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[DoGe]

I have a quick question on an issue regarding Abortion. I was on Google+ and someone had posted that God has murdered more babies than all the abortions performed. How? They are trying to argue that since God is in control of everything and creates us (formed us in our Mothers womb), that when there are miscarriages this is God killing the baby, changing His mind. They also sited that 75% of all fertilized embroyo's end up terminating spontaneously, thus, God "killing more babies". I've never seen this argument before and would be interested to get your viewpoint. Thanks SO much!!

[jimwalton]

Unfortunately I’ve heard this argument before. It fails on at least four points:

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. In contrast to the position expressed on Google +, 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 is a function of God’s mercy and love rather than his cruelty and immorality.

4. 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.