As we think about our faith and how it impacts the way we think about reproductive technology, I need to say once again that I firmly believe that life begins when a sperm and an egg come into contact with one another. At that point, the process of life gets underway and, if not interrupted, leads to a full, living being. This is why I consider that point the beginning of life.
I realize that there are a number of things that can interfere with this process actually taking place. A woman's body may not produce eggs, or eggs of sufficient quality to create and sustain life. A man's sperm may not be properly produced, or may have some kind of defect that prevents life from being formed. There may even be other factors to take into account beyond these fairly simple ones.
So then, what do we as humans do? Well, this is where we face a number of different thoughts that our faith has a direct impact on. For beginners, do we believe that God is the creator and designer of our bodies, which means that they are the way that God intended for them to be, or do we believe that God has also given us our minds in order to figure out how we can "make" our bodies work the way that most typical bodies do? As a fairly benign example, if God created me with poor eyesight, am I going beyond God's design and desire if I wear glasses or contacts? While this issue may not have the depth of the fertility issue, the path our thinking takes us down in this example will also be a factor in the reproductive one.
Another consideration we have to ponder is how God may have given us natural "elements" to help bring bodies back into line. As an example of this, we have penicillin in the world. We have discovered that it helps to battle infections. If we make use of penicillin to combat our diseases, are we going against God's design, or are we using our minds in a way that God would approve of? As this relates to fertility, if there are certain herbs, vitamins, or compounds that can help bring a body back in line, can we do so without damage to our conscience?
Getting a little deeper, we have to ask ourselves how far we can go down this road before we start slipping on the slope and falling over the edge. Has God given us knowledge of the body and surgical tools to make use of, or are they going against the way He designed us? If we say that He wants us to make use of these gifts, then just how far do we go before we seem to be taking "life" (and by life, I mean not only life and death, or reproduction, but wholeness and health as well) out of God's hands and putting it into our own? If surgery to remove a ruptured spleen is okay, how about the removal of a brain tumor that would have led to death? Or how about the "prodding" of an egg out of the ovary? Or the insertion of sperm via medical means to optimize the chance of becoming pregnant?
I hope you realize that these answers do not come easily, and it is pretty much impossible to separate our faith life from what we think is acceptable in these practices. We'll keep talking about this as the series continues.
I realize that there are a number of things that can interfere with this process actually taking place. A woman's body may not produce eggs, or eggs of sufficient quality to create and sustain life. A man's sperm may not be properly produced, or may have some kind of defect that prevents life from being formed. There may even be other factors to take into account beyond these fairly simple ones.
So then, what do we as humans do? Well, this is where we face a number of different thoughts that our faith has a direct impact on. For beginners, do we believe that God is the creator and designer of our bodies, which means that they are the way that God intended for them to be, or do we believe that God has also given us our minds in order to figure out how we can "make" our bodies work the way that most typical bodies do? As a fairly benign example, if God created me with poor eyesight, am I going beyond God's design and desire if I wear glasses or contacts? While this issue may not have the depth of the fertility issue, the path our thinking takes us down in this example will also be a factor in the reproductive one.
Another consideration we have to ponder is how God may have given us natural "elements" to help bring bodies back into line. As an example of this, we have penicillin in the world. We have discovered that it helps to battle infections. If we make use of penicillin to combat our diseases, are we going against God's design, or are we using our minds in a way that God would approve of? As this relates to fertility, if there are certain herbs, vitamins, or compounds that can help bring a body back in line, can we do so without damage to our conscience?
Getting a little deeper, we have to ask ourselves how far we can go down this road before we start slipping on the slope and falling over the edge. Has God given us knowledge of the body and surgical tools to make use of, or are they going against the way He designed us? If we say that He wants us to make use of these gifts, then just how far do we go before we seem to be taking "life" (and by life, I mean not only life and death, or reproduction, but wholeness and health as well) out of God's hands and putting it into our own? If surgery to remove a ruptured spleen is okay, how about the removal of a brain tumor that would have led to death? Or how about the "prodding" of an egg out of the ovary? Or the insertion of sperm via medical means to optimize the chance of becoming pregnant?
I hope you realize that these answers do not come easily, and it is pretty much impossible to separate our faith life from what we think is acceptable in these practices. We'll keep talking about this as the series continues.
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