Debate on when a human is actually considered to be human rages on endlessly with each person who addresses the issue considering his/her word to be the "authority" as to the time we do "become" human.
Recently I got into an intense discussion with an individual over the issue of abortion. This person adamantly claimed that the child in the stages of formation in his/her mother's womb is not to be regarded as human until 24 weeks into the pregnancy. According to this person it is at that time that development has reached the point where pain can be experienced, etc. It appears that somewhere in the distant past scientific research has vainly attempted to arbitrarily set the time at 24 weeks as to when one graduates from being a simple mass of tissue and blood to that of becoming a full blown human being!
Others insist that one becomes human at the moment conception takes place with the uniting of a sperm and an egg cell which originate with a human male and a human female. Then there are those who radically insist that one is not human until birth has taken place and the new born individual is able to survive outside the womb through the process of breathing, eating, and drinking.
In order to avoid disturbing thoughts about the human aspect being applied to the unborn, abortion devotees employ the term "fetus." You know, this is so impersonal when making reference to that growing mass of blood and tissue inside the female! Instead of a living human being in the stages of formation, we are merely dealing with a thing, which can be treated as casually and indifferently as one would treat the contents of a garbage can!
The real issue in this, however, is how Almighty God views the unborn child. No question on this -- we each have a personal ID that spans the limitations of time and earth into the countless eons of eternity! Consider statements from God's special revelation to the members of the human race:
Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying: "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; and I ordained you a prophet to the nations." (Jeremiah 1:4, 5).
I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them. How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; when I awake, I am still with You. (Psalm 139:14-18).
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He has made us accepted in the Beloved. (Ephesians 1:3-6).
The above is more than enough to reveal a very clear picture as to God's view of humans and when they are considered to be human.
First, notice that God claims to be involved in the formation of each human -- "I formed you..." does not leave anything to the imagination -- the only exception are those who stumble in their blindness and refuse to acknowledge the reality of God's involvement when it comes to persons such as we.
Second, notice that our identity exists prior to conception in the womb. God knows us before this all takes place and further He has a plan for our lives -- "the days fashioned for me." But the plan was in place before the days came to pass!
Third, this marvelous plan is centered in God's own Son, the Lord Jesus Christ -- "..He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world.." The plan and purpose God has for each human life existed prior to the creation of this mighty universe and the earth which is a minute particle of that universe! Since Jesus sacrificed His life on behalf of every human being, that means God has something special for each human being by way of purpose.
Since we are not fashioned to be robots, God has given us the power to choose how it will be with us in this world as we move steadily toward eternity and giving an account to Him when life has ended for us on this earth. We can choose to respond to His gift of eternal life given through His Son, or reject it -- which is the choice of the vast majority living in this world at the present time.
A lot of horrible things take place in this world on a 24/7 basis. But at the top of the list of horrible things taking place what can match the intentional mutilation and murder of an unborn child? It ultimately comes down to direct destruction and the nullifying of God's plan for that child in the stages of formation in its mother's womb!
A wise and thinking person would quickly conclude that when you interfere with what God wants to do by way of a deliberate plan -- that is, you demolish that plan, then you are in more trouble than the human mind is capable of comprehending! But in today's world -- wise and thinking people we have too few and foolish unthinking people we have flooding the earth.
A final "confession" on my part -- I get to wondering about this issue in a republic that claims all persons should have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Our "trail of blood" has become a river from nearly 59 million victims (as of 12-01-27). I wonder if God is going to have those unrepentant persons, who were in one way or another involved in this "holocaust," see their victims in eternity in that paradise into which all those victims have entered -- and that while the persons responsible for the deaths of the unborn exist in indescribable torment -- Luke 16 in the New Testament would suggest such a possibility! Anyway, just wondering.
At this stage in time there is no real regret concerning this abomination expressed throughout the nation on the part of elected officials, beginning with the president. Not a few church leaders are rather silent too when it comes to facing the reality of the United States' version of "holocaust!" None of us will want to be within the borders of this republic when God chooses to make His response to this, the greatest of tragedies to take place in our nation's history!
"The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it, if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it. And the instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it, if it does evil in My sight so that it does not obey My voice, then I will relent concerning the good with which I said I would benefit it." --- Jeremiah 18:7-10
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