Man Is Not An Animal
There is a God-like spirit in man that floods his mind with light and understanding. Man can reason, use logic, imagine great schemes, create things of great beauty. So much so that God declared that man had been created in the image of God.
There is a vast gulf separating man and animal. It was Jesus who ordered these things from the time of Adam and Eve, and man was given dominion over the earth and all that moved upon it. The earth was given to him so that he could multiply into great nations.
A human being consists of body, soul (mind; all the levels of consciousness) and spirit.
Different Spirits
As there are different substances in the material world, so there are different spiritual entities. The spirit in man is not the Holy Spirit, neither is it an evil spirit or demon, nor is the spirit in man the spirit of some angel.
Death
At death the spirit leaves the body and consciousness ceases. The brain stops functioning - there is no more talking, planning, visualising, remembering, dreaming or feeling. Just as in life we throw away our finger-nail cuttings, and the hair trimmed from our head, so in death the body is itself discarded as useless, and the spirit returns to the God who gave it.
The spirit in man does not have human life in itself. It is inanimate (as far as man is concerned). Some scholars, probably correctly, have likened this spirit to a recording medium, like a CD, which in the end holds a lifetime of events, attitudes and thoughts. But for the intervention of God himself the person would never live and breathe again, and, but for the sacrifice or payment of Jesus Christ, would never stand a chance of everlasting life.
If, when a person dies, he were to go and live on in heaven, then what need would there be of any resurrection?
(Beware! There are two deaths referred to in the Bible. The first death is the natural death we see all around us each day as people die of old age, sickness, or accident. Jesus warns us severely to fear the second death where God has the power to throw a man into the lake of fire.)
Is The Foetus a Human Being?
When does the spirit enter a man?
The Bible shows us that it is at our first breath that we become a human being.
The whole world, probably from time immemorial, has already decided that this is the case. If a miscarriage, or still-birth, or some other interruption to pregnancy was considered the death of a human being, then there would be an endless stream of women going through the courts charged with manslaughter. The case against them would be along the lines that they smoked, or followed other habits of ill-health, and, being negligent contributed to the death of the child.
God said that the life is in the blood. Now while the baby is in the womb it is totally dependent on its mother. The blood in its veins comes directly, or indirectly from the mother. Any oxygen in its blood comes from the mother. Miraculously the new-born baby sucks in its first breath and becomes a separate independently functioning human being.
DO NOT BELIEVE THE ABOVE UNTIL YOU HAVE CHECKED OUT FOR YOURSELF THE REFERENCES PAGE
Scripture References
For the Biblical references - see Spirit In Man References
So now we able to ask, "Is abortion murder?"
For the answer check out our page on abortion
updated 26aug06