"I charge you" is the key to this chunk of Scripture, and for that, you need to go back to what I said in my comments on 1 Tim. 5:21, "I charge you to keep these instructions..."

An important requirement for a "charge" is for there to be witnesses. In this case, Paul points to God, and to Christ Jesus, His Son.

Let's break this down.

In the sight of God, who gives life to everything...

God the Father, the creator of the universe, is watching! In the beginning, he created all life, and he continues to give life to all. With Adam, the first man, "the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being" (Gen. 2:7). The Father gives life, and also sustains it.

There is this idea out there that there might be a God somewhere, but he's not actually involved in our world. It's like a clock-maker who made the clock, wound up its spring, and has now stepped away and is just letting it run down. What happens in the world he created is just not interesting to him. He doesn't care.

That is not what the Bible teaches. The Father is very much involved, cares very much, loves very much, and both sustains our lives and gives life every day. In fact, he is involved in every conception that takes place. David the Psalmist wrote, "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb" (Psalm 139:13). God didn't just "make us," he made me - and you. He brought together the DNA of father and mother to create a brand new life.

Based on all we know, there is no reason to believe that life begins at any time other than conception. Any other view is arbitrary - "Life begins when there is a heart-beat," "Life begins at 3 months" or "6 months" or "at viability" or "at birth." It seems so simple to say that life begins when that new life has been created - when an egg has been fertilized by a sperm.

Every life is a gift from God. It begins when he causes it to begin by bringing together the necessary ingredients and it continues until…

Okay, so when does life end? I have to say when we have taken our last breath. In some cases, life can be sustained for a while after we can no longer breath on our own. Respirators can continue to pump oxygen into our lungs, and carbon dioxide out. Our lungs then take that oxygen, put it in our blood, which goes throughout our body and brain to keep us alive. So I believe the modern definition would have more to do with a functioning brain and brainwave activity. If the heart is pumping, and the lungs are working, but the brain is dead, we've now accepted that life has ended. And we begin talking about harvesting healthy organs to sustain the lives of others. What an incredible God, who created us in such a way that many of the parts of our non-functioning body can be used by others! And what incredible discoveries there have been in recent years of how to circumvent the protections built into our bodies that would reject such creativity! We truly are fearfully and wonderfully made!

Over the last number of years, we've talked a lot about quality of life, and not just sustainability of life. I'm thinking of the person who is bed-ridden with Parkinson's Disease, or Alzheimer's, or cancer, or any number of diseases which cause immobility, unbearable pain, or complete disorientation. The question becomes, at what point is life no longer worth living?

I don't pretend to be an expert in this area by any means, but it seems reasonable that as long as a body is capable of functioning on its own, no active means should be taken to bring life to an end. I also know that this could be an incredibly difficult time for everyone involved. No one likes to see a loved one suffer.