by jimwalton » Sat Aug 11, 2018 6:09 pm
Unfortunately I’ve heard your argument before. It fails on at least four points:
First of all, miscarriages and stillbirths are different dynamic entities than abortion. It’s more accurate to think that miscarriages and spontaneous terminations are because there was some kind of malfunction in the system, and God designed the system (reproductive system) to winnow out the majority of cases where the subsequent life would be incapable of survival. It's more likely that miscarriage and stillbirths is a function of God's mercy and love rather than his cruelty and immorality.
Secondly, if God didn't let science and cause-and-effect take their course, but interfered regularly, then there would be no such thing as science, no discernible cause and effect, and therefore reason would be unattainable. Because God lets the world run doesn't mean he is an abortionist, actively making every decision about every birth. That's not how the Bible says the world runs, not how science runs, and not how God acts. God is not micromanaging cause and effect. If He were, there would be no such thing as cause and effect, and therefore all nature would be self-contradictory. It’s false to think God controls everything to the point where we are just robots and everything that happens is because God caused it. (Christians are partly to blame for this misunderstanding by so glibly saying, "God is in control," as if he is the one that makes everything happen.) There is no biblical evidence for the perspective that "God is in control of everything." First of all, humans have free will, and we are causal agents just as much as God is, in this context. Secondly, we know that God often lets nature take its course (The rain falls where it wills; the wind blows as it blows). It’s incorrect to think that God is directly causing every woman who miscarries to do so or every embryo that spontaneously terminates is because God directly caused it. That’s false theology, and there’s no biblical substantiation of that position.
Third, conception in the Bible is a blessing (Matt. 1.20; Lk. 1.24-25, 30, 31; Jn. 16.21; 1 Tim. 2.15; 5.14). Human life is a gift from God (Acts 17.25b). The Old Testament laws sought to protect the life of the mother and the fetus (Ex. 21.22-25). The teaching of the Bible is that God is the giver of life. It’s a distortion to claim that God is the murderer in these prenatal situation. The Bible doesn’t teach that.
Fourth, Romans 8.20-22 suggests that human sin led to some kind of change in the nature of the cosmos itself. In science this has come to be recognized as the Second Law of Thermodynamics—the Law of Increasing Entropy. Every system becomes disordered, and mutations can be negative. It's what Adam & Eve put into the system (Gn. 3). Why would God curse the world like that? God didn't put a hex on it or change its character by magical means. Adam and Eve are the ones who cursed it; God merely expressed what was already a reality (Gn. 3.17-19). Nature reflects spiritual truth. In the innocence of the garden there was beauty. After the advent of sin there was disequilibrium and antagonism. The Fall of the cosmos portrays sin's horror for all to see. It reveals breakdown and bondage to decay (Rom. 8.21). It was due to the effect of man's sin. The system fails because of sin, not because of God's cruelty.
Hope this helps. If not, or you want to talk more, just write back.
Unfortunately I’ve heard your argument before. It fails on at least four points:
First of all, miscarriages and stillbirths are different dynamic entities than abortion. It’s more accurate to think that miscarriages and spontaneous terminations are because there was some kind of malfunction in the system, and God designed the system (reproductive system) to winnow out the majority of cases where the subsequent life would be incapable of survival. It's more likely that miscarriage and stillbirths is a function of God's mercy and love rather than his cruelty and immorality.
Secondly, if God didn't let science and cause-and-effect take their course, but interfered regularly, then there would be no such thing as science, no discernible cause and effect, and therefore reason would be unattainable. Because God lets the world run doesn't mean he is an abortionist, actively making every decision about every birth. That's not how the Bible says the world runs, not how science runs, and not how God acts. God is not micromanaging cause and effect. If He were, there would be no such thing as cause and effect, and therefore all nature would be self-contradictory. It’s false to think God controls everything to the point where we are just robots and everything that happens is because God caused it. (Christians are partly to blame for this misunderstanding by so glibly saying, "God is in control," as if he is the one that makes everything happen.) There is no biblical evidence for the perspective that "God is in control of everything." First of all, humans have free will, and we are causal agents just as much as God is, in this context. Secondly, we know that God often lets nature take its course (The rain falls where it wills; the wind blows as it blows). It’s incorrect to think that God is directly causing every woman who miscarries to do so or every embryo that spontaneously terminates is because God directly caused it. That’s false theology, and there’s no biblical substantiation of that position.
Third, conception in the Bible is a blessing (Matt. 1.20; Lk. 1.24-25, 30, 31; Jn. 16.21; 1 Tim. 2.15; 5.14). Human life is a gift from God (Acts 17.25b). The Old Testament laws sought to protect the life of the mother and the fetus (Ex. 21.22-25). The teaching of the Bible is that God is the giver of life. It’s a distortion to claim that God is the murderer in these prenatal situation. The Bible doesn’t teach that.
Fourth, Romans 8.20-22 suggests that human sin led to some kind of change in the nature of the cosmos itself. In science this has come to be recognized as the Second Law of Thermodynamics—the Law of Increasing Entropy. Every system becomes disordered, and mutations can be negative. It's what Adam & Eve put into the system (Gn. 3). Why would God curse the world like that? God didn't put a hex on it or change its character by magical means. Adam and Eve are the ones who cursed it; God merely expressed what was already a reality (Gn. 3.17-19). Nature reflects spiritual truth. In the innocence of the garden there was beauty. After the advent of sin there was disequilibrium and antagonism. The Fall of the cosmos portrays sin's horror for all to see. It reveals breakdown and bondage to decay (Rom. 8.21). It was due to the effect of man's sin. The system fails because of sin, not because of God's cruelty.
Hope this helps. If not, or you want to talk more, just write back.