2270 Catechism of the Catholic Church; Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception. From the first moment of his or her existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person - among which is the inviolable right of every innocent human being to life.
2271 Catechism of the Catholic Church; Since the first century the church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to moral law.
You shall not kill the embryo by abortion and shall not cause the newborn to perish.
God, the Lord of life , has entrusted to men the noble mission of safeguarding life, and men must carry it out in a manner worthy of themselves. Life must be protected with the utmost care from the moment of conception: abortion and infanticide are abominable crimes.
2261 Catechism of the Catholic Church; Scripture specifies the prohibition contained in the fifth commandment: "Do not slay the innocent and the righteous". The deliberate murder of an innocent person is gravely contrary to the dignity of the human being, to the golden rule, and to the holiness of the Creator. The law forbidding it is universally valid: it obliges each and everyone, always and everywhere.
2258 Catechism of the Catholic Church; "Human life is sacred because from its
beginning it involves the creative action of God and it remains for ever in a special
relationship with the Creator, who is its sole end. God alone is the Lord of life from its
beginning until its end: no one can under any circumstance claim for himself the right
directly to destroy an innocent human being."
Genesis: 6:11; * The earth grew corrupt in God's sight, and filled with violence.
Exodus: 20:13; You shall not kill.
Exodus: 23:7; See that the man who is innocent and just is not done to death, and do not acquit the guilty.
Deuteronomy: 5:17; 'You shall not kill
Deuteronomy: 19:13; You must banish the shedding of innocent blood from Israel, and then you will prosper.
Deuteronomy: 21:9; You must banish all shedding of innocent blood from among you if you mean to do what is right in the eyes of Yahweh.
Deuteronomy: 30:19; I set before you life or death, blessing or curse. Choose life, then, so that you and your descendants may live,
Deuteronomy: 32:39; See now that I, I am He, and beside me there is no other god. It is I who deal death and life; when I have struck it is I who heal (and none can deliver from my hand).
1 Samuel: 2:6; Yahweh gives death and life, brings down to Sheol and draws up;
1 Chronicles: 28:3; *but God has said to me (David), 'You are not to build a house for my name, for you have been a man of war and have shed blood.'
2 Maccabees: 8:2-5; *They called upon Lord to have regard for the people oppressed on all sides, to take pity on the Temple profaned by the godless, * to have mercy on the city falling into ruin and nearly leveled to the ground, to hear the blood of the victims that cried aloud to him, to remember the criminal slaughter of innocent babies and to avenge the blasphemies perpetrated against his name.
Psalms: 94:20-21; You (Yahweh) never consent to that corrupt tribunal that imposes disorder as law, that takes the life of the virtuous and condemns the innocent to death.
Psalms:106:36-38; Serving the pagans' idols, they (Israelites) found themselves trapped into sacrificing their own sons and daughters to demons. They shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, offering them to the idols of Canaan, they polluted the country with blood.
Proverbs: 6:16-19; There are six things that Yahweh hates, seven that his soul abhors: a haughty look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that weaves wicked plots, feet that hurry to do evil, a false witness who lies with every breath, a man who sows dissension among brothers.
Ecclesiates: 4:1-4; I come again to contemplate all the oppression that is committed under the sun. Take for instance the tears of the oppressed, with no one to protect them; the power their oppressors wield. No one to protect them! * So, rather than the living who still have lives to live, I salute the dead who have already met death; * happier than both of these is he who is yet unborn and has not seen the evil things that are done under the sun.
Wisdom: 12:3-6; The ancient inhabitants of your holy land you hated for their loathsome practices, their deeds of sorcery and unholy rites, hated as ruthless murderers of children, as eaters of entrails at feasts of human flesh, initiated while the bloody orgy goes on, as murderous parents of defenseless beings.
Wisdom: 18:5; As they (Egypt) had resolved to kill the infants of the holy ones, (Israel) and as of those exposed only one child had been saved, (Moses) to punish them, you made away with thousands of their children, and destroyed them all together in the wild waves.
Isaiah: 59:7; Their feet run to do evil, are quick to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are sinful thoughts, wherever they go there is havoc and ruin.
Jeremiah 7:4-8: Put no trust in delusive words like these: This is the sanctuary of Yahweh, the sanctuary of Yahweh, the sanctuary of Yahweh! * But if you do amend your behavior and your actions, if you treat each other fairly, * if you do not exploit the stranger, the orphan and the widow (if your do not shed innocent blood in this place), and if you do not follow alien gods, to your own ruin, * then here in this place I will stay with you, in the land that long ago I gave to your fathers for ever.
Jeremiah 22:3-5; * Yahweh says this: Practice honesty and integrity; rescue the man who has been wronged from the hands of his oppressor; do not exploit the stranger, the orphan, the widow; do no violence; shed no innocent blood in this place.
Jeremiah 31:15; Thus speaks Yahweh: A voice is heard in Ramah, lamenting and weeping bitterly: it is Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.
Daniel: 13:54; 'You must not put the innocent and the just to death'
Amos: 1:13; Yahweh says this: For the three crimes, the four crimes , of the sons of Ammon I have made my decree and will not relent: because they have disemboweled the pregnant women of Gilead in order to extend their own frontiers.
2 Kings: 17: 17-18; They (Israel) made their sons and daughters pass through fire, they practiced divination and sorcery, they sold themselves to evil-doing in the sight of Yahweh, provoking his anger. For this, Yahweh was enraged with Israel and thrust them away from him. There was none left but the tribe of Judah only.
2 Kings: 21:16; Manasseh shed innocent blood, too, in such great quantity that he flooded Jerusalem from end to end, apart from the sins into which he led Judah by doing what is displeasing to Yahweh.
2 Kings:24:1-4; During his time Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon invaded, and Jehoiakin became his vassal for three years, but then rebelled against him a second time. * So he sent armed bands of Chaldaeans, Aramaeans, Moabities and Ammonites against him; he sent these against Judah to destroy it, in accordance with the word that Yahweh had spoken through his servants the prophets. That this happened in Judah was due entirely to the anger of Yahweh: he had resolved to thrust them away from him because of the sins of Manasseh and all that he had done, * and also because of the innocent blood that he had shed, flooding Jerusalem from end to end with innocent blood. Yahweh would not forgive.
Matthew: 2:16-18; Herod was furious when he realized that he had been outwitted by the wise men, and in Bethlehem and its surrounding district he had all the male children killed who were two years old or under, reckoning by the date he had been careful to ask the wise men. * It was then that the words spoken through the prophet Jeremiah were fulfilled: A voice was heard in Ramah, sobbing and loudly lamenting: it was Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted because they were no more.
Matthew: 19:18; "These" Jesus replied, "You must not kill. You must not commit adultery. You must not steal. You must not bring false witness. * Honor your father and mother, and: you must love your neighbor as yourself."
Matthew: 27:3-4; When he found that Jesus had been condemned, Judas his betrayer was filled with remorse and took the thirty silver pieces back to the chief priests and elders. "I have sinned"; he said, "I have betrayed innocent blood."
John: 8:3-11; The scribes and Pharisees brought a woman along who had been caught committing adultery; and making her stand there in full view of everybody, they said to Jesus, "Master, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery, * and Moses has ordered us in the law to condemn women like this to death by stoning. What do you have to say?" * they asked him this as a test, looking for something to use against him. But Jesus bent down and started writing on the ground with his finger. * As they persisted with their question, he looked up and said, "If there is one of you who has not sinned, let him be the first to throw a stone at her."
Revelation: 22:13-15; I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. * Happy are those who will have washed their robes clean, so that they will have the right to feed on the tree of life and can come through the gates into the city. * These others must stay outside: dogs, fortunetellers, and fornicators, and murderers, and idolaters, and everyone of false speech and false life."
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©2000, James J. Schwarzwalder, 400 East Elm Avenue, Lindenwold, N.J. 08021