When does a pre-born baby take on the status of a person?
In a previous blog posting titled, Personhood – What Is It?, I said that a person has intrinsic value with rights and responsibilities. Personhood, is to have the intrinsic value of a human being with all the rights and responsibilities that go along with being human.
In the blog posting titled, Personhood – Image of God, I showed that this special intrinsic value is given to mankind as part of their creation and “included a body formed from the dust of the earth and a soul, breathed into man by God.” … Read the rest
A friend commented on my posting titled, Personhood – Which Comes First Death of the Body or Departure of Soul?. In this posting I said that, so far, our society agrees that a person must be dead for vital organs to be taken. My friend pointed out that if a person is unresponsive and sure to die very soon, that there are people who do not have a problem with taking vital organs, even among Christians. Some will agree that this may result in the person dying sooner but will think that this in not really a problem because the person is going to die anyway. … Read the rest
Why would we concern ourselves with which comes first, the death of the body or the departure of the soul?
This question becomes important when we desire vital organs for transplantation. Vital organs must come from bodies that are alive. See blog posting Vital Organ Donation – The Most Important Question. So far, our society generally agrees that a person must be dead for vital organs to be removed. For vital organ donation to be right there needs to be a way for a person to be dead, while their body is still alive.… Read the rest
When someone is clearly alive we tend to understand.
We also tend to understand when someone is clearly dead and ready to bury. There is no brain function, there is no movement in the body (including no breathing) and there is no flow of blood (the heart is not beating). Other signs of life are gone as well. the body is cold, dry, pale, either stiff with rigor mortis or flaccid.
Dying is a period of time between living and death. … Read the rest
Worldview and Ethical Issues from a Biblical Perspective
