From: chrisl@stpaul.gov (Chris A Lyman)
Subject: Re: Bible is NOT pro-choice in Numbers 5: 12-31
Organization: City of Saint Paul Public Works
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 1992 19:47:53 GMT

owl.caltech.edu!rowanoak (Linda Heather Springer) writes:
> pharvey@quack.sac.ca.us (Paul Harvey) writes:
>> Here is what the most accurate English translation of the Bible says:
>> REF:JPS Tanakh, ISBN:0-8276-0252-9

  [If a woman is unfaithful to her husband]
>> 15. the man shall bring his wife to the priest. ...
>> 
>> 18. ... And in the priest's hands shall be the water of bitterness...
>> 22. ... causing the belly to distend and the thigh to sag. ...
>> 
>> 28. But if the woman has not defiled herself and is pure, she shall be
>> unharmed and able to retain seed.
>> 
>> ...During the time of the Bible, the understanding of childbirth was
>> that sperm was a seed that sprouted into a child in the field of the
>> woman's womb. So unable to retain seed means to abort the unborn child.

> Mr. Harvey, you are reading into these verses your own beliefs.  The Bible  
> reveres human life and decrees against killing and harming the helpless  
> and innocent.  This verse is talking about a punishment for a woman who is  
> unfaithful.  It has nothing to do with babies, except that the woman will  
> not be able to have children in the future.  

The same could be said for you, Ms. Springer.  Read II Kings 12:24 (I think;
in that neighborhood, anyway) for a charming story that "reveres human life
and decrees against killing and harming the helpless and innocent."

> Let me quote to you from the New American Standard Bible (published by J.  
> B. McCabe Company, 1977); I have capitalized words for emphasis.

[--deletions--]

> ****27 "When he [the priest] has made her drink the water, then it shall  
> come about, if she has defiled herself and has been unfaithful to her  
> husband, that the water which brings a curse shall go into her and cause  
> bitterness, and HER ABDOMEN WILL SWELL AND HER THIGH WILL WASTE AWAY, and  
> the woman will become a curse among her people. [A disfigurement is caused  
> so that the public will recognize her at once as an unfaithful woman, and  
> will shun her.  This is a punishment; there is no mention of a baby being  
> aborted.]

Please note:

1.  "Water which brings the curse;" the curse being 'the curse of woman,' that
    is, menstration.  This is standard usage throughout the Old Testament.  If
    there is a z/e/f present, induced menstration => induced miscarriage.  In
    other words, an abortion.
    
2.  "HER ABDOMEN WILL SWELL AND HER THIGH WILL WASTE AWAY" is translated in the
    New Revised Standard Edition as "her womb shall discharge, her uterus drop;"
    in the New King James Version as "her belly shall swell, her thigh rot" and
    in the Revised Standard Version as (approximately) "she shall have a
    miscarriage and be barren."  I don't agree that disfigurement of the woman
    is the main goal of this ritual.

[--deletions--]

> I understand why women have abortions, and I don't think they're evil; I  
> think they convince themselves that what they are doing is all right.  God  
> loves them, but he says that their action is wrong, for He also loves the  
> babies they kill.

Including the babies killed in the Flood?

> No, the Bible most emphatically is NOT pro-choice.

I agree.  Numbers 5:12-31 is an example of forced abortion, imo, which is
just as bad as forced pregnancy.

> Can you really believe that God would have approved of the unwed mother Mary
> aborting his son Jesus?

Ms. Springer, people believe all kinds of interesting things about God and
the spiritual world.  (A pro-lifer's placard at a demonstration:  "Satan
invented sex!")

> I urge all readers to study these chapters themselves, since meanings are  
> often distorted when verses are taken out of context, as Mr. Harvey has  
> exemplified.

In light of the above, it's interesting that you edited out some scripture,
including verses 16 through 26.  You're not really Doug Holtsinger in drag,
are you? :-)

-- 
Chris Lyman  -  email: chrisl@pwcs.stpaul.gov  -  #include <std.disclaimers.h>
 "A conservative government is an organized hypocrisy." -- Benjamin Disraeli
Newsgroups: talk.abortion