I spent pretty well the entire week reading my book out loud to myself. You can’t even begin to imagine how sick I am of reading (and hearing) parts of that book. For six months I have read portions of myself time and time again. And again. And again. But with 28 days until my deadline, I was able to send nine of its ten chapters to a few friends for their feedback. Chapter ten is still in the works, but I’m looking forward to having friends, family and acquaintances hack apart what I’ve sent through to them so far. It looks like the book will top out at around 60,000 words or so. We’re still on track for a January ’08 publication date.
Before I get back to the book, I wanted to point out a couple of interesting items.
In-Vitro Fertilization – Pulpit Magazine, The Online Magazine of the Shepherds’ Fellowship just published an interesting article dealing with in-vitro fertilization. They rely on Dr. Michael Frields, who serves as the chairman of gynecology at Glendale Adventist Hospital and is a member of Grace Community Church and proceed from several assumptions:
- God opens and closes the womb according to His sovereign will (Gen. 29:31; 30:22; Ps. 127:3; 1 Sam. 1:5-6).
- It is acceptable for Christians to take advantage of extant medical technology as long as the specific methods do not violate the clear teaching of Scripture or the believer’s conscience (cf. Rom. 14).
- Life begins at conception (Ps. 51:5; 139:13-16).
- No human life should be destroyed (Gen. 9:6; Ex. 20:13).
- Physical intimacy between a husband and a wife is the means God designed to produce offspring (Gen. 2:24; Prov. 5:16-17).
Based on this, they arrive at ten conclusions. Numbers 8 and 10 seemed most significant to me.
8 – “Scripture does not specifically address in-vitro fertilization and surrogacy per se. However, as stated at the outset, physical intimacy between a husband and a wife is the means God designed to produce offspring. For this reason, we believe that Christians should not use methods that employ donated eggs or sperm from a third party. Nor should they use methods that utilize a third party as the carrier of a baby resulting from the implantation of a husband’s sperm and his wife’s egg (such as surrogacy). The disastrous ramifications of Abraham and Sarai’s attempt to use Hagar as a third party in order to continue Abraham’s line in Genesis 16–particularly the tension that resulted between the two women–may serve as a warning for those intending to pursue methods involving a third party.” In other words, there is nothing inherently wrong with in-vitro fertilization. Other points provide important caveats.
10 – “Along with various medical options, Christian couples should seriously consider adoption, which is both a viable and God-honoring option (cf. Jam. 1:27).”
It is quite a good article and well worth reading. I haven’t looked much into this topic, but this seems quite a rational presentation of the Christian perspective on it.
Phunnies – Phillip Way wrote a funny article about Canada and Canadians. He also claims to have found my long-lost twin–one I was apparently separated from at birth.
Enjoy your weekend! I have to go to the Passport office on Monday to get a passport for Michaela so may be a little bit late posting. Tuesday I’ll be heading back to California to bring liveblogging of the Shepherd’s Conference. It’s going to be a busy week!
