Eugenics is a theme repeated in science fiction utilised with the aim to produce an ideal society. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley is a good example of using scientific means to manufacture people who will conform to their role in society through indoctrination, drugs, and conditioning. Whatever was deemed "ugly" had no place in utopia, and people were placed in pre-determined castes where they were prepared for particular roles (Alphas, Betas, Gammas, etc.). The heart of eugenics is not life but death, the culling of any embryos deemed unsuitable. It is a godless approach, a "self direction of human evolution." Many atrocities have been carried out upon fellow humans guided by eugenics. Today selective breeding is typically not mandated by government but largely sanctioned, as unwanted unborn children can be legally aborted.
What if God employed this approach, to kill any creatures which fell short of His absolute standard of goodness? There would not be another person born! Psalm 139 is a beautiful passage which describes God knitting a child in the womb of his mother. Because we live in a world ravaged by sin and war people can be born with chronic illnesses and malformed. Even more difficult to understand perhaps is when God sovereignty chooses to make someone with what we call "disability" in Exodus 4:11: "So the LORD said to him, "Who has made man's mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the LORD?" God commanded Moses to speak to Pharaoh, but Moses said he didn't speak well. One point God made was He was responsible for creating the mouth of Moses and knew what he was capable of, and also provided the mouth of Aaron to assist him. It wasn't the mouth of Moses where the problem was but in his reluctance to trust and obey.
If we were God and at the controls of conception, we would be sorely tempted to stack the deck in our favour, wouldn't we? God knows beyond what people are capable of but what they will actually do. God has given every person the freedom to chose and does not condemn before the time. A perfect example is when Hazael came to speak with Elisha concerning the health of the king of Syria who was ill. 2 Kings 8:10-12 reads, "And Elisha said to him, "Go, say to him, 'You shall certainly recover.' However the LORD has shown me that he will really die." 11 Then he set his countenance in a stare until he was ashamed; and the man of God wept. 12 And Hazael said, "Why is my lord weeping?" He answered, "Because I know the evil that you will do to the children of Israel: Their strongholds you will set on fire, and their young men you will kill with the sword; and you will dash their children, and rip open their women with child." Bizarre, isn't it? God revealed to the prophet Elisha what atrocities Hazael would be guilty of, yet did not smite him in the womb. God graciously allowed Hazael to grow up to be an ambitious man who would indeed take matters into his own hands.
Hazael recoiled at the suggestion he would do such things, but the word of the LORD came to pass. 2 Kings 8:13-15 states, "So Hazael said, "But what is your servant--a dog, that he should do this gross thing?" And Elisha answered, "The LORD has shown me that you will become king over Syria." 14 Then he departed from Elisha, and came to his master, who said to him, "What did Elisha say to you?" And he answered, "He told me you would surely recover." 15 But it happened on the next day that he took a thick cloth and dipped it in water, and spread it over his face so that he died; and Hazael reigned in his place." Hazael was not judged by what he would someday do, but what he was guilty of doing. Here is a place where so-called "situational ethics" cannot endure, for these hypothetical wranglings never take into account the love and grace of God extended towards all. Hazael didn't want to believe he was capable of such wickedness, but in a day he would betray and smother his king. He could have repented and stopped there, but alas! Let us not be fooled to think we, by virtue of our knowledge or morality, are incapable of great wickedness. All have sinned, and before another day dawns we will sin again.
How the grace of God is magnified when we realise we are Hazael; we are Cain, Agag, Nabal, Absalom, and Barabbas! We are the corrupt, bent, depraved and proud people who (if God was a eugenicist) would never have been permitted to see the light of day. God is grieved by our sin and is the righteous Judge of all, but His heart is to see us turn from sin, look to Him and be saved. God is not to be blamed because people sin. It is true at any moment God with His infinite knowledge could have struck men who would grow to be cruel kings and dictators in the womb, or those who would be drunks, abusive, lying, cheating, stealing, lustful - or spiritually proud and judgmental. If we charge the righteous God with wrong we only prove our own guilt, but in repenting and receiving the grace of God through the Gospel we are forgiven and made pure. Oh the grace of God! What a good, longsuffering Father He is to all! As we have freely received of His grace, let us offer it freely to others.
What if God employed this approach, to kill any creatures which fell short of His absolute standard of goodness? There would not be another person born! Psalm 139 is a beautiful passage which describes God knitting a child in the womb of his mother. Because we live in a world ravaged by sin and war people can be born with chronic illnesses and malformed. Even more difficult to understand perhaps is when God sovereignty chooses to make someone with what we call "disability" in Exodus 4:11: "So the LORD said to him, "Who has made man's mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the LORD?" God commanded Moses to speak to Pharaoh, but Moses said he didn't speak well. One point God made was He was responsible for creating the mouth of Moses and knew what he was capable of, and also provided the mouth of Aaron to assist him. It wasn't the mouth of Moses where the problem was but in his reluctance to trust and obey.
If we were God and at the controls of conception, we would be sorely tempted to stack the deck in our favour, wouldn't we? God knows beyond what people are capable of but what they will actually do. God has given every person the freedom to chose and does not condemn before the time. A perfect example is when Hazael came to speak with Elisha concerning the health of the king of Syria who was ill. 2 Kings 8:10-12 reads, "And Elisha said to him, "Go, say to him, 'You shall certainly recover.' However the LORD has shown me that he will really die." 11 Then he set his countenance in a stare until he was ashamed; and the man of God wept. 12 And Hazael said, "Why is my lord weeping?" He answered, "Because I know the evil that you will do to the children of Israel: Their strongholds you will set on fire, and their young men you will kill with the sword; and you will dash their children, and rip open their women with child." Bizarre, isn't it? God revealed to the prophet Elisha what atrocities Hazael would be guilty of, yet did not smite him in the womb. God graciously allowed Hazael to grow up to be an ambitious man who would indeed take matters into his own hands.
Hazael recoiled at the suggestion he would do such things, but the word of the LORD came to pass. 2 Kings 8:13-15 states, "So Hazael said, "But what is your servant--a dog, that he should do this gross thing?" And Elisha answered, "The LORD has shown me that you will become king over Syria." 14 Then he departed from Elisha, and came to his master, who said to him, "What did Elisha say to you?" And he answered, "He told me you would surely recover." 15 But it happened on the next day that he took a thick cloth and dipped it in water, and spread it over his face so that he died; and Hazael reigned in his place." Hazael was not judged by what he would someday do, but what he was guilty of doing. Here is a place where so-called "situational ethics" cannot endure, for these hypothetical wranglings never take into account the love and grace of God extended towards all. Hazael didn't want to believe he was capable of such wickedness, but in a day he would betray and smother his king. He could have repented and stopped there, but alas! Let us not be fooled to think we, by virtue of our knowledge or morality, are incapable of great wickedness. All have sinned, and before another day dawns we will sin again.
How the grace of God is magnified when we realise we are Hazael; we are Cain, Agag, Nabal, Absalom, and Barabbas! We are the corrupt, bent, depraved and proud people who (if God was a eugenicist) would never have been permitted to see the light of day. God is grieved by our sin and is the righteous Judge of all, but His heart is to see us turn from sin, look to Him and be saved. God is not to be blamed because people sin. It is true at any moment God with His infinite knowledge could have struck men who would grow to be cruel kings and dictators in the womb, or those who would be drunks, abusive, lying, cheating, stealing, lustful - or spiritually proud and judgmental. If we charge the righteous God with wrong we only prove our own guilt, but in repenting and receiving the grace of God through the Gospel we are forgiven and made pure. Oh the grace of God! What a good, longsuffering Father He is to all! As we have freely received of His grace, let us offer it freely to others.
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