Christians: When does life for a human actually begin?

Question

What does the bible say about it?

I'd rather take God's word for when life starts then some mans. So are there any verses about it?

The only one I know of is in Genesis 2:7 - And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

If I go by this verse - it's when man actually breathes - because God calls it the breath of life - for a living soul.

Your thoughts or other verses. I know there is cellular life before a baby would breath - but they aren't born until they come out of the womb.

Some people are saying that you have a soul before God says that you have a soul - when you first breathe. (That's why I quoted that verse). Maybe it's because people confuse body, soul and spirit. The bible makes is clear that there is a difference between these three. Our body is our physical flesh, blood, bones etc., our soul is our breath life, and our spirit (if we've got one) is from God when we get born again. Men and women walking around breathing - who aren't born again - are only body and soul.

My wife and I are expecting a baby as I type this sentence. I wou;d be heartbroken if it didn't result in the birth of our first baby. But I don't believe that it would have a soul - breath life - as God puts it - until it was born and breathed. Sure it would kick and move around and have it's own blood pumping - but I'm just going by what the verse says in the bible. (Genesis 2:7)

I like that verse in Jeremiah that many of you are quoting. But it is not saying that he had soul life before he was born or breathed. I believe God knows us - he made us. Without God no life would be possible. I mostly asked this question to see if Christians believed the verse in Genesis where it says "breathed into him the breath of life" - or if they put something else above that verse - like their own opinions or things someone else has taught them. Thanks for the answers!

Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Did God breath breath life into Adam or not? That's when he became a living soul.

Genesis 6:17 And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.

God point of view is that everything that has breath in it is alive. He relates all flesh - with breath of life - and those ones dying.

Read 1 Kings 17:17-22 and it shows that when a child lost it's breath life - it lost it's soul - that is what Elijah prayed to the LORD to bring back to the child. Verse 22-23: ...and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived.
And Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the chamber into the house, and delivered him unto his mother: and Elijah said, See, thy son liveth.

Job 33:4 The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.

Psalm 135:15-17 The idols of the heathen are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they see not; They have ears, but they hear not; neither is there any breath in their mouths.

The idols weren't alive - and the word of God says they didn't have any breath in their mouths.

Psalm 146:3-4 Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.
His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.

When a son of man's breath goes forth (away) he dies - his thoughts perish. If you don't understand this - read Ecclesiasties concerning death.

Is 42:5 Thus saith God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein.

Eze 37:5 Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live:

Eze 37:6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

Eze 37:8 And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them.
Eze 37:9 Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.
Eze 37:10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.

I hope these verses make it clear that when man has breath he has soul life. When he doesn't have breath - he has not soul life.

I guess I found some more verses...

Answer 1

If you read Genesis 2:7 it tells the story of the start of life, everything since than has been a continuation of life. There is never a time that an unborn child is not alive. At conception, the 'new' life is a continuation of the lives that came together.

I don't think the Bible really addresses this issue. Perhaps they never would have believed that there would come a time that people really didn't know that children not yet born were living things or human.

Living is living, human is human, dead is dead. How hard is that?

Added after 2 days.

It's pretty obvious what you need to believe. A bit less clear is why you need to convince everyone else. Isn't it enough that what you've already decided since before you even posted your 'question' gives you peace?

Or does it?

Answer 2

Here's how I look at it:

If your baby had Down's Syndrome, but you didn't find out until he was born, would it be ok to kill him two minutes after he was born? How about two minutes before he was born? Two weeks? Two months? Stop thinking about it in terms of heartbeats and fingers and brain function. Think about at what point the baby comes into being.


Leviticus 17: 11-14 tells us that "the life (soul) of the flesh is in the blood".

Now, think of it this way: Many times a baby in the womb has a totally different "blood type" than its mother. In fact, the baby’s blood supply (life) is completely independent of its mother’s. Therefore, the baby gets its blood (life, soul) at conception, the moment that the female’s egg is fertilized by the male sperm.

A life is a life. There's no two ways about it.

Answer 3

It sounds like you only want Christians to answer this question. I neither confirm nor deny being a Christian. Does it matter? This is one of the most controversial subjects in the modern world today, What do you hope to gain by listening to others opinions? WE are taught (at least I was) in school that mammels give birth to live young. How you unfold that line is up to you. Could be twisted to mean that if mammels give birth to live young, then it must have been alive before being born. Then again it could be that when the soon to be born creature is able to be alive it will be born. Before that it wasn't really living. It was being fed and not even breathing fresh air. How could it possibly have been alive then. The right answer is the one you are comfortable with. When a person is kept alive artificially after they die on the operating table, are they really alive. It's really the same question isn't it.

Answer 4

This is the only one I can think of too. I would say as soon as the spuem becomes an egg . As soon as there is life there is a sole. There are lots of people out there who would love to have a baby. There is no reason to flush a baby down a toilet. If one helps to put life some place , then God would expect one to take care of that life.

Answer 5

Conception.

Conception is actually an action of three, not two. When a married couple concieves...the sperm and egg come together and at conception God also adds the soul.

When Gabriel annouonced to Mary the Holy Spirit would come to her and she would concieve the child Jesus, and she said, Let it be done... she was carrying Jesus. Not a mass, or some cells, but Jesus.

When Mary went to visit Elizabeth, the Bible (Luke) tells us that even the unborn baby in her womb "lept with joy" at hearing Mary's voice.

Unborn babies are still babies. They are human people without a voice. God have mercy on us for what we do to them.

P.S. Addition: I'm so sorry you're so hung up on this "breathing" thing. You see, Adam is a poor argument because Adam was never carried in a mother's womb. And as far as an unborn child breathing....they do breathe air just as they eat and receive nourishment...through the mother. Even though the lungs aren't drawing air, the child still needs it to survive and gets it from the mother.

P.P.S new addition 09/17: I would like to clear up a simple misconception....to "breathe" within the mother does Not imply the unborn is actually drawing air into it's lungs, as some ignorant people have intimated. However, the baby is drawing needed O2 (air/oxygen) into its body through the umbilical cord along with other needed nutrients. So, through the mother and the umbilical cord, life giving oxygen is entering the baby. Ultimately, this is the same thing as breathing because the end result is the same. If there were no oxygen getting into the baby's body it would die inside the mother.

The unborn baby IS receiving the life giving oxygen from air drawn into the mother's lungs so this simple minded argument that the baby has no soul yet because it doesn't breathe is quite simply....stupid.

Mr. Bible Scholar, please go read and study your Bible a little closer and pray for the Holy Spirit to guide and reveal to you as you study. You my friend fall into the group Peter speaks of in 2 Peter 1:20-21;
20 Know this first of all, that there is no prophecy of scripture that is a matter of personal interpretation,
21
for no prophecy ever came through human will; but rather human beings moved by the holy Spirit spoke under the influence of God.

And since we cannot interpret scripture on our own, we often also fall into what Peter mentions in 2 Peter 3:15-16

2Pe 3:15 And account [that] the longsuffering of our Lord [is] salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;

2Pe 3:16 As also in all [his] epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as [they do] also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.

It would seem you have been attempting to interpret on your own...a no-no according to Peter; and as a result you have shown yourself to be among the "unlearned and unstable" that has "wrested" scripture to your "own destruction", again as Peter would put it.

If what you have put on your profile....

About Me: I'm a Christian - a son of God.

I love God and his son - our Lord Jesus Christ.

I like to talk about the bible and learn how to live what God's will is for our lives.

is true, you will not take offense at this, but you will learn from it. May God Bless you and yours and I wish only the very best for your new baby... who is already a human person.

Answer 6

God says that He knew us before He formed us. I believe that we are a Soul at the moment of conception. Babies in the womb have feelings, emotions, and thoughts. That is what makes our soul. The Spirit is the breath of God which returns back unto God when we die. I talked to my children while they were in the womb. Science proves that parents who do, their children end up smarter and more content.

Answer 7

There is another verse from the bible that states something to the effect (sorry not time to look it up now) of God knowing us when we were in the womb. I see no reason to believe that we would not have a soul as a fetus.
JT- where in scripture does it say that? Were not talking adam and eve

Answer 8

Jer 1:5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.

God formed us in the womb- he gave us a plan and a purpose before we were even born.
If you have any questions on whether what is in the womb or not is a life that God values and that we should respect and value, please look at this:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=97476676&MyToken=ce582155-fddc-45a2-a96d-611c7f0bcdef - lokk near the bottom above the comments and take the time to look at the videos. Please be respectful enough to to make derogatory comments or opinions without taking the time and consideration to really look at this and read the facts.

Answer 9

Per the bible, when breath is taken. OT had no extra penalty for killing a pregnant woman. The penalty was the same as for a not pregnant woman.

The bible thumpers will take an example one particular case and try to apply it to all, ignoring the biblical warning placing a curse on all who add to the word of god.

Although abortion clearly existed during the time of Christ, there is no prohibition against it in his words. Something else the bible thumpers choose to ignore.

Answer 10

The bible (not me) says that life is in the blood, and also, that no human blood must be spilled, so, according, to the bible, until the fetus produces his own blood, which is around 6th week of pregnancy, abortion shouldn't be an issue