it because people come to me and ask me.
01:07:47: And they want my counsel.
01:07:49: But they may come to you as well.
01:07:51: Somebody may see you as a person who is a mature Christian, and they may come to you and say, what do you know about this? Do you think that it's right for a Christian to do this? You ought to have at least enough knowledge of it to be able to provide them with a sound answer or at least point them to someone who can.
01:08:09: And part of this class is just introducing you to ethical dilemmas.
01:08:13: What are some of the things we have to face as believers? And where do we go for our answer? The scripture.
01:08:17: I think the surrogacy thing, I think the closest we get to that is the Abraham and Sarah situation.
01:08:22: Some of these are so mechanically involved that there is no biblical basis for it outside of the issue.
01:08:28: If someone says, well, we're going to use sperm donation to allow a lesbian couple to get pregnant, well, we have another issue there.
01:08:36: We can talk about the issue of whether or not lesbian couples should even be a couple and married and all those things.
01:08:40: So oftentimes it builds on to the ethical dilemma other questions.
01:08:46: But that's what's being raised.
01:08:49: All right, let's look at genetics, and that will be our final for tonight.
01:08:54: With the rise of the ability to manipulate human genetics, newer and sometimes frightening ethical dilemmas seem to be coming onto the horizon, and some are already here.
01:09:07: I want to read a quote to you from bioethics.com.
01:09:12: Completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003 provided a rough draft of the human genetic code, and more details are added almost daily.
01:09:22: Current research is aimed at two major goals.
01:09:24: Number one, predicting and diagnosing disease, and number two, medical treatments.
01:09:29: There are deep ethical implications to all of this.
01:09:31: The manipulation of our own nature may seem to break certain traditional limits.
01:09:37: There is a sense of uneasiness about the process and concerns about altering human nature itself.
01:09:43: The purpose of this article, and this is an article I got it from, is simply to provide conceptual clarity about these complex and often technical issues without delving into the ethical arguments themselves.
01:09:53: But you notice what they say in this paragraph.
01:09:56: This is going to press against traditional limits because we are altering human nature.
01:10:02: By altering genetics, we are altering some of what makes us human.
01:10:08: For instance, how many of you have heard of the concept of designer children? A designer child, that one was designed by God.
01:10:33: And he is, that's my boy.
01:10:37: He loves his mama.
01:10:42: A designer child is a baby genetically engineered in vitro for specifically selected traits which can vary from lowered disease risk to gender selection.
01:10:53: Before the advent of genetic engineering and in vitro fertilization, designer babies were primarily an idea of science fiction.
01:11:01: However, with rapid advancement of technology before and after the turn of the 21st century, designer babies are an increasingly real possibility.
01:11:08: As a result, designer babies have become an important topic in bioethic debate.
01:11:14: In 2004, the term designer baby even became an official entry in the Oxford English Dictionary.
01:11:20: Designer babies represent an area within embryology that has not yet become a practical reality but nonetheless draws out ethical concerns about whether or not it will become necessary to implement limitations regarding designer babies in the future.
01:11:32: What if you could make your baby have blonde hair? And you thought that mattered.
01:11:38: What if you could make sure he never loses his hair and becomes bald? What if you could make sure he never...
01:11:44: Sorry, brother.
01:11:45: But he could have a sweet beard.
01:11:50: Like he's born with that great facial mane.
01:11:57: Oh, yeah, that's it.
01:12:01: He comes out with a cigar.
01:12:04: He had a beard with a cigar.
01:12:08: And a little pot belly.
01:12:11: But you understand, right? I mean, this is the reality.
01:12:14: But what is it...
01:12:16: You know, we talked earlier about children that are being aborted specifically because of abnormalities such as Down's.
01:12:21: What is that if not an attempt to try to create the baby of your choice? So it's already happening.
01:12:28: It's just not...
01:12:29: We're not yet able to create blue eyes and blonde hair.
01:12:33: Yet it's coming.
01:12:34: I think we'd be naive.
01:12:39: Oh, no, absolutely.
01:12:40: I don't have the statistics on that, but I'm sure it's true.
01:12:44: In fact, in China it was true.
01:12:46: Because in China you could only have one child at one point.
01:12:50: I think it's changed now, but when there was only one child, if it was going to be a girl, they would abort it because it wouldn't be able to carry on the family legacy and the line and all those things.
01:12:57: And that's why there's more male children in China than there are female children.
01:13:03: It's a huge problem.
01:13:04: So, again, what is that if not a designer baby idea? I want to introduce another idea.
01:13:14: And some of you, if you've ever been pregnant, which wouldn't be the guys, but if you ladies have been pregnant within the last 15 or 20 years, you were probably subjected to prenatal genetic testing.
01:13:28: Prenatal genetic testing is done regularly now to discover chromosomal abnormalities.
01:13:37: Some would say this is wonderful because it prepares the parents for any serious health concerns the child may have.
01:13:44: But where the ethical issue arises is often in the response.
01:13:48: If a child is going to be born with the defect, parents are often faced with the choice and the encouragement by the physician to end the child in the womb, to end the child's life in the womb.
01:14:03: And this is where I said this earlier.
01:14:05: I actually have the number written here.
01:14:06: According to a 2006 article in the New York Times, the United States has estimated 67% of fetuses with Down syndrome are aborted.
01:14:15: In Iceland, it's 85%.
01:14:19: And I'll read it.
01:14:23: In Iceland, upward of 85% of pregnant women opt for prenatal testing, which has produced a Down syndrome elimination rate approaching 100%.
01:14:32: In 2009, Iceland only had three babies born with Down syndrome.
01:14:44: So all this ties together, right? Life ethics.
01:14:48: We live in a world where these ethical dilemmas are associated with life and its beginnings, and they're becoming increasingly difficult to navigate.
01:14:56: Sometimes we opt for simple answers when situations are actually more complex than we want to admit.
01:15:04: And as Christians, we have a biblical mandate to respect and protect human life as the greatest creation of God, the only one that bears His image.
01:15:14: But that still doesn't always make the answers easy when we're faced with them.
01:15:19: I have five ethical issues.
01:15:26: As I said earlier, here's your homework for this week.
01:15:30: You can choose not to do the briefing paragraph.
01:15:35: And by the way, it's really only supposed to be a paragraph.
01:15:37: I've been getting a lot of pages.
01:15:39: I'm looking at you, Richard.
01:15:41: Two pages this guy gives me.
01:15:44: I understand.
01:15:45: Hey, I appreciate the commitment.
01:15:48: I'm just joking more than anything.
01:15:51: But this week, if you choose to do this rather than the briefing, it's all going in as one grade as your homework.
01:16:02: Just please make that decision.
01:16:07: I have five dilemmas for consideration.
01:16:10: And on the back, I went ahead and printed for you pro-life arguments and pro-choice arguments that I found at thoughtco.com.
01:16:19: I just thought these were helpful because it sort of outlines both sides.
01:16:23: So if you wanted to use these as part of your early research for your homework, that's fine.
01:16:30: Here are the five dilemmas that you're going to address.
01:16:34: The first one assumes that embryos that are fertilized constitute life.
01:16:40: This first one is based on an a priori assumption that you believe that when the egg and sperm come together, life is created.
01:16:47: Some people don't believe that, but the pro-life position typically holds that position.
01:16:50: Therefore, the fertilized embryo is life.
01:16:55: So number one, imagine you are in a room which is set on fire.
01:16:59: With you is a living one-year-old and a case of fertilized embryos.
01:17:04: You have to make the choice to save either the child or the embryos.
01:17:07: You cannot save both.
01:17:09: Given the pro-life argument that the embryo is a life and there are more than a few of them in the case, would you choose to save the embryos or choose to save the one-year-old child, and if one or the other, justify your answer? Okay.
01:17:28: Number two.
01:17:29: I don't think they get easier.
01:17:35: I wish we had extra time because there are answers to these, I believe.
01:17:40: I didn't give you anything that I didn't think that we would have ability to give a legitimate biblical answer to.
01:17:48: All right.
01:17:48: Number two.
01:17:49: If abortion is seen as murder, what should be the consequences for the doctor who performs the abortion and should the mother who seeks out the abortion suffer any consequences? Justify your answer.
01:18:04: Now I want to add a thought to this.
01:18:06: Oftentimes you will hear that the mothers are victims too.
01:18:12: If you take that position, I want you to justify it because I do not take that position.
01:18:18: But we could talk about it.
01:18:21: But please justify your answer.
01:18:22: If you take the position that the woman is a victim too, justify it, please, because I want to hear what you have to say.
01:18:29: Maybe you'll change my mind.
01:18:30: I'm good with that.
01:18:33: Number three.
01:18:35: Imagine a surrogate mother who donated her body to be used for a husband and wife to bear a child developed an emotional connection to the child during the pregnancy.
01:18:46: After the birth, she refused to follow through with giving the child to the mother and father even though they are the child's genetic parents.
01:18:54: Should she have any rights to the child? Justify your answer.
01:19:04: Number four.
01:19:08: C.
01:19:09: Everett Koop, former Surgeon General of the U.S.
01:19:12: and a leading pediatric surgeon, stated, In my 36 years in pediatric surgery, I have never known of one instance where a child had to be aborted to save the mother's life.
01:19:24: However, if it were concluded beyond reasonable doubt that ending a pregnancy was necessary to save the life of a mother, would it be justifiable in that limited circumstance? Justify your answer, and I want you, if you say no, to consider this as your wife.
01:19:43: Just for a second.
01:19:47: Okay, I'm not asking you to do it now.
01:19:50: I'm saying put yourself in the position of the person, make this call, and be as reasonable as you can and look at both sides.
01:20:00: I'm not saying you have to agree with both sides.
01:20:02: You have to at least examine it before you give your answer.
01:20:06: Last one.
01:20:09: This one's difficult.
01:20:16: This one's more difficult.
01:20:17: How about that? I love that.
01:20:25: Anencephaly is a severe form of spina bifida where a failure effusion of the neural tube in early pregnancy results in a baby developing without cerebral hemispheres, including the neocortex, which is responsible for cognition.
01:20:40: The remaining brain tissue is often exposed, i.e., not covered by bone or skin.
01:20:47: Those babies who survive to birth almost all die within hours or days after birth.
01:20:53: There is no curative treatment available, only symptomatic relief.
01:20:57: The Center for Disease Control estimates that each year about three pregnancies in every 10,000 in the United States will have anencephaly.
01:21:04: This means about 1,206 pregnancies are affected by these conditions each year in the United States.
01:21:11: Would this diagnosis allow for a mother to seek out the termination of pregnancy? Please be very kind in whatever we're going to add to this.
01:21:30: Euthanasia and suicide.
01:21:32: Yeah, somewhat.
01:21:35: It could blend to both because it's almost euthanasia at that point.
01:21:41: Assisted suicide.
01:21:45: Yeah, it is.
01:21:47: So really, it sort of does bleed over.
01:21:52: None of them are easy.
01:21:53: I think that last one is the one that is really, really difficult.
01:21:58: So tackle one, tackle them all, or go listen to the briefing.
01:22:04: But understand that as a pastor, none of these are beyond some of the things I've had to face that people have come to me and talked to me about.
01:22:14: And all of these I wrote.
01:22:16: I got some ideas from the book.
01:22:18: The anencephaly one was directly from the book because I wanted to write it out exactly as it was, and that's why there's such technical language there.
01:22:24: But for the most part, these are just things that either I've had to deal with or I've had people bring before me and say, what would you do? So consider them thoughtfully.
01:22:36: Spend time in the Word.
01:22:37: Spend time in prayer.
01:22:39: I'd love to hear your answers.
01:22:40: Sheet's up here.
01:22:41: God bless you.
01:22:41: Let's pray.
01:22:43: Father, thank you for this time.
01:22:44: I pray that tonight has been in some way useful to help us to understand that the Bible is where we should seek our foundation and our answers for all of life's most difficult questions.
01:22:55: We thank you for the Lord and what He did for us on the cross, and we pray everything in His name.
01:23:00: Amen.