Given our knowledge about the Plan of Salvation as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day-saints, I think we have a different perspective on this matter than most. I was told in my Book of Mormon class that no other Christian faith believes in a premortal life. With that piece of key doctrine missing from their logic, I’ve heard arguments that in those first stages after conception nothing exists except a clump of cells, and therefore its loss, whether by abortion or natural means, is of no consequence. Since we know that we existed as spirits before this mortal life and that we will continue to exist afterwards, I feel that while it may be a clump of cells, it is the potential that matters and it is the beginnings of a body that belongs to someone waiting for their turn on earth. This reading is discussing the implications of life beginning at conception and what that means as far as miscarriages and such.
I’ve had some discussions on the topic of abortion with non-member friends who possess contrasting views. After we each express our opinions, none of us convincing the other in the slightest, I point out that it cannot really be proven scientifically when exactly life begins, and I ask them if they are willing to be wrong, because supporting the position they do has consequences if they are.
What made this reading significant to me and separated it from everything else I’ve heard about the beginnings of life is that it took the stance that most members of our Church have on the issue and pointed out what it really implies about life being more fraught with death than some may realize and how at the same time it preaches the value of human life, it lowers the conceptual value. It implies that death really isn’t that big of a deal because it’s happening right and left. The part about really dead people deserving mowed grass just as much as newly dead people really hit me and I thought that while the implications of life beginning at conception are hard to think about, focusing on celebrating lives well lived is a much better use of our time and someday we will be able to ask Heavenly Father what was up and it will all make sense.
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Reading this article once again made me very excited for the day that I will once again meet my Heavenly Father and finally understand all of the confusing aspects of life on earth. I cannot wait for the day when it will all make sense. There are so many questions that I am very eager to ask my Father in Heaven. But I have wondered if we will even need to ask or if in our perfect resurrected form if we will just know all the answers and remember everything that happened in the earth life. It will be such an exciting day when we are once again home.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting article. It is complicated concept that I don't think anyone has the answers to, except maybe the Prophet. It kind of reminded me of the concept of fate. A very ambiguous subject that I hate. It makes my brain ache every time I think about it. I wonder if those "clumps of cells" that are lost because of abortion really are intended to become people, or that because Heavenly Father knows everything, including whether or not someone will have an abortion, or if they have no future. It all depends on the decisions of others. Nice article, it got me thinking.
ReplyDeleteI think what I loved about the story was the ambiguity of it all. No one does know when life begins. Could Heavenly Father really insert life into the very moment a sperm enters an egg? Spencer says, "I don't want life to begin at the moment of conception. Because that means that life is too full of death. There would be too much to mourn." I agree, I wouldn't want to have to spend every morning wondering if death was here. I think thats what is so confusing about aborotion. It isn't just an issue of belief or of morals, its really about how much we want to cope with the presence of death. Maybe we simply avoid the issue (as a society completely) by saying its a baby or its just a clump of tissue. We don't really address the issue at all, just turning it into a matter of dogma.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this story. I have an aunt who has always wanted kids but wasn't able to get pregnant. Finally, after years of trying everything she could, she became pregnant with twin boys. They'll be born in November or December. To her, this is a miracle and probably the best thing that has ever happened to her. It makes me sad to think that my aunt has always wanted this so badly and tried so hard to have children, and other women who have no trouble conceiving choose abortion. I know I don't know the circumstances behind this, but I do think that God should be the one in charge, not us. Maybe life doesn't begin at conception. I really don't know. But I wouldn't want to be responsible for destroying it.
ReplyDeleteI know a girl who was born at 23 weeks, which is the last week it is legal to have an abortion. She was 1 lb when she was born and she didn't have skin and her eyes weren't open. Her reproductive organs were not fully constructed so they weren't positive as to the sex. They had to put her in a make-shift placenta for about a month so that she could grow her skin and form all the things she wasn't able to in the womb. Now she is a 14 year old girl and she is so sweet. She has a few learning disabilities, but she is extremely kind and such an example to me. Looking at her makes me hate abortion. She could have been aborted. That precious girl who I became friends with could have been aborted and it would have been legal.
ReplyDeleteI believe that life begins right at conception. Once the egg is fertilized, there is a spirit there. This may not be correct, but it makes sense to me. I will definitely ask Heavenly Father when I die someday. Even if life does not begin right at conception, it does not justify abortion because it is still destroying a potential life. Imagine if you were aborted and thus didn't have a chance to live here on Earth and achieve your fullest potential in mortality. How sad would you be?
I love how in the church we are not told what to think about certain topics of great political debate such as abortion. I am very strongly against it, while the elders quorum president in my ward is pro-choice. Just because he thinks a different way doesn't mean he can't have a calling or not hold the Priesthood or whatever. I believe that the "choice" was made when you decided to get naked. After that all choice is gone. The spirit enters the body at the moment of conception. Why would Heavenly Father give us a body and make us wait until it is mostly developed to inhabit it?
ReplyDeleteAlmost a week ago (from when I wrote this), there came knocking at my apartment door. A girl from my ward said that Robby (a guy from our ward) had gotten in a severe long-boarding accident, had to be life-flighted to Salt Lake (a really bad sign in itself), and they weren’t sure if he was going to make it. She asked if we would quickly go over to one of the houses for a ward prayer. Charee’ and I were the only ones up, but we grabbed our stuff and headed out in the cold to the house. I remember I felt like I should be really solemn, but I couldn’t. I think that, even for someone you don’t know well, there is always a hope of life up until the very very end… and sometimes past that too. We were told the next day that Robby was on support, but there was no brain activity. They were going to wait for his sister to fly in and say goodbye. It was a huge shock to me. I didn’t even know him, I had seen him at my ward, but it just gave me a new perspective on how fragile life can be. I started thinking about how he didn’t know he was going to die… I could walk right out in this crosswalk and have the same thing happen to me. After it, I put a picture of my friend’s newly born nephew. It reminded me that while there is death all around us, there will be another life given to some lucky person. I think that even though our perspective sees Robby’s life being longer than a stillborn child’s, I think that it was still a life and like Prof. Spencer said, “a life matters”
ReplyDeleteThis really makes you wonder how receiving a body works from the pre-mortal perspective. Is every spirit designated one body? I believe so. Sexual sin is listed in the top few in terms of being most difficult to receive forgiveness from. Why? Because, just like murder, it interferes with God's plan for his spirit children. Abortion is worse, for man is not only changing the optimal time for a spirit to come into the world, but preventing that spirit from experiencing the blessings of mortality.
ReplyDeleteI really appreciated Kaylee's comments. Very well said. The topic of abortion is very special to me, I don't take it lightly. I too have experience with family not being able to have children, and it was devastating to them. The fact that women would choose to abort a child when there are women aching to have children seems so wrong. But regardless of how unfair it is, I still feel like the spirit enters the body at conception. The child moves and lives inside the mother's womb, a connection is formed between them long before birth. How could this happen if it were a clump of cells?
ReplyDeleteI could go on for pages about abortion, but I will end it here. Maybe it is wrong, maybe it isn't. In any case, I will not be the one responsible for it.
I think that a lot of good things have been said so far. Life is precious. Life on this earth is a part of the Plan of Salvation – a plan so perfect. I think that each human life is special and unique. I think that, even in the womb, a baby should be viewed as a life. A woman is pregnant - a baby could live - abortion tampers with what God had in store for that little one in the future. I don’t think that it is our right to choose at that point. I agree with the idea that if someone wasn’t ready for a baby, they should have chosen to do something different long before the point of abortion. As soon as someone is pregnant, they are given that gift of the beginning of a little life inside of them (whether the spirit is present yet or not – it is on the way). Life is so very precious – something like that….even though we don’t know everything behind it….just shouldn’t be tampered with.
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