Summations Only

Like Percy said: a matter of definitions.I think that I can make a decent case that a 32-cell morula is not the same thing as a seven-pound baby. I think I could reasonably say that a microscopic ball of 32 cells is closer kin to the zygote it came from - a single cell formed from a sperm entering an ovum. And that ovum is mighty similar, except for the number of chromosomes it has, to a unfertilized ovum. A couple of millions of those get flushed down the toilet daily, just here in the US - and, for that matter, a great many zygotes, morulae, and blastulae do too: a big percentage of them never implant in the uterine wall for perfectly natural, non-medicine-induced reasons.I will cheerfully buy into the notion that a 30-week fetus is closer to a seven-pound baby than to a morula. Modern medicine can make a lot of those little preemies survive, yes, but it is a mite expensive. And I'm not real comfortable with experiences like those of a good friend of mine, who struggled through a pregnancy on bed rest and doctor's care because her body kept trying to reject the fetus. He was born alright, but with the apparent mental and physical abilities of an eggplant. He lived about fifteen years under constant care, and then died. That's a more serious tragedy than a D&C at eight weeks along.Shadow, I would imagine that you think there is something called a "soul." I know the Catholic Church thinks so. Is there any evidence for souls, or any evidence as to when they enter a zygote/morula/blastula/embryo/fetus/infant?

But He seems a little vague on that subject. One place that gets close to an opinion is Exodus 21:22 : "If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman's husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine."That sure appears to treat the loss of a fetus as a purely civil matter, "fixed" by a monetary payment, and not as a manslaughter or infanticide. If you know of a place in the Bible where this Lord fellow says plainly when life begins, tell me: I'd be interested to see it. I don't think it's in there.The Catholic Church, at least, seems to regard attempts to prevent sperm and ova from meeting up with each other as approximately same level of immorality as taking Plan B or having an abortion at eight weeks. What does that say about what they call "when life begins?" I say it's incomprehensible.Edited by Coragyps, : fix tag

But Peterson isn't God, and "cannot know the mind of God." When people say they do, they either are called popes and such or schizophrenics........

Those who "know" anything at all about souls know it in the complete absence of evidence. And they disagree wildly about what it is that they "know."

Just musing here.....but how does it work if a zygote/morula/blastula gets a soul, but then misdevelops into an anencephalic fetus - one with no forebrain and with no chance of ever having a conscious life?Does the soul get resorbed when the brain fails to form? Can you have a soul without having a brain?

I don't know. Can a two-day-old anencephalic baby be sentient with no forebrain?Anencephaly - Wikipedia, if you aren't squeamish.