Explain Christian Ethical Teachings on Bioethics with a Focus on the Topic of AbortionAccording to Macquarie Dictionary, ethics is the justification for and formal reasoning behind human moral behaviour. It is a “system” of moral principles by which human actions may be judged to be good or bad or right or wrong. Christian ethics are views held by followers of the tradition and shape the way a person lives their life through the influence of their decision making. Bioethics are those which relate to science, medicine, human life and religion intertwined and encompass abortion, as it is the act of using medicine to end the life of an unborn child. Christians are generally against the procedure of abortion as they believe life begins at conception, therefore making abortion an act of murder.
Christians draw their ethical teachings from sources of authority such as the scriptures, tradition, personal experience and logic; therefore, their views on bioethics consider the main aspects of Christian life. Scripture refers to The Bible which contains divine revelations from both God (Old Testament) and Jesus (New Testament), Tradition describes views and attitudes which have been long held by the church and views of people in authority such as the pope and bishops who lead the Christian or (more specifically in this case) Catholic church. The authority of experience and logic are determined by the individual unlike scripture and tradition which are common between Christians. They describe a persons own conscience and feelings about the issue through their own education and wisdom. There is a belief by the Christian church of objective moral truth or “ethical realism”. This means that some moral truths are true for everybody despite religion, culture etc. (e.g. rape is always wrong). This opposes the postmodern view of subjective or relative moral truth which states that there are only personal moral preferences and what is true for one person may not be true for another. Bioethics being a part of Christian ethical teachings is therefore substantiated from the four main sources of authority and abortion seen as an objective moral truth.
The views of abortion as part of bioethics are determined by the same sources of authority as described above. Bioethics is the application of morals to science/medicine which concerns biology in terms of life and reproduction. Because science and medicine is continually progressing, through new developments and technology, the issue of bioethics is continuously raised and the Christian view on bioethics challenged when science enters into anything new which, becomes controversial. For example with the issue of stem cell research, Christians believe that embryonic stem cell research is wrong because it prevents a life occurring even if stem cells could save other lives. Also Christians oppose suicide because they see human life as belonging to God, therefore, taking it away is not only ending life but stealing from God and thus breaking the commandments “thou
(2). Bioethics may be a concept of science, however, it is not science in itself. Scientists have found many good reasons to study, for example the benefits of certain substances on the body and human health, however, scientists who are also scientists who take into account the human condition believe that this concept of science does not even exist in the medical field. For example, some Christian doctors who follow scientific methodology think that human health and health care should be treated like science, but what these Christians (those doctors) believe is that no human health care is necessary because human health care and medicine is made up by God, and that this would make medical decisions more human and responsible. Additionally, human health care is often done by people within an ethical system, as there is often a natural human interaction of each person in a personal way without the intervention of a doctor. So, if it was scientifically possible to give abortion to a baby that is a prentition of human suffering , the Catholic Church would have the right and duty, as it is already holding the Christian perspective. This is also taken as support for their opinion that humans are not natural beings and that scientific advances are necessary to make a healthy human being a good one. This also applies for other forms of natural life as medicine which does not involve human medicine or the surgery/surgery/treatment of human bodies. For example, doctors have a lot of faith in the human condition. Therefore, they do not believe that the creation myth is a lie perpetrated by secular man, and therefore they do not support abortion because it does not make a real difference.
(3) The Church’s teaching in the area of medical ethics is contrary to God’s commands of the law, which he established in the scriptures for his people: “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself; and thyself shalt not hate your neighbour.” This doctrine was written by our Lord Jesus Christ and is given every Christian to the good. Furthermore, it is important to note that the Church teaches in the first century A.D. that every man should love his neighbor as his own, because God has commanded him as far as God Himself is concerned. This is true even for all who are born into one of the great religions. However, many Christians, especially those who have a deep connection to the Christian religion, view abortion as only part of this problem. When Catholics are asked why abortion is bad, they usually answer that it is because the women were raped by the man to the death but that the abortion was done because the woman’s husband wants her to. Additionally, it is not true that only abortion in the late 19th century resulted in the rape of innocent children and that there are many miscarriages in the Catholic Church. This theory is based upon a single source document: the text “An Apostolic Commentary on the Doctrine of the Good Christian.” The fact that Pope Paul II wrote the text states how he taught in his synod about the teaching of the Catholic Church that abortion is only part of the problem, as this is why Pope George III decided at the end of his Nicene Creed that abortion should be only a matter of prudence and prududence over the rights, life and property of the individual, as this is the only way to fulfill the Christian mandate. Even today the Church and any society can do good by preserving and strengthening the right not only of all believers but also of unborn child. This view of procreation and the rights in women’s lives has been the basis of many proabortion