I was listening to 2 people having a debate on abortion, and one person asked the other "when does life begin" and the other person said when it comes to humans it doesn't begin, you have an alive sperm and an alive egg coming together to make an alive human; at no point is anything dead coming to life, they just go from one form of life to another. I'm no biologist, but this make sense to me, yet I hear people claiming life begins at conception; am I missing something here?
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When does life begin?
- Thread starter Kfox
- Start date
The question is one of "ensoulment" Ensoulment - Wikipedia has a good discussion about the differences in how religions view this question.
Kathryn
It was on fire when I laid down on it.
I'll check it out - thanks.
Subduction Zone
Veteran Member
The opinion of when ensoulment occurs has varied quite a bit for years. The Bible seems to say that itis at birth, or even possibly later. The Bible is in no way at all anti-abortion. That is a later reinterpretation.
Kathryn
It was on fire when I laid down on it.
Well, I can only do what I can do, which is err on the side of science, which seems to show that earlier and earlier life is present. So the question is "When does life begin," and the answer for me is that it begins at conception. I mean, it may as well.
McBell
Unbound
What are the sperm and egg before conception?
A human egg is fertilized by a human sperm, right?
So what exactly is the point of specifying human?
But nobody asks when does "Personhood" begin, they always ask when does life begin. Nobody will claim sperm and eggs are human, (otherwise masturbation would be murder) thus the argument would be when does this unification become a person/human being. But thus far I haven't seen anyone make that argument.
My point is; life does not BEGIN at conception. Conception is when 2 forms of life come together to become one. But at no point does life actually begin.
Kathryn
It was on fire when I laid down on it.
You don't know that.
My earliest episodic memories are from no early than 3.5 or 4 years old. Maybe that is when the Soul enters the body. /s
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It doesn't "begin."
Life and existence is a continuum.
Where some human marks a "beginning" or an "end" to anything, while not precisely arbitrary, is an artifice or projection in a universe that is constantly changing and transforming.
Life and existence is a continuum.
Where some human marks a "beginning" or an "end" to anything, while not precisely arbitrary, is an artifice or projection in a universe that is constantly changing and transforming.
I do know that. Unless the sperm and the egg is already alive, you can't get a human. IOW they both have to be alive BEFORE conception
Every cell of the body is alive until it's not. An unbroken line of living cells connects you to the earliest (successful) living things between 3.5 and 4 billion years ago.
Madsaac
Active Member
This very scientific but life does begin when sperm and an egg combine,. Human cells are formed but it takes some time before a fully integrated human body starts to take shape.
McBell
Unbound
I find that hard to believe given it was the whole point of your post.
McBell
Unbound
A quote I heard a really long time ago, I do not remember who said it: "Life began a long long time ago and is a continuous ongoing process."
Kathryn
It was on fire when I laid down on it.
Sigh. It wasn't the whole point of my post. but whatever you say, dear.