When Does the Soul Enter the Body?

A human being is not intrinsically morally valuable because of the chemicals that make up his body. It's the soul that infuses the body and makes it valuable. Now, why then would I hold to pro-life very ardently? Well, it's simply because, I think it's Obama who once said in the debate at Willow Creek, it's beyond our pay grade to know when the soul enters the body. We have absolutely no idea when the fetus is ensouled, and therefore wisdom and prudence indicates that you should regard the fetus as human – fully human, ensouled – right from the moment of conception. I remember Greg Koukl gave a wonderful illustration of this when he said, “Suppose your son walks into the room and you're working at your desk, and from behind you he says ‘Hey Dad, can I kill it?’” And Greg says you're going to want to find out whether he's talking about the roach on the floor, or he's talking about his baby sister! You've got to know what you're dealing with before you can answer the question if you have a right to end its life. And with regard to the developing fetus, we are clueless as to when the soul and the body are joined together, and therefore we ought to think of it as, I think, since the moment of conception. So it's wrong to think of the developing fetus as a potential person. Rather we ought to think of it as a person with potential. This is a person from the get-go, but its potentials will be actualized over time and not really fully actualized until it's several years of age after birth.