I have a coworker who was telling me his girlfriend had a miscarriage, and that’s why he doesn’t believe in God. I tried to comfort him by telling him that the baby could not have sinned, thus had to be in heaven. He seems like he may be interested in God, it seems we made some progress. I did let him know that the baby shouldn’t have been conceived in the first place, but I also let told him that suffering is a part of life and quoted Acts 10:34.<\/p>\n
However, after giving thought to the subject, do we know that unborn babies have souls? I understand they are considered as any human life, from the law of Moses in Exodus. But do we have any more in Scripture that talks about when a soul is given to us? At conception or birth?<\/p>\n
I was going to give him a study about suffering in this life and about unborn children, losing children, and death. But I want to make sure where I’m going is the truth.<\/p>\n
I’ve always heard Christians speak about how they will meet their stillborn children one day in heaven, and this has led me to that conclusion. The man I heard say this was an elder, which definitely gives me the impression that it is scriptural to say that an unborn baby has a soul.<\/p>\n
Thanks again for all your help. Your answers and articles have helped me grow.<\/p>\n\t
“Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them<\/em>” (Psalms 139:16).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
God makes plans for people’s lives even before they are born. This is illustrated in Jeremiah’s case: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations<\/em>” (Jeremiah 1:5). Jeremiah was picked by God to be a prophet from the time he was conceived. Jeremiah didn’t find his job pleasant. There were times he would have rather have died before birth. “Because he did not kill me from the womb, that my mother might have been my grave, and her womb always enlarged with me. Why did I come forth from the womb to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?<\/em>” (Jeremiah 20:17-18). The point I would like you to see that Jeremiah saw himself as alive and a person before his birth. That means he did have a spirit (the part that makes you who you are) and he had a soul (life).<\/p>\n
“Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ<\/em>” (I Thessalonians 5:23).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
People are made up of three things: body (the physical container), spirit (the part of us that is like God), and soul (our life). When we talk about a human being, we are talking about the combination of all three. John the Baptist was given the Holy Spirit before his birth: “For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb<\/em>” (Luke 1:15). People are referred to as children before and after birth. “But the children struggled together within her; and she said, “If all is well, why am I like this?” So she went to inquire of the LORD<\/em>” (Genesis 25:22). All of this indicates that people are humans before birth.<\/p>\n
Therefore when an unborn child dies, its spirit returns to God. “Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it<\/em>” (Ecclesiastes 12:7).<\/p>\n\t
Response:<\/h2>\n
Thanks again. This helps a lot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: I have a coworker who was telling me his girlfriend had a miscarriage, and that’s why he doesn’t believe in God. I tried to comfort him by telling him that the baby could not have sinned, thus had to be in heaven. He seems like he may be interested in God, it seems we…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[110,109],"class_list":["post-33497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-children","tag-death"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7003,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/whose-body-is-it\/","url_meta":{"origin":33497,"position":0},"title":"Whose Body Is It?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 1, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jarrod M. Jacobs Those who favor abortions often argue something like this: \u201cIt is the woman\u2019s body and she can choose to do with it what she pleases.\u201d This is not a logical argument nor is it Biblically sound. Why do I say this? First, let us remember that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28005,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-abortion-debate\/","url_meta":{"origin":33497,"position":1},"title":"The Abortion Debate","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 29, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by David Lanphear Biblical Insights, July 2007 Public debate about abortion has raged for decades. When Roe v. Wade altered the legal landscape for the unborn in 1973, the issue moved to the forefront of political discussion and activism and has not yielded its position. Abortion is a hot button\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/fetus-300x300.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":84477,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-babe-and-child\/","url_meta":{"origin":33497,"position":2},"title":"The Babe and Child","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 12, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Luke, a first-century physician and an inspired historian, lets us see how an unborn and born baby are fully human, whether in or out of the womb. In other words, birth is not the moment of becoming human and now worthy of life-support! When John the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":45097,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-got-pregnant-when-i-sinned-and-now-my-father-wants-me-to-abort-the-child-what-should-i-do\/","url_meta":{"origin":33497,"position":3},"title":"I got pregnant when I sinned and now my father wants me to abort the child. What should I do?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 21, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good evening minister. I am a Christian and very influential to both the young and the old. I am 29 years old but, due to circumstances, I am still living with my parents. I read one of your posting about the answer to the question:\u00a0How do you repent of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":36430,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/state-court-recognizes-unborn-children-as-people\/","url_meta":{"origin":33497,"position":4},"title":"State Court Recognizes Unborn Children as People","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 11, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Source:\u00a0John-Henry Westen, \"Alabama Supreme Court: 'unborn children are persons with rights that should be protected by law',\" Life Site News, 11 January 2013. \"The ruling states, \"The decision of this Court today is in keeping with the widespread legal recognition that unborn children are persons with rights that should be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Issues"","block_context":{"text":"Issues","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":48973,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/thoughts-on-abortion\/","url_meta":{"origin":33497,"position":5},"title":"Thoughts on Abortion","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 28, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jefferson David Tant The United States, and much of the world, are embroiled in a dispute over abortion -- the killing of an unborn child. Since the United States Supreme Court recently ruled that the U.S. Constitution does not guarantee the right to abortion, violence has broken out in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33497\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}