In this article, I will limit my commentary to humans, only. The bookends of this post are conception and birth. Conception is the beginning of the unborn stage of life – that seems to be the majority opinion, across both the biological sciences and a wide spectrum of worldviews. Conception is both straightforward and remarkable. Let’s look back at the beginning.
The Beginning
When the first human appeared on earth, after all other lesser species were created, each “according their kinds” (Genesis 1:11-13; 24-25), birth by humans, as we normally think of it, had not yet occurred. When God said, “let Us make man in Our (likely the Trinity) image” (Genesis 1:26), Adam came into existence, presumably as an adult male, since time and its markers already existed (Genesis 1:14). We have no indication in Scripture as to how much time elapsed from Adam to Eve to Abel et. al. Regardless, Adam was initially alone.
God saw that it was not good for Adam to be alone, so he made Eve from part of Adam (Genesis 2:22). She, too, was not born of human will, but created by God. What occurred was one of the last miracles of the entire creation epoch of Genesis 1. Eve was not a clone of Adam. Some genetic engineering, by the Intelligent Designer, had to have occurred. Without God’s altering of Adam’s DNA, human reproduction would have been impossible. Miraculous, dramatic genetic changes were necessary in Eve, for Adam and Eve to have human offspring. Eve was created in God’s image via Adam, but her reflection looked a bit different – beautiful, for one, as described by Solomon (in the Song of Songs).
After the miraculous appearance of both Adam and Eve, and some unfortunate snacking (Genesis 3:6), came Abel, Cain and the rest of the family of mankind, via the process of human conception through birth. But what happens between these two events? Who and/or what controls whether or not birth occurs? From conception, the unborn belong to the Lord. He alone knows (Psalm 139:13-16) which children will have time on this earth and the remainder that will get a head start on an eternity with Him. Every conception may be a divine appointment.
Advocacy
The Lord is calling every child’s parents into a relationship with Him (John 1:12-13). For some of the parents of those children who are not born, born to live only a few moments, or even a few years, the grief can be overwhelming. God calls those parents to Him, often through the wise counsel of other parents who have found peace with Him in living with similar losses. The lives of those parents of the unborn who may suppress grief with relief, at their apparent sovereignty over God, will probably not go on as expected (see below). Yet, God has both the joy of spending eternity with those unwanted children and the grace to draw their unwise parents towards Him. He only asks that they respond to His call.
Until recently, the Lord has been the only advocate for the rights of many of the unborn. One might ask, if He is sovereign, why are things like the American holocaust allowed to occur? This is likely one of those instances of “why (do) bad things happen to good people” (read more in Existence, Chapter 7, “Good and Evil”)? A short answer is the compounded consequences of sin, which is any thought or action contrary to the teachings of Scripture. In this case, the unborn are the victims of societies gone wrong.
As one attempts to think through this issue, one can come to the place where our finite minds can neither grasp the Creator’s design nor His plan for this universe. At that point, one will be driven either closer to Him or in frustration, into the clutches of this “world.” If one already has a Biblical worldview, one’s grief, at least its understanding, can be softened by one’s relationship with the intelligent Designer (see Existence, Chapter 15). That relationship can provide solace in times of distress.
My sense is that we humans just don’t think enough about anything – not getting close to contemplating the meaning of life and related issues. Thinkers can be annoying to be around (just ask my wife). In the case of conception, I believe our Creator would far prefer to heal annoying relationships than the broken families and lost lives that come from both poor choices and lack of thought.
Issues
Immediately after conception, we can divide the unborn into two groups: those intentionally conceived, or not. For those in the intentional group, the Lord has the final word on who will be born. There will be some, for reasons known only to Him, that He will take directly to Himself. Though one could speculate upon some of those reasons, the pain is likely too great to go far with that line of thinking. The remainder of the intentional group will be born and, hopefully, bring great joy to their parents.
The unintentionally conceived group has potentially more complex outcomes. Though the Lord may see them no differently than the intentional group, He also sees other people inserting themselves into a decision process that is His. There will be some parent(s), who, because of outside counsel, decide not to negatively intercede into the birth process. However, for those who choose to usurp His sovereignty over the birth process, the consequences are grave. He takes a dim view of the murder of anyone (Genesis 9:5). As children are very special (Matthew 18:5-6) to Him, I assume a horrific future awaits those who are unrepentant and complicit in the American Holocaust and it’s equivalents, around the world.
If you’ve ever held a newborn and looked into his or her face, you realize at that moment, they are both beautiful and 100 % dependent on you. How many moments before their birth does it become acceptable to terminate the life, which in that moment is so dependent on you. If one manages to propose an age, etc., when that termination would be okay, then what about a moment, two moments, five minutes, a week, etc. before that time. Asked another way, when does murder become “health care?” What is everyone’s responsibility to all of those unborn children, who cannot represent themselves? What kind of worldview obviates any such consideration? Let’s look at some options.
Actions
Clearly, there are many women who would love to have a child, but cannot, for a variety of reasons. They are the obvious solutions to this problem. One day, we’ll be able to perform an incredible organ transplant – a womb containing the unborn child into a surrogate mother. She would bear that child for either herself or another mother to be. Today, the original mother needs to carry the (unwanted) baby to term before he or she can be adopted, which seems to be the problem. Volumes of rhetoric have been produced to try to replace “murder” with other words (abortion; health care; etc.) or expressions.
Shouldn’t we be doing more for the original mother to make it easier for her to carry the baby to term? There is a myriad of possibilities, but they all take much more commitment than simply redefining and/or legislating for the murder of the unborn. The most fundamentally sound worldview that I’m aware of clearly indicates that those involved in these murders will be held accountable. Perhaps that is why, in many societies, Biblical worldviews are neither well understood nor popular.
Conclusion
Regardless of the worldview, it’s hard to imagine a thinking person that doesn’t recognize the evil, the flawed logic, of leaving a million children every year, in the USA alone, defenseless as to their own futures. Who knows the contributions they could make to their world? There are many stories from children of mothers who have given more thought to their unborn child’s future and decided to carry that child to birth. Until medical research enables us to transplant a mother’s womb, we all must advocate and support (see above link) the care of reluctant mothers. That’s the hard part. The relatively easy part is placing the newborn, if still unwanted, into a caring, loving home. Let’s pursue solutions for the sake of the children and not appease a lack of thinking.
