When Life Begins

I've been wanting to say this for a long time. There has been a debate, largely brought on by the abortion argument, about when life begins. I'd like to break this up into physical life on earth as well as spiritual life.

Physical Life Begins

We seem to define death as the event when a person's heart stops & cannot be re-started. That is the end of human life. It seems logical to me, then, to at least define human life beginning when the heart starts beating. Amazingly, this is when the baby/fetus is the size of a green pea!

It has been painful to me to listen to some of the government health people now saying that human life doesn't really begin until after the child is 2, as that child is not human until at least partially socialized. Maybe I should say more accurately that this horrifies me.

This opens the door, it seems to me, to an argument in favor of not spending the $ on a preemie as it is expensive to keep him/her alive & really he/she is not yet human! This makes me sick even more than the partial birth abortion when a viable, almost full-term baby, either has its brains sucked out, is burned by salts or some other barbaric destruction technique.

Sure there are times when an abortion may save the life of the mother, but as far as I can determine this is never or extremely rarely so in the final weeks of pregnancy. How can we justify the torture of an almost born baby or the destruction of a child who is not yet 2?

What have we become? What are we in the process of becoming?

If we do not even honor the beginning of human life, no wonder so many seniors are concerned about end of life care. Great cultures have traditionally honored elders, their wisdom, their depth & who they have spent long years learning to be. Great cultures have celebrated the entrance of a new baby into their midst.

Are we a post-great culture?

Spiritual Life

In my understanding, the life of the soul is eternal. It doesn't really have an end or a beginning. It is of God. It is also my understanding that each of us is accountable for the kind of life we lead. Having freewill, we can do most anything, however for each choice there is a consequence.

Do we grow spiritually to become Christed? Do we think, speak & act in accordance with our highest understanding of God? When our souls leave here, can we stand before God with a clear conscience? How can some stand before God knowing they advocated death & destruction to human life? In what way does expediency get a pass? How does saving money equate in the eternal kingdom?

What are we doing to awaken spiritually? Is that something we might get around to if we get the chance? Do we tell ourselves that we just are too busy? Do we actually do our best to follow the example & teachings of Jesus? Do we welcome the presence of Christ to integrate into every fiber of our being so that we can glorify God here on earth?

Teilhard de Chardin said that we are spiritual beings having a human experience. What kind of spiritual/human experience are we having? What are really the most important things to who we really are? What are our actual priorities?