Insight on the News
Door to a Previous Life?
Some months ago three elementary- and junior-high-school girls were found lying unconscious on a road in Tokushima, Japan, the result of a suicide attempt. What prompted their action? The Asahi Shimbun reported: “They believed that they were reincarnations of ancient princesses and persuaded themselves that they could glimpse their previous life if they reached a point of near death.” Behind this incident, says the newspaper, is “the tendency among children to retreat into an occult world, [which] has been spreading considerably over the past few years.” The girls were avid readers of comic books featuring reincarnation.
Accepting the concept of reincarnation, however, is just as useless as staggering toward a mirage in a desert. The Bible reveals that at death ‘a person goes back to his ground, and in that day his thoughts do perish.’ (Psalm 146:4) This truth about death has been shrouded by the deceptive teaching that a soul survives the death of a person. Rather than teaching that humans have an immortal soul, the Bible says that the soul dies. (Ezekiel 18:4) But for those in God’s memory, there is the grand hope of a resurrection. (John 5:28, 29) The Bible also exposes the chief instigator of the immortal soul and reincarnation doctrines; he is Satan the Devil, “the father of the lie.”—John 8:44; compare Genesis 3:4.
Catholics and Abortion
Almost a decade has passed since the referendum on abortion in Italy that saw the Catholic Church defeated. However, in a document recently issued by Italian bishops, the Catholic hierarchy is again pointing out that “the refusal to practice abortion or even only to collaborate in it constitutes a grave moral obligation, rooted in the law written on the heart of each man and reaffirmed by the church in its legislation, which punishes with excommunication Christians who practice abortion or who collaborate in it.”
What do Italians think about abortion? A recent survey involving 2,040 people revealed that contrary to the dictates of the church, Italians approve of abortion in four situations. (1) If a pregnancy endangers the mother’s life, 83 percent are in favor of abortion. (2) When there is the risk of a malformation of the fetus, 76.3 percent favor ending the pregnancy. (3) When the woman’s health is at risk, 71.1 percent favor abortion. (4) If a pregnancy is the result of rape, 55.2 percent agree that abortion should be allowed. More than 1 Italian in 4 is in favor of abortion “in all the situations where a woman wishes it,” reports La Repubblica. An estimated 300,000 legal and illegal abortions are performed each year in Italy.
It is evident that in such intimate matters, the Catholic hierarchy has been unable to give its faithful adequate Scriptural instruction to command their obedience. However, true Christians have been taught what the Scriptures say on this vital subject. Out of respect for the Bible’s high moral requirements, they do not practice abortion in any of the four situations described above.—Exodus 21:22-25; see also Psalm 139:14-17; Jeremiah 1:5.