Yeah... that makes alot of sences. I would have to agree with that

Nah, I figured not Miguel but I think this is one of those questions that most people will automatically jump to conclusions on, I know I did (and figured I was wrong but went ahead anyway). And I most certainly didn't want to start any kind of controversy, having enough of that in my own life. Sorry if I did/do!

I am going to assume you are talking about an individual human life here and not just a living cell or organism in a petry dish. As far as basic life is concerned, I think everything is "alive" even rocks.

Human life cannot exist for long unless it is animated by spirit or a life stream from spirit or higher self. Bodies can be created or cloned in a laboratory. But even a clone must be animated by spirit in order to continue to live and be aware.

Therefore, individual life of a person begins when a body is animated by a life stream from spirit. I believe that a life stream from spirit enters and connects to the body directly before or after the actual birth of the body. If that does not happen, the body will soon die no matter how healthy it is.

JB

Biologicallly speaking, there is no less "life" in either the ovum cell or the spermatozoid cell, than there is in the resulting zygote cell. In that sense, fertilization is not really a "start" but simply a "change" or "continuation" or "growth".

However, I guess you could say that fertilization is "the start of a new multi-cellular organism called a human body." So if you define "a human body" as "life", then yes, fertilization would be "the start of life".

However, there are the "spiritual" views of life that have nothing to do with biology. In that sense, I believe that life has no "beginning" per se because it's existence is not dependent upon the physical universe.

It seems to me that this would depend on your religion and how you define "life".

For pantheists life aways was and aways will be. It has not beginning or end. Moreover, everything that exists is alive with spirit.

For people who believe in a God that creates individual 'souls' that come into being at birth and then somehow have an opportunity for everylasting life after their body dies, it would seem to me that the question would become extremely complex.

When does this God create a 'soul'. Forget about biology altogether. Biology is meaningless. God can place a soul into a physical body any he so desires.

Would God choose to do this when the sperm and egg come together? Would he chose to do this after the fetus has developed to having a beating heart and a functioning brain?

Would he choose to do this only after the fully formed baby is born and takes its first breath of air? That would fit in with the idea of God 'breathing' the breath of life into Adam.

I think when you talk about individual 'souls' being created by a God who consciously intervenes with living beings then you've got a lot more to consider than mere biology. Otherwise you're just reducing yourself to a cold-blooded scientist.

Also, in this picture of a Soul-giving God you need to ask whether animals have souls? Does God give anaimals eternal souls? Or are they just soul-less biological robots for the entertainment of humans?

That would beg the question of whether or not animals even qualify as being "alive".

In the pantheistic view there's no question. Everying is alive, and there are no separate 'souls' to be judged, rewarded, or condemened. All is one. We are all manifestions of the life source. We are all children of God without exception.

Of course, if you're an atheist then there is such thing as 'life'. All that exists are a bunch of biological robots that have no clue what they are but it doesn't matter because it will all be over for them shortly and then they will no longer exist to reflect on the issues any further.

You know where I stand on the issue. Pantheism all the way. So from that point of view your question is totally moot for me. Life always exists and always will exist. Our true nature is spiritual, not physical.

Everything is alive and connected and ULTIMATELY all is one.

But there are individual "persons" or "souls" in my opinion. I call them data centers. They are thinking centers powered by spirit.

One individual is truly a collection of individuals, or a universe unto them self. Your body is a universe. It is a collection of life forms and energy and information.

Break down the parts and you will find cells, then parts of cells, then atoms, and now they are looking for what they call "the god particle" saying that it is the source of unlimited energy.

Very interesting...

Life begins at conception...that's in the natrual of course.

An amazing thing is the Bible says God knew us BEFORE we were conceived...but that's a whole other topic.

thank you all, for your answers.

Life starts where you're born.

That would seem to indicate that you're basing "the start of life" on the "ability to perceive"? That's a perfectly valid criteria, but the line is still fuzzy. The single-cell zygote is sensitive to it's environment to some degree. So what's the "magic number" of cells? When does it suddenly change from a "lifeless multi-cellular organism" to a "living person"? That's really just a rhetorical question to point out that if you're going to define "life" in terms of biology, then you can't just draw some arbitrary line and say life is on one side and non-life is on the other. The only "start of life" from a biological standpoint would have to be when the chromosomes from the spermatazoid combine with the chromosomes from the ovum. But even then, that is a process that takes time, so where during that time period does it change from "non-living" to "living"?

LIFE itself is in a single sperm and in a single egg. If your sperm is not swimming they may be considered "dead." If they all die out, you may be sterile.

The law says that human life begins at birth for the sake of law. If a child is born alive and does not live a certain amount of time (a few days I think) after birth it is considered "still born" having never lived.

The "person" develops most rapidly in the first five years after birth. That is why trauma and abuse can mess a person up for life.

MIND CONTROL:
It is during this time that mind control techniques are started on children to turn that person into a controllable robot slave. Its called trauma induced mind control and it causes splintered personalities that can be triggered to change into controllable robots.

It's called MK-Ultra if you want to research it. Its very ugly.

MK-ULTRA still remains classified as top secret. Officially, the CIA refuses to acknowledge it. In the aftermath of Watergate, the CIA released voluminous documents under the Freedom of Information act on MK-ULTRA and other projects. Several good books soon followed the release. Perhaps, the closest admission of the program came in an interview of William Colby by Anton Chaitkin of the New Federalist. When directly asked what about MONARCH, Colby angry replied "We stopped that between the late 1960's and the early 1970's." Knowledge of Project MONARCH comes from its victims. The first to surface was Candy Jones, a model with the birth name of Jessica Wilcox. Jones apparently fit the physiological profile as to be one of the initial experiments of MK-ULTRA. Her story was told in the book The Control of Candy Jones.

JB

It's been a long time since I've heard mention of MK-Ultra. Yes, it is a truly frightening thing.

Here's an interesting question: What would happen if someone were to develop a technology that was capable of undoing the effects of MK-Ultra? What would the CIA try to do to such a person/technology? (Hint: It happened.)

Well the CIA, in my opinion is totally evil and corrupt so there is no telling what they might try to do. I know a few people have recovered from MK-Ultra but I have not been keeping up on the technology to undo this. The problem is finding the victims I would think. They look and act like normal people.

JB

I believe life starts when two people pray together really loud...OH GOD...OH GOD...OH GOD!

Sorry! The Mary Poppins version is...life starts with the twinkle of an eye.

life starts when the vibrational thought is put forth to create it.

physical birth starts at conception, as does physical death.

physical death and birth are seperated by an ifinitly small period of time [as we know it] before continued rebirth and death begin again.

j.M.

and the seasons they go round and round
and the painted ponies go up and down
were cast aways on the carousel of time
and we go round and round and round in the circle game.

L&M
and we go on and on, watching the river run
further and further from things that we've done
leaving them one by one

and we have just begun watching the river run
listning and learning and yearning to run river run.

felt i in amusical mood today -

Looks to me like tribo an no1slove are on the same page!

Conception when that "seed" is planted it is a life.

I work with an organization called Avenues and am proud to be part of an organization that says and believes this everyday.

Wow, I didn't expect so many in here to share similar views with mine.

To me life never truly "starts" or "ends" but simply changes, and there is no "life" more important or better than another, just different with a different role so to speak.

Death is not the end, nor is it evil.......just as life is not the beginning but a continuation. As was said, the sperm is alive and the egg is alive, they combine to make something DIFFERENT. Without said sperm and egg the embryo, fetus, baby, toddler, child, adolescent, young adult, adult would not have been possible. If considered this way, the life of said sperm is just as important........in the cycle. Do we cry when sperm dies?? No, because with things we are less "attached" to we accept the cycle.....It is only because we "cling" to "life" and do not understand "death" that we view the human death as being a negative thing.......

BUT anyhoo.

Life never begins and never ends, but always exists in one form or another. Human form is not greater or more important than another, they each have their purpose. When I am clear headed and not controlled by my attachments I accept this, and though I may miss the passing of life from one form to one I am less attached to(a friend, a parent, a dog) I realize that they are a part of me, and I them.........and that nothing is truly lost.

Very nice.