Perry:
What about joy?
Quote:
Luk 1:44 For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy.
A zygote and a babe in the womb are dramatically different.
And if in fact we are killing humans then why not kill and use the elderly or terminally ill in the name of science?
That, in fact, is done far more often that we realize! But I don't want to side-step the issue. There is a great deal of difference between a zygote and a fully developed human being.
Does a person's consciousness, awareness or the ability to feel pain have any determining impact on their value?
My purpose in bringing up the fact of a zygote feeling no pain was not to suggest that they have no value, but to give just one of the jillion obvious ways they differ from a fully developed human being (or, for that matter, a partly developed human being --- a foetus.)
1) Human Life begins at conception (a premise with which you state that you agree)
Well, if you read my comments carefully, you won't find that I stated such. I stated that human life began with Adam and Eve. I also stated that there is no doubt that a zygote is human life. Indeed, a sperm is human life ---- not a form of human life that can develop, of course, unless it is implanted in a human egg (another form of human life).
2) A human zygote is post-conception
3) Therefore, the destruction of a human zygote is the same as the destruction of a human life
I am surprised that you used the phrase "the same as". I am sure that you meant, "The destruction of a human zygote
is the destruction of a human life. I fully agree with this stronger statement. Anyone who understood biology would also agree. Statements made by abortionists that the foetus is not human life but mere tissue ---- a part of a woman's body with which she has a right to do what she wants ----- is ludicrous.
If it is wrong for the scientists to use already-born humans for any reason against their will with their destruction as the result, why wouldn't it be wrong to use pre-born humans in the same manner?
I am not disputing the immorality of destroying the pre-born for the sake of research. In case there is any misunderstanding, I want you to know that I have been involved in many pro-life marches, including participation in a march around a hospital in which abortions were performed. My first wife (now deceased) was the leader of the local pro-life association, and was active in promoting pro-life concepts to the public. I was totally supportive of her in these efforts.
All that I have written in my previous post, was written with the purpose of catalyzing deeper thinking on the matter.
So many pro-life persons believe that taking a human life at any stage is equally immoral. I do not believe so. There is obviously a spectrum of human development from a zygote to a fully developed baby. The worst form of "abortion" in my opinion, is that which occurs in the so-called "partial birth abortions", now outlawed, I think, in most of United States, but still taking place in Canada. Just prior to birth, the baby is turned around and brought out feet first until only the head remains inside.
The head then has its brains crushed.
The reason I placed quotations marks around "abortion" is that this is clearly not abortion but infanticide. By defining abortion as the killing of the child before complete birth, this horrible procedure has been "justified".
Tell me, does the killing of a zygote seem to you to be just as wrong as the killing of a child by "partial birth abortion"?
That is one of the reasons I asked whether killing a zygote is murder? I don't think anyone's definition of "murder" would include zytoges.
In my opinion, there is a spectrum of wrongness that goes along with the spectrum of pre-birth human development --- except that that spectrum is not fully gradual. There is a greater wrong done to a foetus after it begins to experience pain. For causing pain as well as killing, is worse that killing alone (even in the case of the killing of adult human beings).