What is a person?

Flamingo at Great Pond Aug. 2012

Abortion and rape have been getting heavy play in the media what with the Missouri Republican Todd Akins faux pas. The right have been stumbling all over themselves supporting and rejecting his statement, even going so far as to say he didn't really mean it, or he misspoke.

The problem is the right recognizes they have a major catastrophe here. Too many conservatives actually agree with Akin but don't verbalize it. Women all over the country on the right and the left are waking up to the liberties that people like Akin want to take away from them. Some call men like him the American Taliban who want to push women back into the subservient roles they had in the past. No birth control and no access to abortion even if you have been raped... just stay home and have babies.

Not really wanting to get into the whole abortion issue but concerned with the bestowing of rights on a fetus which many on the right want to do i've decided to publish some research i personally did years ago.

i think most here know that i'm not religious but i do enjoy studying the religious texts of all religions. Some of the most elegant language can be found in these ancient books and since so many people use them to guide their lives i think it's important to understand them. When i was wondering what actually constituted life i researched the scientific data and then went to the King James Bible to look up the religious view.

My personal belief is that you are not fully human or a person until you can breath on your own. The bible does address this and in some ways supports my own belief. So in the interest of sparking debate.

Here are passages that directly address the issue:

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.

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

Ezekiel 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.

Joshua 12:10 In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.

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

Psalm 33:6 By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.

Psalm 150:6 Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.

Isaiah 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:

Galatians 1:15 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace.

Unless you have breath, you can never praise the Lord, and without breath you are not alive nor are you fully human. The Buddhists believe it is very difficult to obtain birth as a human but once you have it is then that you can grasp the basic message of the Buddha. For the Hindu's we are all spiritual beings that have human experiences so the idea of person-hood does not exist at all. In Islam as in Christianity and Judaism Allah, the Lord, and God all breath life into the newborn babe.

So in my mind to bestow personhood and all the protections of the law for being fully human upon a fetus or a fertilized egg is wrong. Until that fetus can breath on its own it is not a human being nor a person and it seems the bible supports this.

Storms coming!

See ya next week.