Miracle Bodies
Webster defines a body as:
1a) the main part of a plant or animal body especially as distinguished from limbs and head
2a) the organized physical substance of an animal or plant either living or dead
The first definition is focused on the distinction between the main portion of a body (trunk, thorax, and etc,) as distinct from the extremities (arms, legs, tail, or even head) the second definition focuses on the distinction between the entire being of an animal or plant as distinct from its surroundings.
All plants and animals have bodies by either definition.
When a head pops out from a mother’s birth canal, it is clear that this is a different and separate head from Mom’s. No one in the room thinks it is mom’s head coming out of her body. Then comes the neck and shoulders and finally the arms, trunk, and legs of the baby. Everyone in the room knows that this is not mom’s body. Everyone. No one thinks a miracle just occurred and out of nothing – poof a body just appears, never having existed before.
But lets back up a bit.
Before the head came out – while it was still in the birth canal, was it a head? Were there arms and legs and stuff attached below? Yupper, there were…. And it was not mom’s head, nor her trunk, nor her arms and legs. They all belonged to that thing inside her. For the moment, let’s avoid calling this thing with a separate head, trunk, legs, and arms – a body – a specific term. Let’s call it Thing X. While its in the birth canal, Thing X has an organized physical substance – which above is the definition of a body. Thing X has a body. No one can reasonably deny this. Thing X’s body does not just suddenly pop into existence as it leaves the birth canal like it never existed before. It pre-existed birth. No one can reasonably deny this. Mom also has a body – an organized physical substance. Her body is her body. No one can reasonably deny that either. There are two bodies after birth occurs and there were two bodies before birth occurred. To deny this would be metaphysical or semantic folly.
Go back several weeks – even several months, and we find that Thing X has a body back then. Go all the way back to seven weeks after conception. What do we find then?
Even though it is only in its second month, Thing X’s body is already forming every organ it will need — including the heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, and intestines. It has arms already. Buds are sprouting from Thing X’s growing arms. Right now they look like paddles, but eventually they’ll form hands and feet. Your baby is attached to mom’s body by an umbilical cord. Through this connection, Mom’s body will provide food, and filter away Thing X’s wastes until it exits through the birth canal and the umbilical cord is cut. Thing X’s body is performing cellular processes called metabolism (taking in energy, using it for cell operations and then expelling waste products of those processes) and is growing. This is what is known as life,
So, the real question is, when did Thing X first have its own body? At birth? In the birth canal? At seven weeks after conception? At conception? Of course all this is debatable, but what must be taken into account when debating is that Thing X has human DNA (and is therefore “human”) code in every cell that is different from mom’s human DNA and is completely unique. In many cases it will have a different blood type. In half the cases it will be a different sex from mom.
In every case, however, it has a different body. It is a body within a body – at least from some point in time forward. This is scientifically and semantically undeniable. What is present at birth is a living human with a separate body from moms. What is present at 7 weeks? The same Thing. Some call this a miracle.
What are the ramifications of this? You tell me.
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For His Glory,
Jim