Before I formed you in the womb I knew you
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  Before I formed you in the womb I knew you
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True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)
Ernest
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« on: January 14, 2014, 01:06:15 AM »

Of the readings in the Revised Common Lectionary for 14 January 2014 (Tuesday after the First Sunday after Epiphany), I chose to reflect on Jeremiah 1:4-10.

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you Jeremiah 1:5a

The reason this passage is included in the lectionary for today is that highlights the parallel between Jeremiah and Jesus in that they were both set apart by God for service before their birth.

I have chosen to pick this reading to reflect on because of the use Jeremiah 1:5 is put to in the abortion debate.

The argument that those opposed to abortion make from Jeremiah 1:5 is that it shows that God considered Jeremiah to be a person before his birth.  Therefore terminating a pregnancy is equivalent to murder and therefore abortion is wrong and should be prohibited.

I do not intend to comment upon the wider debate about abortion in this reflection, just the use of Jeremiah 1:5 in it.  Frankly, the logic used by those seeking to use this verse against abortion just does not hold up.  Do we know Jeremiah today?  Does God know Jeremiah today?  Does God's knowledge of Jeremiah today make him a living person today?

God exists outside the physical universe and thus exists outside time and space.  He transcends time in a way we have never experienced, may well never experience, and might not even ever fully comprehend. As part of his omniscience he knows many things before they occur including the persona of Jeremiah.  Unlike with us humans his knowledge of a thing precedes the existence of that thing.  Hence, when God knew of Jeremiah does not give us any information on when God considered Jeremiah the person to come into existence.

Now there is another tack that can be used by those who are opposed to abortion.  Besides simply indicating that he knew Jeremiah before birth, God mentions that he formed him in the womb.  Yet even if one chooses to view it in that light there is the problem that the verse does not state anything about at what time during a pregnancy God considers what is in the womb to be sufficiently formed to be considered a person.  Indeed, for those of the personhood begins at fertilization persuasion, I would say that if this verse can be used at all in the debate on that viewpoint, it argues against that viewpoint.  God says he formed Jeremiah in the womb, yet fertilization occurs several days before the egg reaches the womb.  But even that line of argument depends upon inferring that formation equals personhood as it is not explicitly stated here.
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