14 Dec '18 13:15>
@whodey saidSt. Augustine is considered a Christian doctrinal authority in all respects, helping to shape the Christian religion and finer points of doctrine and practices. His statements and teaching on abortion can be summarized in this quote: “The law does not provide that the act (abortion) pertains to homicide, for there cannot yet be said to be a live soul in a body that lacks sensation.” He was simply reiterating the traditional Jewish view…that the destruction of a fetus could be considered homicide only at a relatively late stage of fetal development.
So why do you think that the vast majority of Christendom things abortion is murder?
Not only did the most well-known church theologians not take a strong stance on abortion, but neither do the most strict laws of the Old Testament. Anyone who has studied Old Testament law knows there is not much that isn’t addressed, from hair style to fabric choice! Yet, Ignacio Castuera in A Social History of Christian Thought on Abortion said, “The only passage that deals directly with the death of a fetus is Exodus 21: 23, which describes the penalty to be incurred for hurting a pregnant woman accidentally during a fight between two men. According to the Septuagint, if the fetus has not yet assumed complete human shape, the penalty is a monetary fine; but if the fetus is fully formed, the penalty is death. Thus, in ancient Israel, killing a fetus that was not viable was never considered murder.” Even today, most Jewish teachings hold that life begins not at conception but at birth and 83% of America Jews believe abortion should be legal in most cases.
Likewise, in the New Testament, there is no direct teaching on abortion. Jesus does not address the topic specifically and not one of His parables talks about ending a pregnancy. Neither do any of Paul’s letters mention abortion. Abortion was very prevalent in many of the places Paul visited – we know this from other historical texts, and as he mentions in his letters, these cities were brimming with prostitution and illicit sexual activity. In fact, Paul never had a problem speaking out on any topic he believed followers of Christ should pay attention to! This makes it very interesting that abortion was obviously not a topic of enough priority for Paul to mention because, contrary to the many people on Twitter who have confronted me with a challenge to “READ THE WORD ABOUT ABORTION,” he never does mention it. And Paul was not ambiguous or shy about addressing anything he deemed important for a Christian life.
(www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-truth-about-christianity-and-abortion)