Parenthood Starts at Conception

Introduction

A friend once invited me to his group Bible study. Although both Christian, we disagreed on several important issues. Some of our disagreements concerned Jesus’ mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary. For example, contrary to my friend’s understanding, Catholics don’t consider Mary an idol or goddess; instead, they greatly respect, honor and even love her. She’s the mother of Jesus, and we’re His siblings.

The misunderstandings prompted me to begin studying on my own some of the parallel stories in Genesis and the New Testament. The first was that of Abraham’s wife, Sarah, because she and her son Isaac had so much in common with Mary and Jesus. Each woman heard that she’d give birth to a son, and each found that hard to understand given her circumstances. Each woman was told anything is possible with God and each did give birth to a son. As for the sons, both Isaac and Jesus were to have their lives sacrificed. God stopped Abraham from killing his son Isaac, but God allowed Jesus to be crucified.

After a while Jesus’ ascension reminded me of another parallel story in Genesis, that of Enoch. Unlike everyone else in Genesis, Enoch never died; instead God assumed him into heaven. In Enoch’s story I noticed a numerical sign.

Gen 5:21-24 When Enoch was sixty-five years old, he became the father of Methuselah. 22 Enoch lived three hundred years after the birth of Methuselah, and he had other sons and daughters. 23 The whole lifetime of Enoch was three hundred and sixty-five years. 24 Then Enoch walked with God, and he was no longer here, for God took him.

Now I confess that I had read these verses numerous times before and, frankly, just glossed over the numbers, not giving them much thought; they didn’t seem to be very relevant to the story. This time however, the numbers jumped out at me.

Enoch was the only person in Genesis whom God assumed into heaven, but He did so exactly 300 years after the birth of a son. Jesus ascended into heaven 33 years after the birth of a son (Him). The years added together happen to total 333. (300 + 33)

Many readers will consider that total coincidental; some will wonder why anyone would even consider adding them together. Like quite a few other people though, I thought it was interesting that God decided to take Enoch precisely when He did. It occurred to me that there might be more of these signs. Actually I’d find it to be one of many. In each case, the New and Old Testaments would be linked through parallel stories, numbers within the stories, and math.

I found the next sign while thoroughly reading Genesis and noticing what seemed to be clues. One was from the last five verses in the book, where the age of Jacob’s son, Joseph, is shown at death; four verses earlier his years of life are provided. Another clue was from Abraham’s three visitors mentioning they’d return “about this time next year” and see Sarah’s newborn child, Isaac. The clues had me focusing on pregnancy and the only woman in Genesis with an age provided, Sarah.

Sarah is actually the only female in all of Scripture for whom an age is shown. In studying her stories I noticed some infrequent wording being used for both Abraham and her. Each of them passed away after a “span of life.” Almost everyone else in Genesis died at “years old,” the end of a “lifetime” or a final “age.” That caused me to apply the theory that life begins at conception, but years old, lifetime and age begin at birth. From that perspective another numerical sign caught my attention, and this stunned me. I realized that the total number of years which Sarah, Abraham, and Jesus lived after birth is also 333.

Continuing on I noted that the only people in Genesis who “walked with God” had their lives saved. Enoch’s life was saved permanently with his assumption into heaven; Noah’s life was saved temporarily, when God had him survive the flood. Still from the theory that life begins at conception, Enoch’s and Noah’s years of life to date when each “walked with God,” combined with Jesus’ when He rose from the dead, total 999 (i.e. three times 333).

I knew these unusual totals couldn’t be coincidental; at the same time they weren’t proving anything. Regarding the Christian Bible, St. Augustine once said the New Testament is concealed in the Old, and the Old is revealed in the New. Without realizing it, I had begun an entire exegesis of Genesis and its numbers. I would soon place or calculate every age of every person from Genesis on computer spreadsheets. The final theory I applied was the most revealing.

It makes plenty of sense, but it doesn’t fall in line with the way our culture thinks today. To begin a child’s life, a mother, a father and God are needed. The life and childhood begin at conception. If the childhood begins at conception, the parenthood can’t begin nine months later. The two have to start simultaneously. They begin together at conception.

My exegesis led far beyond applying theories and seeing signs. I discovered three unresolved math problems in Genesis. They were hard to find because each was a combination of verses from two or more chapters.

While the first enigma had been known of for decades, I found the other two. In solving them I discovered what Genesis reveals mathematically. “Years old”, “lifetime” and “age” begin at birth, but “life” and “span of life” begin at conception. Genesis also discloses mathematically that parenthood and childhood can only begin together at conception. Thinking in that way each math problem gets resolved; otherwise it does not.

At first I had only planned to read more Genesis and discuss different Christian beliefs. By the end of this project I’d see that Genesis mathematically disagrees with the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision.