Either life is by spontaneous generation of evolution, or it is a supernatural act of God.
"...then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature." (Genesis 2:7 ESV)
According to the Bible, human life begins before a person takes their first breath. The Bible says that a human person is already alive in the womb.
Adam was the only human created from "the dust from the ground." Eve was the only human created from the rib of Adam. This does not mean that all males are made from "dust," and females are made from a man's rib. That has never happened since because the creation of Adam and Eve was distinctly unique. This is how the first human lives began, not how all human lives begin. Nothing in this passage says that human beings are formed out of dust from the ground and born in lifeless bodies that only God can breathe life into after birth. The Bible is not speaking about the beginning of every individual human life but rather the beginning of humanity as a whole race. This truth is seen elsewhere in Scripture.
"The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life. Answer me, if you can; set your words in order before me; take your stand. Behold, I am toward God as you are; I too was pinched off from a piece of clay." (Job 33:4-6 ESV)
Elihu, who made the statement, was not formed out of clay. His point had to do with the nature of humankind, not the process by which each person becomes a human life. The verses "the breath of the Almighty gives me life" and "I too was pinched off from a piece of clay" imply that God's breathing of life into a human being was a one-time act for Adam only and not all humankind. At that point, the breath of God continues forward in every human being.
Although there is not 100% consensus among scientists, 96 percent* believe it is an empirical and irrefutable fact that individual human life begins at conception when the 23 chromosomes of the father's sperm fuse with the 23 chromosomes of the mother's egg to create a single-cell embryo/zygote containing 46 chromosomes with 30,000 genes combined to determine its own unique DNA code containing all of a person's physical characteristics: sex, facial features, body type, the color of hair, eyes, and skin.
The fertilized egg immediately travels down the Fallopian tube into the uterus, where the lining is preparing for implantation. At first, the cells will divide into two groups: two into three for a millisecond, verifying a unique life has begun, then into four, four into eight, and so on, just moments after conception. The zygote then divides again and again in a process called differentiation. Some cells develop into the temporary placenta and are essential for implantation. Other cells develop into the various parts of the baby and increase by dividing rapidly into a ball continuously changing in size and shape called a blastocyst and implants itself in the uterine wall about six days after fertilization until day nine. It is implantation that makes the baby more likely to survive. Cells continue to multiply exponentially and develop into specific body parts during the embryonic and fetal development of the child. The term fetus is used beginning at the eighth week of development.
The Bible tells us that an unborn child is a complete human person from the moment of conception when the sperm fertilizes the egg. When the umbilical cord is severed at birth, the child is not independent of its mother. Without care from someone, it would soon die.
LIFE IN THE BLOOD
The Bible says that life is in the blood, which the Old Testament affirms (see Genesis 9:3-6). A human person has lifeblood flowing through them in the womb and receives oxygen from its mother long before they have breath. A baby is not property or a thing to be discarded and has the attributes of self-consciousness in the womb. Esau and Jacob "struggled together within" their mother's womb (Genesis 21:22, 25:22). The Bible clarifies that a human being is regarded as a separate and distinct life from the moment of conception and deserves to be protected.
The New Testament also refers to the consciousness of a baby.
"And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb..." (Luke 1:41 ESV)
A baby born prematurely has the same signs of life and self-consciousness as a baby that went through nine full months of development in the womb.
The Greek word "brephos" used in the New Testament for infants already born is the same word used for infants in the womb (Luke 2:12 and Luke 1:41), without specifying the precise moment they became a "brephos." The intentional killing of a 'brephos' at any point is murder.
THE SIXTH COMMANDMENT
"You shall not murder" (Exodus 20:13 ESV)
This commandment forbids the murder of human beings because they are created in the image of God, and it is His glorious gift. Murder is specifically premeditated killing. This command does not prohibit war or capital punishment. The Bible says a person "shall not murder." It does not say, 'you shall not kill.'
The most dangerous place for a human being in America is a mother's womb. One out of every five women will intentionally end a pregnancy by having an abortion. Over 700,000 human beings die from cancer every year in the United States of America. However, over 900,000 human beings die each year from abortion which is the number one cause of death.
"When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman, so that her children come out, but there is no harm, the one who hit her shall surely be fined, as the woman's husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine. But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe." (Exodus 21:22-25 ESV)
The Hebrew word for "come out" is 'yeled' which refers to a child being born and not as a product of conception or that it is less valuable than the life of an adult. The same Hebrew word is used in other contexts to designate a child already born.
The word "harm" indicates it refers to the child and not the mother in two different scenarios. First, if she gives birth prematurely and the child lives. Second, if birth is premature and the child dies, the penalty is life for life. This law says that a fetus at any stage of development is regarded as a living person, and the person who kills it is criminally responsible and must forfeit their life. The life of the unborn is just as valuable as the life of an adult. It is a biological reality that a distinct organism comes into existence at conception.
The Angel of the Lord told Joseph that Mary was pregnant with a child.
"Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.' (Matthew 1:20 ESV)
The Greek word used here for "conceived" is 'gennaó' which means to bring forth, be born.
The Angel Gabriel told Mary that she would have a child in her womb even though she was a virgin.
"And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus." (Luke 1:31 ESV)
The Greek word for 'conceive’ is ‘sullambanoo’ and means to bring forth, aid, assist, and help. Mary was "found with child" (Gk: 'en gaster echo" (womb/stomach) (Matthew 1:18).
The first Adam (human) was made (formed) from the dust of the earth (Genesis 3:19) in the image of God [aka Jesus] (Genesis 1:26, 3:19). Jesus is the second Adam, who is God, the Son, and willingly chose to become human by being placed as a zygote into a human woman's womb and as the Triune God, was fully formed as a human being (1 Corinthians 15:45-49). He was not of this world (John 8:23). Jesus has always existed and came to earth 100% fully God with all of His divine attributes, and became 100% fully human, and was not a half-human, half-divine demi-god (John 1:1-18; Philippians 2:5-8).
As stated previously, there is no 100% consensus among scientists about when human life begins. However, the Bible does provide the answer.
"For You formed my inward parts: You covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them." (Psalm 139:13-16 ESV)
God knew King David while being "made in secret" in a place humans can not see. Personal pronouns are used in these verses and indicate that there was a person present before birth. The Bible assumes continuity of physical life from before birth until death.
"Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations." (Jeremiah 1:4-5 ESV)
God told Jeremiah he was set apart before birth and considered him a person before he was formed.
King David understood that he was a sinful person at conception.
"Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceived me." (Psalm 51:5 ESV)
Only authentic personhood that occurs at fertilization would allow David to possess a sinful nature.
PRE-BIRTH CONSCIOUSNESS
A team of researchers from the USA, Australia, Ireland, and Germany conducted a study on infants that utilized advancements in identifying consciousness markers through brain imaging in adults and applied them to assess infant consciousness. In adults, some markers from brain imaging that are increasingly used in science and medicine have been found to differentiate consciousness from its absence. The research was published in the peer-reviewed journal “Trends in Cognitive Science” (October 12, 2023) and determined that consciousness is present by birth and starts as early as late pregnancy.
Co-author of the study, Lorina Naci, Associate Professor in the School of Psychology, explained the “findings suggest that newborns can integrate sensory and developing cognitive responses into coherent conscious experiences to understand the actions of others and plan their own responses.”
A ten-year study of the hippocampus by George Dragoi, an associate professor of psychiatry and neuroscience at Yale, has confirmed that the human mind is not blank at birth because neural connections are not created after accumulating sensory information and experience. Cell assemblies in the human brain allow for the creation of memories, but only over time do humans develop the ability to perform mental tasks and accurately perceive the world around them (Reference: Dragoi G. The generative grammar of the brain: a critique of internally generated representations. Nature Reviews Neuroscience. 2024;25(1):60-75.)
The research has helped to understand the actions of newborn infants and how they can formulate responses and process a wider variety of information, such as sounds from varied languages, even though they are aware of fewer items and take longer to perceive their surroundings than adults.
The findings support the Biblical story of Elizabeth, who was pregnant with John the Baptist, and the cousin of Mary, the surrogate mother of Jesus, who was pregnant at the same time, visited her. Elizabeth described the life in her womb as "the baby" who "leaped" because of the presence of Jesus and exhibited joy in the presence of God, the Son, who was in the womb of Mary.
"In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy." (Luke 1:39-44 ESV)
The Bible refers to the unborn as a person who exists as an actual living human being from the moment of fertilization. According to the Bible, life begins at conception, not at first breath, and abortion is infanticide.
*https://quillette.com/2019/10/16/i-asked-thousands-of-biologists-when-life-begins-the-answer-wasnt-popular/
