When Do You Believe A Life Begins?

Question

I Have Just Had My Religous Studies Gcse Exam And There Was A Little Picture Which Said When Do You Believe Life Begins? I Was Curious Then And Was Thinking Of All The Ways I Could. I Wondered What Do Christians Or Other Religions Believe Life Begins. Such As When The Baby Is Born When The Sperm And The Egg Are Fertilised Etc. Is There A Correct Answer Or Just A General Whatever You Believe? Thanks :) XxXxX

Answer 1

I Like To Capitalize All My Words Too!!!

Answer 2

I am not completely decided on this issue. I do not believe there is a "correct" answer to this question.

However, I do feel that it is an issue that should be primarily addressed by those in the medical field (to a very much lesser degree the politicians and religious).

In addition, there needs to be a consistantcy in the medical field. For that, I would think one would need to look at when a life ends. The American Heritage Science Dictionary defines death as, "In humans and animals, death is manifested by the permanent cessation of vital organic functions, including the absence of heartbeat, spontaneous breathing, and brain activity." Therefore, would it make sense to say that life begins with vital organ functions, including a heartbeat, spontaneous breathing, and brain activity?

This is an incomplete thought... but like I said... I'm undecided.

Answer 3

For my ancestors, *personhood* began nine days after birth, when an infant was sprinkled with water and named by its father . . . accepted into the kinclan. Up until that point, it wasn't human. If not accepted and named by its father, it would be left out in the woods to die. True fact. That's the custom infant baptism is derived from.

Realistically, I tend toward heartbeat, brainwaves, viability outside the womb, stuff like that. I don't know that I can put a number on it. I do know that I don't think a fetus has the same rights as the mother . . . if there's something seriously wrong with the fetus, or her health is in danger, I say err on the side of the mother.

Answer 4

Life begins when the sperm and the egg are fertilized. The resulting cell not only tries to multiply and form a living being, it also qualify as a “being” as opposed to a “growth” by virtue of its immune system. Immune system in a being does the necessary actions to defend and repair itself when it is subjected to harmful external actions. SO if you pin prick a fertilized egg, it will try its maximum to maintain its integrity and grow in to a living being, with deformities repaired to the maximum possible as per its master blue print. In fact, a fertilized cell with human DNA is a human being worth all the basic human rights.

One can culture a single human cell in to a big chunk of meat in a laboratory. There is a known case of about 40 lbs of such cultured growth of tissue of a woman, whose children finally sought legal help to obtain it from the lab and give it a proper burial. In all such cases of cultured growth of cells, the group of cells have no immune system and if you cut the growing mass in to two, it does not show a “collective will” of cells to repair themselves in to any shape or plan. Hence any big chunk of human cells, though growing and each having its own life, is not a being as it has no immune system.

BTW I am an atheist Hindu living in India where abortion is legal

Answer 5

Life begins at Creation. When Time was created, so was every creature that would ever be conceived (even those that have been aborted), the fact that it took this long for a particular series of events to lead to the conception notwithstanding.

Answer 6

Life begins when the baby is 4months old in the womb of mother, when soul from God is breathed into baby's body. Spritual life begins when God opens you heart to His light to show the way of truth. Real and eternal life begins once we finally closes our eye to this this world.

Those who say sperm has life. Yes sperm is living cell, but man has a soul. After death also eyes and organs are alive for hours. But there is something inside the man that made him a man. That made him think and show love other. That is the soul from God.

Answer 7

I guess that would just depend on the persons definition of "born". Personally, its when the baby has a form in the body and is no longer a cell, but a visible little human.

Answer 8

The scientific definition of alive is: Something that can grow, reproduce, take in materials (food), and respond to stimulus. As soon as the Egg & Sperm have combined, and the first cell divisions have taken place. That it, per the definition above, when something becomes "alive" (it meets the scientific technical definition of living).

Answer 9

I'm not Catholic, but view the 'at conception' as the safest guess. It's cut and dried.

I have a hard time go with the first trimester, or 10 days, weeks, whatever. The trouble with these time frames is you can't determine the exact time. You can always back it up another second, or minute. So my thought is, life is precious enough that we need to protect it at the earliest possible time.

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'When the birth certificate is issued' - good one, our 10 week old hasn't received his birth certificate yet. But he's smiling!

Answer 10

I think it would have to be whateve we believe. But I believe live begins at conception. You could not be a Mom who has had a scan of your baby in the uterus to ever believe that is not a human life that you are seeing. No matter the fullness of the form, it is definately life.

Answer 11

As soon as the sperm enters the egg and it is fertilized. You knew that already though didn't you. So does everyone else. Just some don't want the responsibility of the child and want to kill it and to ease their guilty conscience they say it wasn't a real child. God says He knows us in the womb and knit us together there. So any one having an abortion is a murderer.