Advancements in the fields of science and medicine have led to an increased awareness of what occurs at the various stages of pregnancy. It has been discovered that many significant developmental milestones occur long before birth. The first eight weeks following conception are when most body parts and all body systems appear and begin functioning. Five weeks after conception, the spinal cord, brain, and heart have already started formation. On the sixth week, the heart (with all four chambers) is pumping blood to the brain and throughout the body. By the eighth week, brainwaves have can be recorded as well as a response to light and touch. At 12 weeks, yawning has been observed, fingerprints have begun formation, and some bones begin to harden. Technological advancements have provided profound discoveries in the immense development that occurs during even the first trimester of pregnancy. And yet, as the abortion debate continues, new questions have started to su...
I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary... Since the era of the Enlightenment, there have been objections to the authenticity of Jesus' birth found in the gospel narratives of Matthew and Luke. Some scholars have suggested that early Christians borrowed mythical elements from ancient literature in an attempt to adapt the gospel to a Hellenistic (Greek) culture (1), while others have suggested that there has been an error in translating the word almah, leading to a conclusion that the original authors did not explicitly express. Many versions of the Bible render this word as virgin while critics argue that it should be translated young woman or maiden. William Beck, who has done extensive research of the word comments, I have searched exhaustively for instances in which almah might mean a non-virgin or a married woman. Ther...