Transcript

the only scripture that says li- when life begins is in Genesis 2, when they are filled with the breath of life.

The Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being.

The claim is that the Bible teaches that life begins when you take your first breath because Adam became a living being when he breathed, and they claim this happens at birth, not at conception.

But what's wrong with this argument?

First, it proves too much.

Many babies do not breathe immediately at birth.

Some can take up to a minute to breathe on their own.

This argument would justify infanticide as well as abortion.

Number two, the unborn do breathe before they're born, but they do so through an umbilical cord rather than through their mouths.

Even before they develop their umbilical cord, the unborn absorb oxygen through the lining of their cells in a process called respiration.

And finally, God had to infuse an immortal soul directly into Adam, or breathe the breath of life into him, because Adam was the first human being.

But all other human beings come into existence from other human beings, so the requirement that God must breathe life into them, just as he did for Adam, is unsupported.

The Biblical authors knew there was human life in the womb before birth because women could feel their unborn child moving later in pregnancy.

In the New Testament, the Greek word for baby, brephos, is used for born and unborn children.

In Luke 1:44, a pregnant Elizabeth says to her cousin, Mary, When the voice of your greeting came to my ears, the brephos in my womb leaped for joy.

In Luke 2:12, the same Greek word is used to describe the newborn Jesus sleeping in the manger.

But we don't need the Bible to prove the unborn are human and alive before birth, because the science of biology shows us that after conception, which most scientists call fertilization, the life of a new member of the human species has begun.

The standard medical text Human Embryology and Teratology states, Although human life is a continuous process, fertilization is a critical landmark, because under ordinary circumstances, a new genetically distinct human organism is formed.

Keith Moore and T.V.N.

Persaud's textbook The Developing Human states, Human development begins at fertilization.

And Langman's Medical Embryology states, Development begins with fertilization, the process by which the male gamete, the sperm, and the female gamete, the oocyte, unite to give rise to a zygote.