The Works of God

Everyone wants some advice on how to help people who are sick and suffering.

In his article, You Look Great and Other Lies, Bruce Feiler offers some pretty good advice on things to say.  He also offers a few NOT to say, like “everything will be ok” or “you look great.”

But one of the phrases he suggested people avoid made my heart sick:

MY THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS ARE WITH YOU. In my experience, some people think about you, which is nice. Others pray for you, which is equally comforting. But the majority of people who say they’re sending “thoughts and prayers” are just falling back on a mindless cliché. It’s time to retire this hackneyed expression to the final resting place of platitudes, alongside “I’m stepping down to spend more time with my family,” or “It’s not you, it’s me.”

Attaching the words ‘prayer’ and ‘mindless cliche’ just hurts.  He is probably right that most people should avoid that statement because they either have no intention of following through or they have no thought that prayer actually means anything.

Let us not be those kind of people!  If we say we will pray, let us pray, and do so with expectation.

The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. James 5:16b

And when people say their ‘thoughts and prayers’ are with us, let us accept it enthusiastically, thanking them for going before the Father and Creator of all things, with joy that they love us this much!  If they said it mindlessly or carelessly, may God use our excitement at prayer to shake them up and reconsider the power available to all who cling to Jesus – we can come to the throne of God himself, boldly!

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If you haven’t seen this great article from Sunday’s Pioneer Press, A different kind of perfect: Child with Down syndrome helped family re-evaluate life, please stop and read that first.

I loved how an eight-year-old boy helped his mother see the truth in the midst of her grief about the news that her unborn child had Down syndrome.

As he received the news, this boy simply said, “Oh, good.”

His mother is quoted as saying,

In that moment of absolute grief, that little piece of clarity and truth, it took my breath away.

Clarity and truth tend to do that!

So, this family faced the reality of their situation, which included advice about options like abortion.  They heard from family members and friends who left unspoken the expectation that their other children would have their lives ruined by this little, vulnerable, unborn child with Down syndrome.

And today this family lives what appears to be a complicated, joyful life.  The future is unclear, but they know it will probably get more difficult for them and for their youngest son.

But that clarity has remained about the life of their precious Gabe.

And it began with a little boy who knew something important about his unborn brother.  There are people who do not see individuals with Down syndrome with that level of clarity, even though they are much older than this boy was, are more educated, and have earned impressive credentials.

And it is just like God to do it that way:

At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.”  Matthew 11:25-26

I’m very grateful to God for this positive article about parenting and Down syndrome – these things do help!  And I feel the call to be like that boy, to speak truth with clarity and conviction and certainty.

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Both the Saint Paul and Minneapolis papers ran an identical story on June 5 related to new prenatal tests on the genetic makeup of pre-born children:  New earlier blood test for Down syndrome pregnancies may bring women comfort — or conflict.

The ramifications of what is presented in this article are huge for parents and churches and society at large.

But this article highlighted something really delightful: a woman passionately committed to her baby.

Witkowski, who prayed as that needle was slipped into her swollen belly in 2009, got her answer: It was Down syndrome. As her doctor gave her the news, her baby kicked her and “I could see my belly move,” she recalled.

Her doctor started talking immediately about abortion, a step Witkowski rejected. She changed doctors and gave birth to Grady in February 2010.

“When they first gave him to me,” Witkowski said, “I saw tiny little hands, and he had the most beautiful eyes… He didn’t have `Down syndrome’ stamped on his forehead. He cried and he peed and he pooped. He was a baby.”

New prenatal testing is getting cheaper and more widely available.  But it is not something to fear when we know that good decisions can be made, like in this case!  And those good decisions can be made even when those in authority, like doctors, are offering really, really bad alternatives.

There are those to whom we grant authority over us, like doctors and social workers and university professors and even some pastors, who are vocally against life with disability rather than for it.  That doctor, whether because of training or because of bias, immediately started talking about abortion because our society has turned against people with disabilities.

Was that doctor going to be as vocal about the humanity of that baby or about the entire possible spectrum of how that child’s life could turn out?  In addition to all of the struggles, and there will be many, are parents really being told the entire truth about their situation?  This article also notes that studies show doctors emphasize the negative ramifications of the diagnosis.

And who will tell these parents the truth about God’s sovereignty over all things and all circumstances?

Obviously this young mother knew something that doctor didn’t – she was carrying a baby, not ‘Down syndrome.’

May God be pleased to encourage many, many more who behave like Erin Witkowski of Port Jervis, N.Y.!

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WebMD is reporting that one in six children in the United States have developmental disabilities, according to a study in the June issue of the journal, Pediatrics.

One in six!

I knew the number was growing, but that startled me.

Of course, developmental disabilities range all across the board.  Autism and ADHD, for example, are spectrum disorders that range from mild to severely disabling.  And I’d really like to see their survey instrument since they relied on parent reporting.  That’s no knock on parents (since I am one) but I know how easy it is for two different parents to report different things for the exact same condition – or report the same thing when conditions are remarkably different.  Alas, it hasn’t been released to the public yet.

Still, one in six!

That has some significant implications for churches seeking to serve families experiencing these types of disabilities.  And since many developmental disabilities can be hidden, Pastor John’s strong exhortation to ‘see disability!’ in our midst is even more relevant.  We will need to be really intentional to see and welcome the young people who live with developmental disabilities God has given as gifts to the church.

Let us pray, earnestly, for God to provide all that we need!

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The Sunday Saint Paul Pioneer Press included a story on a young man with disabilities who is taking part in an experimental treatment that includes the use of embryonic stem cells.

We knew this day was coming.  But this particular story was alarming because of how it positioned Christians against the interests of the embryonic person.

The young man suffered a severe injury in a car accident that left him paralyzed from the chest down.  From all accounts he is a young man who trusts Christ and attends church regularly.

But he and his pastor are using profoundly flawed logic to justify the use of embryonic stem cells in this young man’s treatment.

In summary:

The cells implanted into his spine were obtained from embryos being discarded at fertility clinics, he notes.

“It’s not life. It’s not like they’re coming from an aborted fetus or anything like that. They were going to be thrown away,” he said. “Once they explained to me where the stem cells were coming from, once I learned that, I was OK with it.”

His pastor, Troy Bailey, of  the Reynolds Holiness Church, came to the same conclusion:

Bailey realized he had to sort out his own stance, given that some people who, like him, oppose abortion also consider embryonic stem cell research to be immoral. But Bailey concluded that that he, too, believed the experimental treatment is acceptable because the cells were obtained from embryos that had never been implanted in a woman’s womb and so had no chance of developing into a fetus.

“I am adamantly against abortion in any form. It did cause me some searching and researching biblically what is the proper answer,” he said. “I don’t really see a baby’s life was destroyed for this to take place.”

‘Adamantly against abortion in any form,’ yet willing to use stem cells from embryos that were destroyed in the process.

It’s like one human being saying to another, “since I can’t save you, it’s ok for me to use you.”

The only difference between those embryos and an aborted baby is length of time in development and placement.  The fact that the embryos were going to be discarded does not change the moral question one bit: they are still human beings.

This paper from Joni & Friends explains that we are dealing with a human:

Neurobiologist Maureen Condic, Senior Fellow at the Westchester Institute for Ethics and the Human Person, has forcefully argued that based on universally accepted scientific criteria, the human zygote/embryo comes into existence at the moment of sperm/egg fusion, an event that occurs in less than a second. Upon formation, the zygote immediately initiates a complex sequence of events that establish the conditions required for embryo development. The behavior of a zygote is radically unlike that of either sperm or egg and is characteristic of a human organism.

Like you, I want a cure for disabilities like what this young man is experiencing, but not at the expense of the very lives of other human beings.  The fact that fertility clinics have hundreds of thousands of frozen embryos is a huge and vexing problem.  But a clinic’s callous destruction of embryos does not change the morality of embryonic stem cell research or their use in other people.

The reporter for this story noted this irony:

Atchison’s story reveals provocative insights into one of the most closely watched medical experiments, including what some may see as an irony: that a treatment condemned on moral and religious grounds is viewed by the first person to pioneer the therapy, and his family, as part of God’s plan.

“It wasn’t just luck, or chance,” said Atchison, who thinks, six months after the treatment, that he may be feeling the first signs that the cells are helping him.

“It was meant to be.”

He is right – it isn’t luck or chance.  God is always purposeful.  And the temptations to seek out any rescue from his disabling condition will be strong.  Very few people in this culture will think twice about the decision he made and won’t mind that he’s wrapped it in religious language.

But we must stand ready to trust that God has a better plan that does not require the destruction of smaller human beings to change our life circumstances.  We must demonstrate that God is greater, more valuable, and more beautiful than comfort in this present age.  We must not let the clear evidence of humanity be clouded by the circumstances of their destruction.  We must support those who have made the harder, deeply personal decision to not participate in embryonic stem cell experiments, like Joni herself:

I want people to know that not all Americans with disabilities believe in using human embryos.

And when pastors make poor decisions, we must respectfully yet persistently call them back to the Bible to study it more carefully.  We must, peacefully, continue to stand for the little ones who cannot speak for themselves.  And we must be more proactive in serving and being served in our churches by those who live with life-long disabling conditions.

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