From the Pen of a (Catholic) Scholar, the Bible Does Not Condemn Abortion


A basic mistake in the Catholic hierarchy is that priests and bishops are not held accountable for what they say. When we see bishops shifted child molesting priests around to different parishes to keep them from being made public we must conclude bishops are not held accountable for what they do either. 

When several bishops said and voted to make abortion the most serious of sins, it would have been appropriate for the Pope or some high ranking mucky muck to have asked them publicly to state where in the Bible is says abortion is a sin of the highest order. The bishops would have been left speechless because they would be unable to do so. In fact, according to the professor and link author who is a Catholic, bishops have stopped looking for the Bible justification against abortion. New Testament scholar Bart Ehrman wrote recently the Bible does not condemn abortion. 

So, how do some of the bishops justify their opposition to abortion and to giving President Biden communion? "Natural Law" is now their trick. Does it say in the Bible abortion is against "Natural Law?" Of course not. Bishops just made that up. Bishops are allowed to make up anything about "Natural Law." 

An anti abortion nut case immediately challenged the NY Times article I linked. He said the Bible condemns mass killing of human beings. This is where otherwise sound brains get all scrambled. Saying abortion is the mass killing of "human beings" is only meaningful if fetuses are human beings. Fetuses are human beings only if one makes up a definition of human beings that includes them. 

Since Bishops know the Bible does not condemn abortion they must become more nimble and fast on their feet. They need some way of referring to "morals" but leave the Bible out. They have test marketed several other arguments, DNA for example. Even this argument has been smothered by the simple act of looking at children. Bothers and sisters do not look the same nor act the same. That is because each sperm and egg has unique characteristics before conception. It turns out the Monty Python parody song, "Every sperm is sacred" has a grain of truth to it. If Catholics, some Lutherans and some Baptists believe every fertilized egg is a human being because is has unique DNA then every sperm is a human being as well.

For now, the craziest of bishops have lost. Biden can continue to receive communion because the Bible gives him the green light. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Maybe the "Original Sin" Should be Reassigned

Image
We can all agree most Catholic priests are fine people and not guilty of sexual abuse. What Catholics must face, however, it that their church harbors executives who are dishonest . There is an incredible story about the Argentine Bishop Zanchetta. The Pope worked with him in Argentina and they are considered friends. Around 2015 Zanchetta sent nude pictures of himself and they began circulating world wide. He also was too friendly with young seminarians and some left because of him.  Three different officials say they made formal complaints to the Vatican about Zanchetta between 2015 and 2017. Yet, in 2018, the Vatican claimed it was unaware of any complaints about Zanchetta. This might be a good time to repeat the Catholic hierarchy claims to have the sole authority handed down from Jesus to what the faith stands for. It condemns as sinners those who practice birth control, have abortions and gay sexual relationships. Handing the hierarchy this responsibility would make...
Read more

Who Suffers from a "Hardened Heart"

Image
Some years ago on this blog there was a discussion about what the Bible calls "The hardened heart." The "hardened heart" was the explanation given for why people like me cannot accept the tenets of Christianity. We are unable to believe there are floating spirits and gods or imaginary places people go when the die. Now, a prominent Christian preacher and author has given us a way to diagnose the "hardened heart." It contained some surprises.  Rev. John Piper, who spoke about the hardened heart, said we can see this in a person who lacks "ordinary tenderness and compassion." He went on to describe the characteristics of a person without the affliction of the hardened heart. A healthy person displays empathy and sympathy. Those with the hardened heart are like stone. Jesus wanted compassion for the poor. The hardened heart discussion referred to atheists only if they are sinners and then it was indirectly. Sin, Piper said, hardens one's heart a...
Read more

Young Women can see Bull$hit a Mile Away

Image
Republicans including their Forced Birth subgroup is bother by recent election results and polling. All show young women going to the left. A poll shows young women are 30% more likely to be very liberal than young men. The link advises the Forced Birth community to give young pregnant women an uplifting message. The message suggested is, "Buck up. You've got this. You can give birth and have a happy life." Another way of saying this is, "It will be OK if you miss work and/or are fired because of the birth. If you cannot make your rent payment, it's OK. Somewhere out there is another place to live. We don't know where but be optimistic."   This is an add on to the new version of the Forced Birth message, "We're for both the baby and the mother." They are not and never have been for the mother. Their message has always been to condemn women who have abortions. Now, the "thoughts and prayers" message, which costs no money, it the me...
Read more