kiwimacahau
Well-known member
Genesis 2:7:
This passage describes how God made Adam's body out of the dust of the earth. Later, the "man became a living soul" only after God "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life."
Some theologians have suggested that this passage states clearly that Adam's personhood started when he took his first breath. Following this reasoning, a newborn would become a human person only after she or he starts breathing. This would imply that a fetus is only potentially human. Thus, an abortion would not terminate the life of a human person. The most important word in the Hebrew Scriptures that was used to describe a person was "nephesh;" it appears 755 times in the Old Testament. It is translated as "living soul" in the above passage. One scholar, H.W. Wolff, 1believes that the word's root means "to breath." He argues that during Old Testament times:
"Living creatures are in this way exactly defined in Hebrew as creatures that breathe."
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This passage describes how God made Adam's body out of the dust of the earth. Later, the "man became a living soul" only after God "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life."
Some theologians have suggested that this passage states clearly that Adam's personhood started when he took his first breath. Following this reasoning, a newborn would become a human person only after she or he starts breathing. This would imply that a fetus is only potentially human. Thus, an abortion would not terminate the life of a human person. The most important word in the Hebrew Scriptures that was used to describe a person was "nephesh;" it appears 755 times in the Old Testament. It is translated as "living soul" in the above passage. One scholar, H.W. Wolff, 1believes that the word's root means "to breath." He argues that during Old Testament times:
"Living creatures are in this way exactly defined in Hebrew as creatures that breathe."
Sent from my SM-A500Y using Tapatalk