Divine Gifts: Understanding Life Through Assisted Reproduction
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our IVF babies knit together by God - it's a question from Carly Patrick John hello how can a Christian explain to non-christians that every child is a gift from God when some children are conceived medically through IVF and other fertility treatments I'm at a loss and I really want to be able to answer this question I believe all children are from God but how do I answer this question I recently saw a story about a lesbian couple who conceived of a child through IVF the child was fertilized by donor sperm and implanted in one woman and then harvested and implanted in the other woman to carry to term it's so unnatural but I know that this child is meant to be here so Pasteur done how would you help Carly answer to this dilemma [00:00:08]
there is an entire global industry of baby-making which is shot through with unanswered ethical and medical questions I think any Christian couple should be very careful thoughtful hesitant how they hesitant to walk very far outside the natural processes God has put in place for making babies now I know I know we've gotten ourselves into a real dilemma with thousands of frozen embryos for example waiting as it were for adoption I'm not opposed to that there people in our church that have done that adopted an embryo put it in mom raised the baby but I don't think we should make decisions that contribute to that problem we got ourselves with these thousands of frozen little babies because of all kinds of technological things that we didn't foresee create all these issues [00:01:14]
Carly's question is how can a Christian explain to a non-christian that every child is a gift from God when some children are conceived medically through IVF and and other fertility treatments the answer comes I think in two steps first this is how do you say what do you say to an unbeliever first you gather biblical texts which show that creating human babies is decisively God's work not man's no baby decides if he or she is human no parent decides if their baby is human no sperm donor no egg donor no womb donor decides if the baby is human no doctor who's putting all the pieces together decides if this baby is human well who does that's step one God does [00:03:25]
Psalm 139 13 you formed my inward parts you knitted me together in my mother's womb I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made that is made by God job 10 8 to 12 job says to God you clothed me with skin and flesh and knit me together with bones and sinews you have granted me life and steadfast love so not just skin not just flesh and bones and sinews but life that can be experienced in relational love God created that job 31 13 to 15 job says to God about why he has treated his servants well job has treated his servants fairly he says if I have rejected the cause of my manservant or my maidservant when they brought a complaint against me what then shall I do and God rises up when he makes inquiry what shall I answer him did not he who made me in the womb make him and did not 1 fashioned us both in the womb in other words every human whatever class made by God in the womb [00:04:57]
Ecclesiastes 11 5 as you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child so you do not know the work of God who makes everything well we don't know how the spirit the life the soul of the human nature comes into this union of egg and sperm it's one of those works of God like so many we do not understand but there it is he does it one more dear Maya 1:5 before I formed you in the womb I knew you and before you were born I consecrated you I appointed you a prophet to the nation so God was already dealing with Jeremiah as a person before he was born so I conclude from these passages and others that humans don't bring humans into being God does humans contribute genetic material but God makes the union of egg and sperm the living eternal human soul amazing [00:06:45]
the second step is to show the biblical principle that God often uses foolishness and even evil to bring beauty into being now you can say in general to to your unbelieving friend if God really creates a human soul that once did not exist and now exist forever as a person then doing this godlike thing through natural or unnatural or good or bad sinful and sinful ways of uniting egg and sperm is piece of cake like it's relatively easy I mean creating a human being is the great glory and mystery the how is relatively unimportant when it comes to whether God can do it or not [00:08:02]
I just try to say no what what would be the most evangelistically personally caring way to get across the principle you're trying to to the unbeliever and I think the answer is to go to the most amazing text of all acts 4:27 228 to show how God used for Christ haters to accomplish Christ's saving will to bring about the most beautiful glorious wonderful act of salvation in the history of the world so here's what it says truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus whom you anointed Herod and Pontius Pilate along with the Gentiles that's the Roman soldiers who drove the nails in and the peoples of Israel who cried crucify him crucify him to do what were they gathered together to do to do whatever your hand and your plan predestined to take place [00:09:02]
if God can orchestrate Herod Pilate brutal Roman soldiers unbelieving Jews to bring about the greatest life-giving event that ever was the death and resurrection of Jesus then making a human baby with sinful humans is not a problem that is a fascinating take on the miracle of life the origin of human life thank you Pastor John and whether you listen in the car at the gym doing chores thanks for inviting us into your busy day and if you have not yet done so you could subscribe to ask Pastor John any favorite podcast app YouTube or in Spotify and to find other episodes in our archive or to submit to us a question of your own go online to desiring God org forward slash ask Pastor John [00:10:22]
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there is an entire global industry of baby-making which is shot through with unanswered ethical and medical questions I think any Christian couple should be very careful thoughtful hesitant how they hesitant to walk very far outside the natural processes God has put in place for making babies now I know I know we've gotten ourselves into a real dilemma with thousands of frozen embryos for example waiting as it were for adoption I'm not opposed to that there people in our church that have done that adopted an embryo put it in mom raised the baby but I don't think we should make decisions that contribute to that problem we got ourselves with these thousands of frozen little babies because of all kinds of technological things that we didn't foresee create all these issues [00:01:14]
Carly's question is how can a Christian explain to a non-christian that every child is a gift from God when some children are conceived medically through IVF and and other fertility treatments the answer comes I think in two steps first this is how do you say what do you say to an unbeliever first you gather biblical texts which show that creating human babies is decisively God's work not man's no baby decides if he or she is human no parent decides if their baby is human no sperm donor no egg donor no womb donor decides if the baby is human no doctor who's putting all the pieces together decides if this baby is human well who does that's step one God does [00:03:25]
Psalm 139 13 you formed my inward parts you knitted me together in my mother's womb I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made that is made by God job 10 8 to 12 job says to God you clothed me with skin and flesh and knit me together with bones and sinews you have granted me life and steadfast love so not just skin not just flesh and bones and sinews but life that can be experienced in relational love God created that job 31 13 to 15 job says to God about why he has treated his servants well job has treated his servants fairly he says if I have rejected the cause of my manservant or my maidservant when they brought a complaint against me what then shall I do and God rises up when he makes inquiry what shall I answer him did not he who made me in the womb make him and did not 1 fashioned us both in the womb in other words every human whatever class made by God in the womb [00:04:57]
Ecclesiastes 11 5 as you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child so you do not know the work of God who makes everything well we don't know how the spirit the life the soul of the human nature comes into this union of egg and sperm it's one of those works of God like so many we do not understand but there it is he does it one more dear Maya 1:5 before I formed you in the womb I knew you and before you were born I consecrated you I appointed you a prophet to the nation so God was already dealing with Jeremiah as a person before he was born so I conclude from these passages and others that humans don't bring humans into being God does humans contribute genetic material but God makes the union of egg and sperm the living eternal human soul amazing [00:06:45]
the second step is to show the biblical principle that God often uses foolishness and even evil to bring beauty into being now you can say in general to to your unbelieving friend if God really creates a human soul that once did not exist and now exist forever as a person then doing this godlike thing through natural or unnatural or good or bad sinful and sinful ways of uniting egg and sperm is piece of cake like it's relatively easy I mean creating a human being is the great glory and mystery the how is relatively unimportant when it comes to whether God can do it or not [00:08:02]
I just try to say no what what would be the most evangelistically personally caring way to get across the principle you're trying to to the unbeliever and I think the answer is to go to the most amazing text of all acts 4:27 228 to show how God used for Christ haters to accomplish Christ's saving will to bring about the most beautiful glorious wonderful act of salvation in the history of the world so here's what it says truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus whom you anointed Herod and Pontius Pilate along with the Gentiles that's the Roman soldiers who drove the nails in and the peoples of Israel who cried crucify him crucify him to do what were they gathered together to do to do whatever your hand and your plan predestined to take place [00:09:02]
if God can orchestrate Herod Pilate brutal Roman soldiers unbelieving Jews to bring about the greatest life-giving event that ever was the death and resurrection of Jesus then making a human baby with sinful humans is not a problem that is a fascinating take on the miracle of life the origin of human life thank you Pastor John and whether you listen in the car at the gym doing chores thanks for inviting us into your busy day and if you have not yet done so you could subscribe to ask Pastor John any favorite podcast app YouTube or in Spotify and to find other episodes in our archive or to submit to us a question of your own go online to desiring God org forward slash ask Pastor John [00:10:22]
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