When Christians Say, “I Believe Life Starts at Conception” is a book about life and death. As living souls created in the image of God, humans experience life as a body-soul unity. We ask questions like “Who am I? What is my story? What is life about? How can I know what is true, and to whom am I accountable?”
Christians are familiar with the idea that life begins at conception. But because the age in which we live is predominantly humanistic and utilitarian, our definitions of death have become more elastic. In 1968, doctors at Harvard Medical School redefined death to include people in an “irreversible” coma. There were no new studies, tests, or evidence that people in a coma are dead. Comatose people have beating hearts and breathing lungs, and their body systems still work together in an integrated fashion: they are still biologically very much alive. However, because doctors had found that only organs from living donors could be successfully transplanted, they redefined death to skirt the ethical and legal culpability of murdering incapacitated people for their organs.
While this redefinition of death is hotly debated amongst physicians, lawyers, and bioethicists, the public has been kept in the dark. This book intends to change that. Some of the facts in this book may surprise you, but they’re medically accurate. During my medical training, I provided anesthesia for an organ donor and saw firsthand how he responded to incisions and surgery. I have no doubt now that his life-giving spirit was still in union with his body—he was still alive—even though he was declared dead.
When Christians Say, “I Believe Life Starts at Conception” also addresses the faulty worldview that drives so many physicians, bioethicists, and clergy. Many today see living human beings made in the image of God as just “molecules in motion,” or they define disabled people lacking mental abilities as being unworthy of life.
With his background in nursing and theology and his experience as an author, Christopher W. Bogosh has a unique ability to explain the Christian view of life, death, and medical care. He is committed to 2 Corinthians 10:5, “Casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.”
In this book, Bogosh uses the Word of God to define the meaning of life and death, and then he successfully applies this knowledge to medical science. He uses a holistic approach in the best sense of the word: his prescription addresses the needs of our bodies and the questions of our souls.
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