Be fruitful and multiply, even by IVF
So God created man in his [own] image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
Genesis 1:27-28
On the matter of IVF, some Christians are pitilessly cold-hearted.
There are undoubtedly serious moral questions raised by this medical miracle. Embryos are human, and I agree with the concerns Catholics and other Christians have about their destruction. IVF clinics and prospective parents should give deep thought to how they treat human embryos — embryo adoption has begun in America, that’s a great thing. Destroying embryos that might be genetically ill is also morally questionable. Raising these questions is necessary and I hope will lead to moral outcomes.
But if there are those who seriously see no difference between the miracle of IVF and the horror of the abortion industry, then I would suggest they know nothing about humanity, life or why life is sacred. There’s something cruelly legalistic (in the worst possible sense of that word) about manipulating the teachings of Jesus to reach an outcome that would deny life.
IVF clinics are bringing life to children who would not otherwise exist and they are helping to make happy loving families where before there was just barrenness and heartbreak.
There is no life in a barren womb. No life is not pro-life.
“That which I would not, that I do!”
Good medicines kill patients, good policemen and good soldiers kill innocents. Speeding ambulances kill pedestrians.
Often when we try to do good, harm comes as a side effect — people die. We walk through the valley of the shadow of death. Death is all around us, that’s why life is sacred.
That’s why doctors fight to give Granny a few hours of life. That’s why ten guilty men go free rather than we convict a single innocent one. That’s why hundreds of volunteers will search for one climber lost in the snow, why ships and helicopters scour the ocean for one lost sailor. That’s why a platoon of US Marines will go into battle to rescue one of their own, even if it means they will take greater casualties in the process!
We spend millions — the equivalent of lifetimes of work — and risk lives, for even the possibility of saving a single life, even of adding a single day to a single life.
We are moral people, that is the Lord’s work.
Replenish the earth, and subdue it
In the midst of the shadow stretching infinitely in every direction, here is this precious, fragile, little flame of life. That is why life, every moment of it, is sacred.
Bringing life to children, and children to families, is the Lord’s work. He commanded it.
And for some people, bringing life into the world is hard. The doctors counsel them not to, but they bond with every embryo, investing their hopes, praying to God to protect this tiny life. Most of the time, the embryos die — when they die, there’s blood. And the parents grieve and they weep, but they try again and again.
It’s excruciating.
But still they persist, because life is so very precious.
The quest to bring life into the world has consumed lives and fortunes. The parents learn bitterly what our ancient forbears knew, that life triumphs for but a moment and death is always at our shoulder.
And there are those Christians who would say ‘let there be no life here, it contradicts our philosophies.’
How are such cold hearts, who would deny life when it conflicts with their philosophies, any different from the utilitarians — the Peter Singers — who would destroy life when it conflicts with their philosophies? How is the philosophy that says you may not cultivate embryonic life, because the likelihood the embryo will die is high, different from the philosophy that says you must not allow a child to be born, because the likelihood it will suffer severe illness or loss of quality of life is high? Each philosophy results in life denied.
Which if us, if offered the option of ‘no life’ or ‘a chance of life’ would choose ‘no life’.
October 14th, 2006 at 10:55 am
Just browsing thru your site again. I understand what you are trying to say here about creating life. I happen to disagree with IVF, but here is something to think about. God says that even the lillies of the field are provided for, and to the disciples to go out town to town to preach the Good News without bringing extra coats, or food, or water. This is how I see the IVF thing. God said “trust Me” and if God does not see fit, for whatever reason, for me to conceive naturally, well then God’s ways are higher than my ways. It just feels like IVF is like saying “If I can’t get it the normal way, then I am going to take it any way I can get it” It takes the miracle of God’s creating of life and puts it in a test tube, apart from the expression of love between two people. It also makes it possible for a man and a woman who have never met to procreate together, not to mention the destruction of embryos. It just doesn’t feel right…
October 15th, 2006 at 12:15 am
Yes, I believe I made something like that point. I respect couples who wish to put all trust in God in relation a particular aspect of their, if they do it after prayer and a sincere conviction this is what God wants.
The same can be said for missionaries (or indeed Buddhist monks) who relinquish all possessions. Or to Jehovah’s Witnesses who reject other medical treatments, choosing instead to present their bodies and lives as an offering of faith to God.
As long as this is between them and God, what a beautiful statement of faith. But what about the couple who don’t feel God is asking this of them?
When couples are coerced into such action by worldly authorities — on whatever basis — then, apart from the much greater degree of cruelty used in the coercion, is that so very different from the Communists in China dictating on reproductive matters to their slave-subjects?
As for the destruction of embryos; that really is a separate matter. It’s a misconception (pun unavoidable) that IVF requires destruction of embryos.
January 8th, 2007 at 1:52 pm
Jen,
I want you to know that any couple seeking IVF to help them conceive a baby must still have complete trust in God. There are still many variables and God is still very involved in the process. Life is only created by God. I pray that you will never be faced with years and years of empty arms and a heartache of wishing to have a child with your husband. It is not something I would wish on anyone…but I will say that after six years of trying to conceive, my husband and I are closer than ever. We have both been through the hardest time in our lives together. This situation has forced us to completely trust in God. Just because we’re going to the doctor doesn’t mean that we aren’t trusting in Him.