How is the Hound, as a witch, equipped to do a bible study, and what does it have to do with me, you may say. Well, all I can say is, witches meddle. And speaking truth to power is what witchcraft is all about. As for being equipped, I don't look as if I've got a degree in Christian theology, but I have. In fact I think I'm the only dog in history to come top of the class in Hebrew.
Anyway, this one is about what the bible actually says of immediate relevance to abortion. This will not cover such passages as 'you knit me together in my mother's womb' Ps 139:14, because that isn't about ending a pregnancy. It also will not talk about the commandment not to kill.
Why? You would think it is of relevance. It's because it does not mention a foetus. If you therefore approach that verse and assume it's about abortion you are reading something into it which isn't there. Doing this is so common that it actually has a name - it's called eisegesis. There are several other problem with applying that commandment and I would point anyone here for a discussion of the many things involved in applying the bible to killing or murder.
There are only two biblical passages which possibly refer directly to something happening to a foetus and most Christians will be horrified at what they actually say. But then most Christians have little to no idea of the contents of the bible.
Exactly what is going on in the first passage (from Numbers 5) is disputed in both Jewish and Christian tradition:
Then the Lord said to Moses, 12 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘If a man’s wife goes astray and is unfaithful to him 13 so that another man has sexual relations with her, and this is hidden from her husband and her impurity is undetected (since there is no witness against her and she has not been caught in the act), 14 and if feelings of jealousy come over her husband and he suspects his wife and she is impure—or if he is jealous and suspects her even though she is not impure— 15 then he is to take his wife to the priest. He must also take an offering of a tenth of an ephah of barley flour on her behalf. He must not pour olive oil on it or put incense on it, because it is a grain offering for jealousy, a reminder-offering to draw attention to wrongdoing.
16 “‘The priest shall bring her and have her stand before the Lord. 17 Then he shall take some holy water in a clay jar and put some dust from the tabernacle floor into the water. 18 After the priest has had the woman stand before the Lord, he shall loosen her hair and place in her hands the reminder-offering, the grain offering for jealousy, while he himself holds the bitter water that brings a curse. 19 Then the priest shall put the woman under oath and say to her, “If no other man has had sexual relations with you and you have not gone astray and become impure while married to your husband, may this bitter water that brings a curse not harm you. 20 But if you have gone astray while married to your husband and you have made yourself impure by having sexual relations with a man other than your husband”— 21 here the priest is to put the woman under this curse—“may the Lord cause you to become a curse among your people when he makes your womb miscarry and your abdomen swell. 22 May this water that brings a curse enter your body so that your abdomen swells or your womb miscarries.”
“‘Then the woman is to say, “Amen. So be it.”
23 “‘The priest is to write these curses on a scroll and then wash them off into the bitter water. 24 He shall make the woman drink the bitter water that brings a curse, and this water that brings a curse and causes bitter suffering will enter her. 25 The priest is to take from her hands the grain offering for jealousy, wave it before the Lord and bring it to the altar. 26 The priest is then to take a handful of the grain offering as a memorial offering and burn it on the altar; after that, he is to have the woman drink the water. 27 If she has made herself impure and been unfaithful to her husband, this will be the result: When she is made to drink the water that brings a curse and causes bitter suffering, it will enter her, her abdomen will swell and her womb will miscarry, and she will become a curse. 28 If, however, the woman has not made herself impure, but is clean, she will be cleared of guilt and will be able to have children.
29 “‘This, then, is the law of jealousy when a woman goes astray and makes herself impure while married to her husband, 30 or when feelings of jealousy come over a man because he suspects his wife. The priest is to have her stand before the Lord and is to apply this entire law to her. 31 The husband will be innocent of any wrongdoing, but the woman will bear the consequences of her sin.’”
Honestly I don't know why this one is disputed. Because this only happens if she's had sex with another man rather than just snogging or flirting, and because of something coming out of her womb - here the NIV helpfully even uses the word miscarry - it's blindingly obvious that she has got pregnant by a man who isn't her husband and the foetus is being aborted.
That's right. God commands the woman to have the priest abort her foetus. You won't hear this in Sunday school or from Sr Mary Menopause.
The other passage also refers to a pregnancy being terminated, and comes in Exodus 21 among a number of regulations concerning when people are violent to each other:
22 “When people who are fighting injure a pregnant woman so that there is a miscarriage and yet no further harm follows, the one responsible shall be fined what the woman’s husband demands, paying as much as the judges determine. 23 If any harm follows, then you shall give life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
I would draw your attention to the fact that the miscarriage is treated differently to the harm the woman suffers. If she miscarries but does not suffer any other harm, the aggressor must pay compensation set by her husband. However, the aggressor must have the same harm inflicted on him that he has inflicted on the woman. The foetus is treated radically different from the woman, and you would expect that if in his revealed word God thought a foetus was a human life he would have commanded that the aggressor be put to death in line with his own ruling of stripe for stripe.
That's right, God does not command a foetus to be treated with the same value as a human life, even that of a mere woman.
This is the biblical position which most Protestants rightly took, that abortion is just fine because a foetus is not a baby, until about twenty years ago when they switched to the Roman Catholic position.
It's just a pity you only hear this in a bible study with a witch....
And just in case there's anyone i haven't offended....
I find that many Fundie types who are extreme in their Religious interpretations have not read their Holy Books or have very loose interpretations of what the Scriptures say or imply. I used to challenge some of it when I attended various Churches and they typically get very upset when reason conflicts with their dogma or legalism. I think so many of the so-called Christians of current times would not recognize Jesus and would argue with Him and probably also Crucify him all over again... just a hunch. The Religious of Jesus day were not particularly fond of being challenged or called out for what they did which had nothing at all to do with being Godly at all. I prefer a Relationship with my Creator over Religion, which can so often be a form and a fashion, with members being quite pious and yet fake. What you have shared doesn't need much debate, it reads as clearly as it could, doesn't it?
ReplyDeleteIt does. I think the way they don't actually read their own scriptures is related to their disdain for education, or rather fear of the instinct for enquiry education instils!
ReplyDelete