A recent email that I sent out to our church's mailing list included the following paragraph:
This is a helpful essay on “IVF and the GOP’s Warped Priorities.” The recent decision by the Alabama Supreme Court should have been hailed by all conservatives as a landmark affirmation of the sanctity of human life in all its stages. But many within both “conservative” churches and the Republican establishment are demonstrating by their reaction their inconsistency and liabilities with regard to pro-life issues. There are also helpful clarifications on the ruling and subsequent controversy HERE. In short, we are living in a theocracy, but it is ruled not by God but by the agents of demons who lie, manipulate, and require obeisance to their ungodly and immoral rules for ethics.
Some wondered afterward what I was saying about IVF and whether it ought to be acceptable to Christians. I’m not entirely sure how the two linked articles could be taken to suggest that is my position, but I apologize for any lack of clarity on my part. I know professing Christians who have had children by means of IVF—I thank God they have children—but IVF is not something Christians ought to utilize, encourage, or support, in my judgment. As the first linked article explained, the “baby-making” industry is arguably destroying more human lives than abortion! That is a remarkable fact, one we should not take lightly.
I am willing to write more on this topic if there is a need or desire for it, but let it suffice here to say that many Protestants and Reformed Christians need to do a lot more thinking than they have so far about the ethics of birth control. When Kirstie and I were preparing for marriage, we sought counsel from older believers and a pastor, and in retrospect the advice we received was wrong, badly wrong, even if sincerely meant. The only counsel we received was along the lines of: “Abortion is wrong, but you don’t have to be Roman Catholic about birth control.” Well… technically that is correct, but give me the Roman Church’s approach to natural family planning over the “anything short of abortion is allowed” approach of too many evangelical Christians. If you are creating fertilized eggs, you are achieving conception (Psa. 139:13-16), and that embryo has the assumption of life and, therefore, all of the rights and protections which God gives to his image-bearers. I do not believe it is wrong to exercise prudence in planning when and how many children your family might be able to welcome and care for, to a point, but God is sovereign over the lives and families of his children. Children are a heritage from the Lord (Psa. 127:3).
The Alabama Supreme Court made an important affirmation of human rights in their recent ruling that has been completely overshadowed by malicious actions by agents motivated to oppose the ruling. This misdirection has been enabled by the media and the GOP establishment who are quickly falling over themselves insisting how much they love IVF and how important it is to them to maintain. Do not be deceived. The promotion of IVF may appear to be consistent with a pro-life position, but its application is exponentially more destructive to life than productive. Alabama’s high court is correct: if IVF methods are employed, then the fertilized embryos must be acknowledged as living persons and afforded the protections due to them. They should not be destroyed, either unintentionally or by carelessness. Do not leave your children in the freezer. --JME
