I doubt there is a clear respone to suit. All people are different of any religion or the lack of it.  I don't think any Christian Church goes around making million rules - a person is not ruled by a Church. It is between them and the law of the country and between them and their conscience or the lack of it.

BelindaCatching:  But by Jewish law, if your car is headed towards a tree (that will kill you) and the only alternative is to swerve into a little girl on the playground (killing her), you are NOT allowed to kill the innocent person to save your own life.

The thing is, this law is irrelevant.  Equating an embryo or fetus, which is still inside the mother, with a schoolgirl doesn't make any sense.

1.  A more relevant law to analyze is the one where killing a fetus will net you a fine while killing the mother will get you the death penalty.

2.  The bible seems to take, as does our laws, the position that you have to be born (and take your first breath) to "count".  (Our US Constitution does NOT say "People CONCEIEVED in the US are citizens."  It says "BORN".)

3.  Not that it matters, because if God tells you to kill women, children, pets, imaginary friends, etc ... you must do so or God will kill you.  :)

I'm trying to understand whether Christianity changed the Jewish rule about taking innocent life to  protect your own; I do not know

Again, the rule was not changed.  You are analyzing an irrelevant rule, as the OT is not what PL'ers make it out to be.  I've read the Abortion Debate boards long enough to know PL'ers can't come up with one scientific or biblically theological relevant quote.  Not killing what can have pain makes no sense, since we eat to live.  If a single cell can be a person, are we killing trillions of "people" with antibiotics and our natural immune system?  If a single embryo splits into multiples, are those one "person" or many?  Why are you simply fined for injuring/killing a fetus in the bible and given the death penalty for killing the mother?  Why is Adam and Eve not considered alive until they are breathing and functioning?  Why is abortion given as a test for an unfaithful woman?  In the bible you name your kid after several days (a practical thing to do in a world of high infant mortality), or at least do some sort of ritual that asserts you are now holding a person.  If "the bible" says embryos are innocent people (it doesn't), why does Christianity claim all people are sinners, inheriting Original Sin?  You're either innocent or not, right?

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Jan 5, 2012 -- 2:02AM, BelindaCatchings wrote:

It seems that about 80% of Christian pro-lifers tend to echo only when the mother's life is in danger

There are times when people are forced to play God and that is one of them. Personally I would choose to save the mother because I am not comfortable with bringing a child into the world without its mommy.

I think there are two ways to look at the question:

1. Does Jewish law -- the written law -- have a definitive rule regarding whether a fetus is a person? The prohibition against taking an innocent life to save one's own life would not apply to abortion (to save the mother's life) if a fetus is not considered a person.

2. If there is no "black-letter law" defining the personhood or non-personhood of a fetus, does the assembled rabbinical commentaries on the law -- the Talmud -- offer any guidance on this issue?

i do not know the answer to either of these questions; we must defer here to a scholar in the Jewish law. Then, depending on what answer is given, it may be possible to say whether or not a change occurred that makes allowance for abortion to save the mother's life.

The only thing I can say is that the Bible will not provide a clear answer: there are passages that suggest that the unborn still matter to God, but there are also passages in which God himself is portrayed as committing infanticide.

Jan 5, 2012 -- 2:02AM, BelindaCatchings wrote:

It seems that about 80% of Christian pro-lifers tend to echo "only when the mother's life is in danger" - but I have hit a roadblock trying to explain this to myself; I know in Jewish law it is forbidden to take an innocent person's life to save your own (although you can kill a guilty person trying to kill you, say an enemy soldier). But by Jewish law, if your car is headed towards a tree (that will kill you) and the only alternative is to swerve into a little girl on the playground (killing her), you are NOT allowed to kill the innocent person to save your own life.

Now, I do not know the Christian faith very well, but I am curious if there is any justification for this apparent change? Something scriptural or by the church or something? I know much of the Jewish law does not apply because Paul said something about how "the cross took away the law"...but is it accepted in (some parts of?) Christianity that it IS acceptable to take an innocent human life to reduce the risk of imminent harm to yourself?

I hope somebody will be able to clear this up for me, thank you.

Also, I apologise, I am not trying to be passive-aggressive or start an abortion flamewar - this is just a genuine need for me right now.

Many Christians, including me, agree with your take and do not think abortion is always the same as killing someone.