I recently saw a video posted on Facebook entitled “The Night You Were Chosen". Beside the fact that it may have been a morning, midday or afternoon, the video raised a lot of questions that Christians struggle with and that I have considered for a while. First, I hope that you look at the video (linked above) before forming any conclusions either about the message of the video or the opinions I present for your consideration.
The video posits that God not only knew when you were conceived but played a critical role in the miracle of the single unique sperm which fertilized the single unique egg that became you. It accurately suggests that 500 million (yes, half a billion) sperm were deposited in your mother’s reproductive system and only one beat the treacherous odds of competition, a hostile environment and directional targeting to find the egg and donate it’s DNA to form the unique You. Dare I say that every live normal birth is the culmination of a miraculous sequence of events – fertilization, gestation and parturition that produces You. As the video states, “God chose you the night you were conceived…and promises to journey with us all the days we live…”
As a Christian this is quite a remarkable promise and is an awe-inspiring thought to understand that there is a powerful God who has chosen to walk with us. It is a statement filled with hope for those of us (and I suspect all of us) who struggle with the difficulties we encounter on this journey of life. But here I pause to reconsider the foundation of the conception argument. Beside the slightly misleading suggestion that all sperm compete equally (a significant number of sperm are non-functional or deficient), there are legitimate questions that arise from this theory of God’s role in human reproduction.
Did God choose us the night we were conceived?
Did He select and direct that 1 in 500 million sperm that united with the preselected egg?
Does God know the genetic content of every egg and sperm?
So, does God knowingly select genetically defective sperm or egg which will then form a malformed or defective You?
Is the process of fertilization a strictly random process?
As an example, two parents who are both heterozygous for the genetic disease cystic fibrosis (that is, each parent possesses a matching pair of chromosomes, one chromosome of which carries a gene for the disease and the corresponding chromosome is normal) have a 25% chance of producing a child with cystic fibrosis at every conception. This result is clearly observed in the numbers of people that express the disease. Medical science has discovered numerous diseases that are the direct result of the fusion of sperm and eggs that contain chromosomes with genetic defects and result in babies born with numerous neurological, physiological, or functional disabilities. Many of the products of genetic diseases may spontaneously abort during gestation, die shortly after birth, or may live for a few years enduring intense pain and suffering. It is a disconcerting conclusion to attribute these dysfunctions to a God who knowingly selects these sperm and eggs, directs them to unite, and mandates them to create individuals who would experience immense suffering for the rest of their lives. This theory seems incompatible with a God of love. It belies the idea of a God of love to suggest that He willingly fosters such debilitating pain and suffering on the objects of His love.
Psalm 22:9,10, Psalm 139:13 and other biblical passages illustrate the ancients understanding of God’s role in gestation and parturition. The Bible however, does not seem to suggest that God plays an active role in fertilization.
So, did God really select you before you were conceived or is the fertilization process a random event which God allows? Can we accept that the process of fertilization is just an event in reproduction that sometimes results in unfortunate circumstances? Are we comfortable with attributing such painful circumstances to a sinful, evil environment? Can we be at peace with a God who does not manipulate every event of life but intervenes in our darkest moments to guide us, sustain us, and nurture us through difficult times? I believe that God, in spite of the results of conception, chooses to intervene in the events of our lives as he walks with the broken, the hurting, and the diseased, throughout the difficulties that life brings. God is a defender of the fatherless, the widows, the sick and diseased, but he does not create them. He cares for, and can use anyone, and seeks to save everyone. Even in cases where births are predicted, for example Isaac, Samson, Samuel, or Jesus, it appears that He may be projecting His omniscience – the all-knowing characteristic of God - rather than manipulating the circumstances.
But the notion that God intervened in my conception is fraught with difficulty and a crunch to the hearts of the genetically disabled who would have a valid question, “God, why did you do this to me?”
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