Do Reproductive Technologies Oppose God’s Design?
00:00:00.000 | [Music]
00:00:04.000 | Every so often we get an email in the inbox that just leaves me dumbstruck.
00:00:09.000 | Usually such a question comes with not only a pointed question to it,
00:00:13.000 | but with real life hurt and pain behind it from a listener that's seeking genuine answers
00:00:19.000 | to alleviate core identity struggles in their lives, like the email I'm about to read today.
00:00:26.000 | It comes to us from a listener named Elizabeth. Here it is.
00:00:29.000 | "Pastor John, I was conceived using the sperm of an anonymous donor.
00:00:34.000 | My parents, who are believers, wanted a child very badly, but my father was infertile,
00:00:39.000 | so they chose to purchase sperm from a fertility clinic.
00:00:42.000 | My biological donor father was paid to give his sperm to the clinic.
00:00:46.000 | My parents chose not to tell me about the conception until after I was married,
00:00:50.000 | and when I was told I was shocked and hurt and struggled to find my identity for years.
00:00:55.000 | I rest in the thought that God is my father, and I am always drawn to scriptures and songs
00:01:00.000 | about God as father to help settle my confused heart.
00:01:03.000 | At least 60,000 children are born through donor conception every year in the United States,
00:01:08.000 | so I know this is impacting local churches, though it's rarely discussed.
00:01:12.000 | Reproductive technology is moving fast, and couples can choose to purchase sperm or eggs
00:01:16.000 | from a more fertile person or use the embryos left over from others
00:01:20.000 | who made more embryos than they wanted.
00:01:23.000 | My questions to you are twofold.
00:01:25.000 | Number one, does God desire some couples to remain childless to the point that using the sperm
00:01:30.000 | or eggs of a third person is resistance to his will?
00:01:34.000 | And number two, do you have any scripture grace for those of us who are the product
00:01:38.000 | of reproductive technology and who feel a bit like we were sold off as a commodity
00:01:43.000 | and abandoned by a biological parent in order to make another family happy?
00:01:48.000 | In answer to Elizabeth's first question, does God desire some couples to remain childless
00:01:57.000 | to the point that using the sperm or eggs of a third person is resistance to his will?
00:02:05.000 | My answer would be yes.
00:02:08.000 | In other words, I don't think childlessness leads to the kinds of harmful effects
00:02:20.000 | that have come from the massive move towards various kinds of surrogacy
00:02:28.000 | and reproductive artificiality outside the womb that have resulted, for example,
00:02:34.000 | in three-quarters of a million frozen babies whose natural parents do not want them,
00:02:42.000 | not to mention other harmful effects.
00:02:46.000 | Childlessness is painful, but it is not sinful, and it is not destructive of human life.
00:02:56.000 | And there is great grace that God has for the childless.
00:03:03.000 | I don't claim by any means to have the last word on the ever-changing world of reproductive technologies,
00:03:11.000 | but I would refer Elizabeth and the rest of our listeners to the wisdom of Jennifer Lahl, L-A-H-L,
00:03:22.000 | and the work of the Center for Bioethics and Culture Network,
00:03:27.000 | the Center for Bioethics and Culture Network, which she leads.
00:03:33.000 | She has drawn clear attention in various videos to the unforeseen damaging effects,
00:03:40.000 | especially in regards to surrogacy.
00:03:43.000 | And I'm very sympathetic with her view that the wisest and most compassionate course of action
00:03:50.000 | in all these matters is to stay close to the natural processes of reproduction,
00:03:57.000 | which God designed, which basically means keeping eggs and sperm in our bodies.
00:04:04.000 | That's the way she put it to me when I asked her this question once.
00:04:08.000 | With regard to Elizabeth's second question, I think the Bible has even more clear guidance
00:04:14.000 | and gracious encouragement.
00:04:17.000 | She asked, "Do you have any scripture or any grace, any scripture grace,
00:04:22.000 | to give to those of us who are the product of reproductive technology
00:04:28.000 | and who feel a bit like we were sold off as a commodity
00:04:33.000 | and abandoned by a biological parent in order to make another family happy?"
00:04:39.000 | And the first thing I would say to Elizabeth is that her situation is not peculiar
00:04:44.000 | or limited to those who are born through some kind of reproductive technology.
00:04:48.000 | There are those who were born because of rape and those who were born because of casual sex in a brothel
00:04:56.000 | and those who were born because of an accident when their parents didn't mean to get pregnant,
00:05:01.000 | didn't want to get pregnant, and those who were given up for adoption through all kinds of motivations,
00:05:08.000 | some good, some bad, and those who have absolutely no idea where they come from or who their parents were.
00:05:17.000 | Now, all of these people must deal with the feeling of being, at best, accidental,
00:05:24.000 | and at worst, unwanted, tainted because of their origin.
00:05:29.000 | Now, my approach to encouraging people with these kinds of roots is not mainly to romanticize those roots
00:05:40.000 | and say that the biological parents were noble, probably, and compassionate and caring.
00:05:46.000 | I simply don't know this in most cases, and I have far better news, better, better, better, better news than that
00:05:57.000 | for Elizabeth, for my own adoptive daughter, and others whose origins are unknown or unsavory.
00:06:05.000 | Paradoxically, I think making the picture darker before we make it brighter
00:06:11.000 | will result in the greatest possible brightness for Elizabeth's identity and hope and joy.
00:06:17.000 | Here's what I mean.
00:06:18.000 | The way to bring a darkness that makes things darker is to point out that every human being is born contaminated by sin.
00:06:30.000 | "In sin did our mothers conceive us," David said in Psalm 51.
00:06:34.000 | And Paul says that by one man, namely Adam's disobedience, the many, the rest of us, all of us, were made sinners.
00:06:43.000 | "By nature," he says, "we are all children of wrath," according to Ephesians 2.
00:06:51.000 | Now, that condition is far, far, far worse than any condition created by reproductive technologies.
00:07:00.000 | This condition, if it is not remedied, is going to result in our eternal destruction.
00:07:06.000 | No reproductive technology causes that.
00:07:10.000 | So things are far worse for all of us than they are for Elizabeth
00:07:16.000 | only because of the circumstances surrounding her conception.
00:07:21.000 | Now, what makes that darker observation about us turn out for greater brightness
00:07:29.000 | is that with complete awareness of this corruption, this worst condition,
00:07:37.000 | God Almighty, in great mercy and great grace, has been pursuing not just our healing from that corruption
00:07:47.000 | and not just our escape from destruction.
00:07:51.000 | He has been, wonder of wonders, pursuing our inclusion in His family.
00:08:01.000 | And He has been pursuing that at the cost of His Son's life.
00:08:08.000 | This is the spectacular center of the Christian gospel.
00:08:12.000 | This is what Christianity is about at its center.
00:08:16.000 | Listen to Ephesians 1, 4-7.
00:08:19.000 | "In love He predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons through Jesus Christ,
00:08:28.000 | according to the purpose of His will, to the praise of His glorious grace,
00:08:34.000 | with which He has blessed us in the Beloved.
00:08:37.000 | In Him we have redemption through His blood."
00:08:44.000 | In other words, it cost Jesus His life to get this adoption for us.
00:08:48.000 | "The forgiveness of our sins according to the riches of His grace."
00:08:52.000 | And then here's a second text, Romans 8-16.
00:08:55.000 | "The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.
00:09:02.000 | And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ,
00:09:10.000 | provided we suffer with Him in order that we may be glorified with Him."
00:09:14.000 | In other words, in spite of God's full awareness of the contamination of our souls
00:09:23.000 | from their very moment of origin, He is not only eager to remove that contamination,
00:09:32.000 | but He is eager to adopt us, make us His children,
00:09:39.000 | make us heirs with His eternal Son, Jesus Christ,
00:09:45.000 | and do it all through the redemption by the blood of His Son.
00:09:51.000 | This, this is the rock-solid, unshakable, always valid, always reliable truth about you, Elizabeth.
00:10:04.000 | And compared to the sorrow of thinking that biological parents treated you as a commodity,
00:10:12.000 | which is a sorrow, compared to the sorrow of that thought and that reality,
00:10:20.000 | the fact that God has desired you as a daughter,
00:10:25.000 | bought you at the cost of His Son's life, is 10,000 times more precious
00:10:32.000 | and more important than that thought.
00:10:36.000 | That's what I have prayed over my daughter.
00:10:40.000 | That's what she would feel as an adoptive daughter into our family,
00:10:46.000 | and then God be praised, his family not knowing what was in her biological parents' heart.
00:10:57.000 | It is a glorious thing to have a foundation for our identity and our acceptance with God
00:11:07.000 | that is as sure and as unshakable as the decrees of God Almighty.
00:11:14.000 | Thank you for being so deeply moving and edifying and applicable for all of us, Pastor John.
00:11:19.000 | Thank you.
00:11:20.000 | And Elizabeth, wow, thank you for opening up your life to us like this.
00:11:25.000 | It's humble on your part.
00:11:27.000 | It's brave on your part, and it's really greatly appreciated,
00:11:30.000 | as your story is going to encourage many other people through this podcast.
00:11:34.000 | So thank you for sending us the email to begin with.
00:11:37.000 | And thank you to everyone who listens in.
00:11:39.000 | You can stay current with the Ask Pastor John podcast on your phone or device
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00:11:44.000 | And you can search our past episodes in our archive and send us an email of your own.
00:11:48.000 | You can do those things through our online home at DesiringGod.org/AskPastorJohn.
00:11:54.000 | While we are justified by faith alone as a glorious truth,
00:11:58.000 | we are not ultimately saved by faith alone.
00:12:02.000 | That statement in a DG article that you wrote, Pastor John,
00:12:05.000 | has stirred up quite a lot of debate and controversy online,
00:12:08.000 | and I think that it's the right time to circle back on it and to hear you explain it more fully.
00:12:13.000 | How are we justified by faith alone but not saved by faith alone?
00:12:18.000 | It's a very important topic, very important conversation,
00:12:21.000 | and we need to have it next time when we return.
00:12:24.000 | That's on Friday.
00:12:25.000 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke.
00:12:26.000 | Thanks for listening.
00:12:27.000 | We'll see you then.
00:12:28.000 | [ Silence ]