Who is the Creator of Life?

I was reading a blog post the other day, which dealt with the idea of a designer God, designer babies, selective abortion, and several other trains of thought that devolved further into whether or not reproductive medicine has a place in the Christian world. Every paragraph I read, every comment, went further away from what the original article was about {how we’ve created for ourselves a “Designer God”…which I agree with} and more about the “proper” Christian stance on reproductive medicine.

The more I read, the hotter my face grew. Every comment became a new fuse lit in my bundle of dynamite, as people who have no idea about infertility, no idea about adoption, continued to express their opinions on those who pursue infertility treatment. Right down to the writer commenting that infertility treatment was abortion in reverse {still trying to wrap my head around that one}.

I know this common opinion has been expressed throughout the internets, that by seeking reproductive help people are playing God. That they are circumventing God’s will, by seeking treatment. Newsflash: THERE IS NOTHING IN THIS WORLD THAT CAN GO AROUND GOD’S WILL. NOTHING. End of story.

My husband and I went through quite a bit trying to have kids…constantly worrying that we were somehow playing God. We prayed. We talked. We sought counsel from pastors. We asked that God take away our desire to have children. We looked at our alternatives. We came to one conclusion: There was nothing we could do that would force God’s hand. If having children through pregnancy was not in the cards for us, there was no treatment that we could do that would make it happen. ONLY GOD CAN CREATE LIFE!

People always figure, “why don’t they just adopt?!” People would…if it were that easy, but it isn’t. We had looked into adoption, but what most people don’t realize is that adoption costs money….a lot of money. It takes time….a lot of time. And the big thing…it isn’t guaranteed. There are so many children out there in need of a good home, and so many couples who desperately want to give them the home and love that they deserve, but you know what…the system is flawed and it doesn’t always happen.

To call infertility treatment “abortion in reverse” is disgusting: It is belittling of a very real and very serious epidemic in the world, the desire to END inconvenient life. It is an attempt to equivocate those who end life {which anyone can do} with those who SEEK to welcome new life. Yes, sadly, abortions do happen due to overly successful infertility treatments; but a lot more abortions happen on a whole without any relation to infertility treatment. To earmark couples who are struggling to create a family as kin to abortionists is….. I don’t have words, because the whole thing just makes me shake in anger.

The bottom line, and my wish for Christian couples struggling through infertility, who already feel guilty for their inability to conceive, and for those who think they understand infertility, and pass judgment on others who can’t get pregnant from sex: Only God can create life. That’s it. No one else. Pursuing infertility treatment no more makes that person a creator of life, than the person who has sex.

Every doctor will tell you the same thing. They can explain how life begins, the science behind it, the reasons why it may not work, the reasons why it may, but no one can re-create the exact moment in which life begins. All the pieces can be put together perfectly, but that doesn’t guarantee anything. Just ask all the heartbroken couples who have tried to have children, through reproductive medicine, only to be told that nothing happened.

It is not possible for man, in anyway, shape or form, to create life: It is not a gift that God has given to us. He has given us the knowledge and tools to make it possible, particularly for those who’s own bodies may not be able to, but to actually create life, to get those cells replicating and heartbeat fluttering that is a gift still held only by Him.