From: kevin@nuchat.sccsi.com (Kevin Brown)
Subject: Re: ABORTION: WHEN Does Human Life BEGIN?
Organization: I can't see any in the immediate vicinity...
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 16:07:45 GMT

In article <74759@hydra.gatech.EDU> rpitts@emperor.gatech.edu (Richard Pitts) writes:
>In article <1992Nov13.181955.19388@spdc.ti.com> hughes@epcot.spdc.ti.com (Susan Hughes) writes:
>|In article <74333@hydra.gatech.EDU> rpitts@emperor.gatech.edu (Richard Pitts) writes:
>|>In article <1992Nov09.170021.28822@bnr.ca> ingrcfb@bnr.ca (Charles Board) writes:
>|>|In article <74157@hydra.gatech.EDU>, rpitts@emperor.gatech.edu (Richard Pitts) writes:
>|>||> In article <1992Nov06.211949.14647@bnr.ca> ingrcfb@bnr.ca (Charles Board) writes:
>|>||> |In article <73889@hydra.gatech.EDU>, rpitts@emperor.gatech.edu (Richard Pitts) writes:
>|>||> ||> In article <Bx9J8z.5F1@news.udel.edu> roby@chopin.udel.edu (Scott W Roby) writes:
>|>||> ||> |In article <72646@hydra.gatech.EDU> rpitts@emperor.gatech.edu (Richard Pitts) writes:
>|>||> ||> |>
>|>||> |
>|
>|>|  c) They consistently ignore the FACT that god commands the Jewish priests
>|>|     to commit abortions. (Numbers 5)
>|>
>|>This was a judgement against adultery.  Have we gone so far as to
>|>think that what was a punishment is now to be desired?
>|
>|This seems like a good point to bring in a question on another biblical 
>|passage, one which after reading I was really suprised to not have seen 
>|mentioned before; Ecclesiastes 4: 1-3 reads-
>|
>|   1  Then I returned and considered all the oppression that is done
>|      under the sun:
>|        And look! the tears of the oppressed,
>|        But they have no comforter-
>|        On the side of their oppressors there is power,
>|        But they have no comforter.
>|   2  Therfore I praised the dead who were already dead,
>|      More than the living who are still alive.
>|   3  Yet, better than both is he who has never existed,
>|      Who has not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.
>|
>|This would seem particularly pointed to unwanted children (the oppressed)
>|and abused children ("they have no comforter"). It could be read to say
>|that it truly is better to abort than bring a child into a lifetime of
>|suffering. If there are other interpretations/comments I would be very
>|interested in seeing them.
>
>I believe the child is better off.  For the Christian, it is better
>to be apart from the body and so be with the Lord, than being alive,
>but in both cases the ending of the life brings judgement on the one
>who ends the life.  Physical death is not the worst thing that can
>happen.  The one who causes physical death will be punished appropriately,
>but even more severely will be the punishment for those who lead
>children (of God) astray.

Then a woman who aborts her child will be committing an act of extreme
altruism.

Look at it logically:  if the child is actually born, it has some probability
that it will not make it into this "kingdom of heaven" you like so much.  So
a born child is not guaranteed to make it into heaven:

    P (child, heaven) < 1

On the other hand, the mother already has some probability that she will not
make it into "heaven":

    P (mother, heaven) < 1.

But if the mother aborts the child, then

    P (child, heaven) = 1.

Assuming that all individuals have equal valuation, the average number of
people in a given family that will make it into heaven is:

    avg_saved = n_aborted + sum ( P (child[i], heaven), i = 1..n_children ) +
	P (mother, heaven),

where n_aborted is the number of successful abortions the mother had and
n_children is the number of actual children the mother had (not counting
the abortions).

Now, the average salvation rate is:

    avg_salvation_rate = avg_saved / (n_aborted + n_children + 1).

Clearly, as n_aborted approaches infinity, the average salvation rate
approaches 100%.

Thus, if one's primary concern is whether or not people make it into heaven
(as it presumably is with most fundamentalist Christian types), the logical
course of action is to have as many abortions as one can.

Given that, just why should the mother *not* have abortions?

>For Christ and His Kingdom,
>Richard Pitts

P.S.: note that I do not advocate that women go out and have more abortions.
      Rather, my point is that the logical conclusion to be drawn from your
      premises is that mankind, from the standpoint of getting into "heaven",
      would be better off with more abortions rather than fewer.

      In any case, is it not your belief that if you believe Jesus to be
      your savior, that you are guaranteed to make it into heaven?  If so,
      then a woman who has an abortion need only believe in Jesus as
      savior in order to nullify God's judgement.  In effect, this makes
      your point that the woman will suffer God's judgement for abortion
      (a point which in itself is not at all clear) rather moot.


-- 
Kevin Brown					kevin@nuchat.sccsi.com
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