Behold, a certain legal expert stood up to test him, saying, “Teacher, what must I do so that I will inherit eternal life?”

And he said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read it?”

And he answered and said, “You shall love the Lord your God from all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”

And he said to him, “You have answered correctly. Do this and you will live.”

But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

And Jesus replied and said,

“A certain woman was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of rapists. After impregnating her, they went away, leaving her to return home by herself. Now by coincidence a certain church-goer was there, and when the woman asked him, he advised her to have an abortion. And in the same way also a lawyer, when she came to him, advised her to terminate the pregnancy. But a certain atheist who was traveling came up to her and had compassion. And he reasoned with her and explained that she was already a mother, though she did not wish to be, and offered to adopt her child when it came time for it to be born. Which of these three do you suppose became a neighbor of the woman’s unborn child?”

So he said, “The one who showed mercy to him.”

And Jesus said to him, “You go and do likewise.”

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