Sunday night I did something a bit unfair. When the moderator asked if anyone had any questions before moving on to the pre-approved questions I said yes. What was my question? In light of Pastor's sermon about Abraham and Sarah taking matters into their own hands instead of waiting on God to act in His time, is it wrong to use reproductive technology?
There was a uneasy silence. I am sure they did not expect THAT to be asked. So there was a great deal of embarrassed hemming and hawing. Finally it was decided that no, it was not wrong to use such technologies. As one person said, "if God didn't want you to have a child then those technologies would not work on you." Because nothing happens that isn't God's will.
So I let the matter drop there, but I don't know if they realize what a minefield they opened up with that statement that nothing happens that isn't God's will. That negates the entire concept of Sin, because in order to sin you have to be free to go against God's will and if nothing happens against God's will then sin isn't possible. The heart of Christianity is that humankind, in the form of Adam and Eve, openly rebelled against God in the Garden of Eden by eating the forbidden fruit. According to the above reasoning, they could have only eaten the fruit if it were God's will that they do so, otherwise they wouldn't be capable of defying God. The system has built-in limits to prevent that from happening. Free will is an illusion; we are no more able to rebel against God than a character in a book or a play can rebel against its author. The character can only "rebel" if the author writes it in to the plot.
I work in research. Every so often a compound proves to be so toxic that everyone involved in the study agrees that there is no point in pursuing research on this drug. According to the above logic, God did not want these compounds released into the open market. Fine. But then what about drugs like Phen-Fen which went through all the steps and only proved to be hazardous once they reached the general population? Where is God's will in that? The drug was approved; it was marketed; and thousands died. Cause and effect? Was it the drug that caused the deaths? Was it God's will to allow this drug on the market knowing it would kill people? Did He want people to die from this drug? Or did the drug have nothing at all to do with it and it was simply coincidence that this drug appeared to be involved in a large number of deaths? That these people would have died anyway when they did die? To get back to reproductive technology, when it works it's because it's God's will a child be conceived and when it doesn't it's His will that one not be conceived? Or conceived but not implanted? Then how can we determine the effectiveness of such procedures (which are costly and invasive) if we have no way of knowing for sure? There is a famous verse in the New Testament about believers being able to drink poison and handle deadly serpents. Is it because ultimately there is no such thing as poison or deadly serpents? Is it all a matter of what God has on his mind at that particular moment? Which means usually--but not always--if you drink poison you will die, but it is not the poison that kills you. It's just that today just wasn't your day. Your number was up and would have been no matter what you did or didn't do.
Maybe it is true. I DO think too much. And it really isn't fair to ask questions of people who are not prepared, who haven't been trained to answer them. I will try to be better in the future.
There was a uneasy silence. I am sure they did not expect THAT to be asked. So there was a great deal of embarrassed hemming and hawing. Finally it was decided that no, it was not wrong to use such technologies. As one person said, "if God didn't want you to have a child then those technologies would not work on you." Because nothing happens that isn't God's will.
So I let the matter drop there, but I don't know if they realize what a minefield they opened up with that statement that nothing happens that isn't God's will. That negates the entire concept of Sin, because in order to sin you have to be free to go against God's will and if nothing happens against God's will then sin isn't possible. The heart of Christianity is that humankind, in the form of Adam and Eve, openly rebelled against God in the Garden of Eden by eating the forbidden fruit. According to the above reasoning, they could have only eaten the fruit if it were God's will that they do so, otherwise they wouldn't be capable of defying God. The system has built-in limits to prevent that from happening. Free will is an illusion; we are no more able to rebel against God than a character in a book or a play can rebel against its author. The character can only "rebel" if the author writes it in to the plot.
I work in research. Every so often a compound proves to be so toxic that everyone involved in the study agrees that there is no point in pursuing research on this drug. According to the above logic, God did not want these compounds released into the open market. Fine. But then what about drugs like Phen-Fen which went through all the steps and only proved to be hazardous once they reached the general population? Where is God's will in that? The drug was approved; it was marketed; and thousands died. Cause and effect? Was it the drug that caused the deaths? Was it God's will to allow this drug on the market knowing it would kill people? Did He want people to die from this drug? Or did the drug have nothing at all to do with it and it was simply coincidence that this drug appeared to be involved in a large number of deaths? That these people would have died anyway when they did die? To get back to reproductive technology, when it works it's because it's God's will a child be conceived and when it doesn't it's His will that one not be conceived? Or conceived but not implanted? Then how can we determine the effectiveness of such procedures (which are costly and invasive) if we have no way of knowing for sure? There is a famous verse in the New Testament about believers being able to drink poison and handle deadly serpents. Is it because ultimately there is no such thing as poison or deadly serpents? Is it all a matter of what God has on his mind at that particular moment? Which means usually--but not always--if you drink poison you will die, but it is not the poison that kills you. It's just that today just wasn't your day. Your number was up and would have been no matter what you did or didn't do.
Maybe it is true. I DO think too much. And it really isn't fair to ask questions of people who are not prepared, who haven't been trained to answer them. I will try to be better in the future.
