Why foes God allow abortion to exist?

[Geist]

My father (who is not really happy about me joining the Catholic church) and I were talking a bit about the current contraception controversy (I work in medicine), and somehow abortion came up. Then he asked me a really good question that stumped me, so, I bring it before everyone.

Why didn’t whoever get the idea to use poisons (abortifacients) or procedures (D+C) just drop dead from a stroke the second they got the idea? If this was done throughout time on the whole Earth to every independent “discoverer”, there would be no abortion.

If abortion is such a greiveous crime against God, why is it allowed to exist?

My answer was

Whats yours?

 

[Pfaffenhoffen]

My father (who is not really happy about me joining the Catholic church) and I were talking a bit about the current contraception controversy (I work in medicine), and somehow abortion came up. Then he asked me a really good question that stumped me, so, I bring it before everyone.

Why didn’t whoever get the idea to use poisons (abortifacients) or procedures (D+C) just drop dead from a stroke the second they got the idea? If this was done throughout time on the whole Earth to every independent “discoverer”, there would be no abortion.

If abortion is such a greiveous crime against God, why is it allowed to exist?

My answer was

Whats yours?

My Father was a doctor, my son is a doctor and I was a candidate to Medicine who went to Study Theology instead.

A French Philosopher called God, the God of Silence. No matter how you shout or despair or shout of joy, you will not hear any reaction from God.
But why? Job, in his book, asks this: the meaning of suffering. God keeps silent and asks Job: “Who are you to question about Life and Death?”. Jesus Christ asked the same before dying. He asked the Father to spare Him of the suffering, but wanted more to do the Will of the Father than His. And He accepted and so was glorified for ever and ever.

My son, when he started clinic, the bought a book (USA author) about the meaning of suffering. I realized that he was asking questions about what he was seeing.

Now, God could come and avoid every evil on Earth: there are 40 thousand of children who die of malnutrition every day on the Earth.

But that is not God’s will. I put the same question as you and it is a question that makes me suffer a lot: Why? Why? WhY?

And then I remember Jesus Who like a lamb went to death and did not open his mouth, fulfilled the Father’s wishes without asking questions.

And so, He was glorified as the king of kings.

The meaning of suffering is hard to take.

The best book I read is from the austrian psychiatrist Viktor Frankl, Man’s search for a meaning.

 

[sedonaman]

…If abortion is such a greiveous crime against God, why is it allowed to exist?

My answer was

Whats yours?

This is a subset of the question, why does God allow evil to exist? I don’t think free will could exist without allowing evil.

 

[PumpkinSeed]

The same reason he allows people to murder. Hes not really ‘allowing’ it. He gives us free will and we make the choice to do it. But be rest assured that when these people are dead, they will pay for it.

 

[Roy5]

A related question. If abortion is so evil why does Mother Nature (God?) arrange for so many of them? We lost two through miscarriages. I know the argument is that something was wrong with the pregnancies, but why was that? Is spontaneous abortion (miscarraige) that different from those abortions performed to guarantee the life of the mother? Both take innocent life.
And when it comes to taking innocent life, we have 'just wars' which can take millions of innocent lives, among them babies still in wombs. We justify these because of particular circumstances - killing in self-defense, for example. What about a woman who secures an abortion to defend herself against likely death, as sometimes happens?

 

[englishredrose]

God made us human

Being human means being free for God. We are not robotic and he wants our love to be freerly given to him.

along with that comes all the trappings and confusions of life and it is up to us to make choices and how we look after Earth.

Most of us will make many mistakes along the way and forget to look after our plant Earth, Gods planet too. Along with that we will freerly sin.

But God loves us.

It is why God allows abortion to exist. He has made us unique humans rather than dependent robots

 

[1ke]

A related question. If abortion is so evil why does Mother Nature (God?) arrange for so many of them? We lost two through miscarriages. I know the argument is that something was wrong with the pregnancies, but why was that? Is spontaneous abortion (miscarraige) that different from those abortions performed to guarantee the life of the mother? Both take innocent life.

 And when it comes to taking innocent life, we have 'just wars' which can take millions of innocent lives, among them babies still in wombs. We justify these because of particular circumstances - killing in self-defense, for example. What about a woman who secures an abortion to defend herself against likely death, as sometimes happens?

God does not “arrange” miscarriages. Miscarriages occur when something is wrong with the embryo. Defects and disease are a result of our fallen nature and fallen world, Original Sin. God does not will them.

 

[Geist]

The same reason he allows people to murder. Hes not really ‘allowing’ it. He gives us free will and we make the choice to do it. But be rest assured that when these people are dead, they will pay for it.

That was the best I could come up with. Figured maybe there was a more eloquent or detailed answer, but I suppose not. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Catholic_Prime]

God is not here to do our bidding,
we are to do his will.

We don’t create robots so we can serve them,
neither did God create us for him to serve us.

After eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil,
we know what is right and what is wrong, but some choose
not to abide by that.

If Adam hadn’t screwed it all up,
we’d be stupid and God would take
care of us all.

 

[Perplexity]

Geist, excellent question. I don’t think we need to phrase the question so strongly though. I mean, why did God have to kill the inventor of abortifacients (call him Bill)? etc. Why not do something far more subtler like allowing Bill to befall some disability at an early age which would sharply decline Bill’s chances of inventing abortifacients? We’re dealing with an omniscient, omnipotent deity here. There are an infinity of far subtler ways he could’ve influenced Bill’s life in the desired way, whilst not interfering with Bill’s free-will (assuming respecting Bill’s free-will is worth more than preventing abortifacients).

I think a good way to think about this is to look at God (in this situation) as a person being tried. Assume that abortifacients and the like are intrinsically evil. Further, suppose we’re trying a person who was not only fully capable of preventing Bill from bringing these intrinsic evils about, but who strongly believed these things are intrinsically evil. Would the jury be convinced by the defenses marshalled in his favor? Whatever the theist gives us in defense of God’s permitting these things, just ask that question: would the jury find the person innocent in virtue of this?

 

[Abba]

I think a good way to think about this is to look at God (in this situation) as a person being tried. Assume that abortifacients and the like are intrinsically evil. Further, suppose we’re trying a person who was not only fully capable of preventing Bill from bringing these intrinsic evils about, but who strongly believed these things are intrinsically evil. Would the jury be convinced by the defenses marshalled in his favor? Whatever the theist gives us in defense of God’s permitting these things, just ask that question: would the jury find the person innocent in virtue of this?

Good morning Perplexity,

The problem of the situation that you propose to judge GOD with is that it is inapplicable. It is GOD who YOU want to judge. That is, God Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen, omniscient and omnipresent, eternal, immutable, Love Itself and you propose that He be judged within a very limited situation which does not recognize His attributes. Similarly, it would be irrational to judge an animal or an insect with a human system. It would not apply.

In His Wisdom God created the world in such a way that His most beloved creatures who He created in His image would have free-will. God is the alpha and the omega and the father of history. God is All Knowing we are not. In His Wisdom He permits evil and suffering in the world, but, creation moans like a woman in labor for the end of this and God will bring it to an end in a time that He being All Knowing has determined to be proper and good. Not your time and what may look good to a human with limited knowledge, but in a time that He has determine to be good and as for me and my house - we are with God.

 

[Sair]

The answer that affords the least cognitive dissonance is that an anthropomorphic god who cares about human affairs simply does not exist.