According to ynetnews.com on January 8, 3 pro-life congressmen (Joe Pitts, Chris Smith, Frank Wolf) met with Jewish officials in Israel "to promote American-Israeli cooperation in the battle against abortions," which they have agreed upon.
Two fascinating points on rationale. The most intriguing to me was this, quoting ynews.com....
The rabbis believe that these types of abortions [for other than life or health endangerment] are a grave sin which may even delay the coming of the messiah. They base this assumption on an expression uttered by the Jewish sages which can be construed as signifying that the messiah will not arrive until all souls meant to be born to Jewish mothers are in fact born.The halachic basis for the rabbis anti-abortion position is articulated in Genesis 9:6 which reads: "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man."
The rabbis see fetuses as constituting a "man" based on a Gemara passage which states that a fetus in its mother's womb should already be considered a human being.
I'm surprised they didn't worry the Messiah might be aborted. Perhaps that isn't possible according to Jewish theology.
The other interesting rationale, quoting ynet.com again:
[T]he congressmen... expressed their concern regarding Israel's declining birth rate, compared to the growing birth rate among the Palestinians.
This is indeed a problem. According to the CIA World Fact Book, Palestinians occupying the Gaza Strip and West Bank have a much higher fertility rate than Israel:
Merely to sustain a population requires 2.01 births per woman, so Israel is barely doing that, never mind growing.
The leader of an Israeli pro-life organization said 50k abortions are committed there a year, 20k of which are illegal. Abortion is currently legal throughout all 9 months, but mothers must get permission from an abortion committee.
Comments:
Oh, come ON. That's just re-donk-u-lous. If it's the son of god I REALLY doubt abortion is going to mess it up.
Posted by: Erin at January 11, 2008 12:30 PMLifeNews.com had this back in December at Israel's Chief Jewish Council Affirms Abortions "Grave Sin," Delaying Messiah.
Posted by: Steven Ertelt at January 11, 2008 12:38 PMJill,
can you answer my question now?
Posted by: prettyinpink at January 11, 2008 1:28 PMPip,
I posted on the thread before this...Jill doesn't know what question you mean and while I know you've been asking her, I can no longer remember the question or the thread it was on...if you ask her again, she'll answer. I'll make sure of it. I just got distracted this week...
Posted by: mk at January 11, 2008 1:43 PMOh please. Maybe the messiah has already come, but he died in Sudan because the US hasn't acted to stop the genocide there. Or maybe the messiah was blown up by a stray missile in Iraq. Or maybe he died of cancer caused by pollution.
Pick any life/death issue, and you can come up with a way it might be delaying the messiah. This is a seriously flimsy argument.
[T]he congressmen... expressed their concern regarding Israel's declining birth rate, compared to the growing birth rate among the Palestinians.
This is indeed a problem. According to the CIA World Fact Book, Palestinians occupying the Gaza Strip and West Bank have a much higher fertility rate than Israel:
It's OK. They also have a much shorter life span/higher death rates, thanks to Israel.
Posted by: reality at January 11, 2008 3:08 PMP.S.
...Hey! Maybe the messiah was born, but died of starvation in a Palestinian refugee camp!
Posted by: reality at January 11, 2008 3:09 PMThat's cool mk. Sorry I didn't see that.
Jill, if you HAD TO pick on Democrat to be on the primary ballot, keeping in mind, this may be your next president, who would you pick?
Posted by: prettyinpink at January 11, 2008 3:11 PMHey PiP, sorry for the delay. I kept missing the question.
Ok, if I were forced at gunpoint? Because I'd just never pick one otherwise. Hm.
Hm.
Hm.
I just can't. They're all the same and all equally awful.
Posted by: Jill Stanek at January 11, 2008 3:59 PMWhen the "messiah" comes, (which he already has, ONCE) abortion isn't going to prevent him from coming back.
Sadly, the Jews have it all wrong...and have for 2008 years.
Jesus was/is the Messiah. He was rejected by his own...but He will return...probably sooner than we think.
Posted by: Mike at January 11, 2008 5:51 PMJesus is already born, and playing baseball in the Dominican Republic.
Posted by: Doug at January 11, 2008 6:37 PM"I just can't. They're all the same and all equally awful."
Jill, that's not a fair answer.
You said there are only bad and worse. Which one, then, is just "bad," or the least "bad" rather than "worse"?
Posted by: prettyinpink at January 12, 2008 12:22 AM>>LifeNews.com had this back in December
:: laughing :: LifeNews.....
Posted by: Doug at January 12, 2008 12:37 AMWow Doug, that was truly pithy.
Posted by: Steven Ertelt at January 12, 2008 12:35 PMSteven, the shoe fits. Not saying that any and all pro-life sites put out false information and lay on the ludicrous spin all the time, but LifeNews, now....
Posted by: Doug at January 12, 2008 12:51 PM