Can't make our own rules
by Phil Rosenberger, Farmington, N.M.
I was disappointed that The Mennonite chose to feature the article "Thoughts on Abortion" by Debra Sapp-Yarwood (June 2). While I sympathize with Yarwood—infertility is a difficult burden to bear—her comment, "I couldn't believe that God would create life in me only to destroy it cavalierly. One death I could accept; not three," indicates that she is unwilling to accept that God knows what he is doing. Sometimes we don't understand how God works, but that doesn't mean we can go on and make our own rules to suit our own purposes.
When God asked Abraham to offer Isaac, that didn't make any sense either. Or who can figure Job out. But does that mean that we just throw it all out? No. We need to echo Job: "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, may the name of the Lord be praised."
Only God can create life—only God has the right take it away. Yes, it gets messy. People suffer the consequences of sin—sometimes other people's sin—and we all need to do whatever we can to ease that burden and show God’s love. But we can’t just start making up our own rules in order to try to make everyone feel better about it. God gave us his Word—we need to take it seriously.
Associated Issue: Thoughts on abortion - June 2, 2009
Associated Article: Thoughts on abortion
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