Is it a miracle? God's plan?

Hmmmmm... This was an infertile couple. Seems like that might have been God's plan...

Surgeons harvested eggs from this woman in a hospital procedure. Somebody, the father perhaps, in a solo act donated a sample into a dixie cup.

The magical moment where the mothers eggs and the donors sperm became a number of "human beings" occured in a glass dish stired and watched over by a lab technician. Unlike normal conception it wasn't just one fertalization. This baby had a number of other fertalized egg siblings, the majority of which were slated to eventualy be discarded once they were no longer needed. These "humans" were then stored like a book on a shelf in a vat of liquid nitrogen until another medical team was ready to select one and perfom another surgical procedure to implant it.

Eventualy, it was born with the help of surgeons who cut the mothers womb open and deliverd the baby in an operating room.

Is it a miracle? Not of divine nature. It's pretty darned impressive that scientists can make this happen. It's a work of man, not of God.

Is it God's will? You do realize that this baby has perhaps a dozen siblings, all fertalized eggs, all "human beings", all equaly able to be born and grow and live. They are still waiting at the bottom of a pool of liquid nitrogen, where they will stay until they are possibly implanted, but most likley discarded.

No magic here. No divine intervention. If anything, we've subverted divine will. It's science, and it's technology done for purley selfish reasons by people that can afford the luxury. Let's not make this out to be more than it was.

John sez

No magic here. No divine intervention. If anything, we've subverted divine will.

Reminds me of an wry old joke.

See there was this man...we'll call him John, who found himself caught at home during a torrential rain storm. As his neighbors evacuated, John was secure in his faith that God would protect and recue him. A couple of his friends stopped by and urged him to get into their car to leave but he shook his head "God will help me" he said and they left.

Later the flood waters started rising, so much so John moved to the top floor of his house. A rowboat came by with two men urging John to join them and get away. John declined, "I have faith in my Lord. He will rescue me." So they left.

And still the water rose and John was forced to the roof. A helicopter appeared over the trees and hovered near him as the people in the copter dropped a rescue line and urged him to grab hold. John declined, "I am not afraid. God will rescue me." They, too, left.

And then John drowned.

John arrived in heaven and was taken before the Lord. God said to John, "Why so sad, my son?"

"God, I had faith in you, yet you never came to rescue me."

"But my son, I sent you friends, a rowboat and even a helicopter. What more could you ask for?"

Well, that's a charming story, Darleen but it's completly irrelevant to the discussion at hand. Do you intend to disagree with any of the facts or timeline I've laid out?

It also shows your complete misunderstanding of my position. My story goes something like this...

See there was this man...we'll call him John, who found himself caught at home during a torrential rain storm. John was paying attention to the scientists forcasting the weather, and he left along with his neighbors before the storm, and everyone lived happily ever after. The end.

Now, it's not as dramatic a story as yours, I'll grant you that, but it's a lot more realistic.

You, after all, are that person on the roof, expecting a divine entity in the sky that's never going to come and bail you out.

Darleen, I made some cocoa and threw it on the cat.

Kim, No Obama comment box above and the N.O. post sux so: http://isteve.blogspot.com/2007/01/white-guilt-obamamania-and-reality-of.html (I know! Wrong thread!) Gute Nacht! zzzzz...

Found another miracle!

Baby chimpanzee arrives naturally at Chimp Haven
Newborn comes despite males having had vasectomies!

God has big plans for that chimp.

Well, it's about time the media started reporting the good news out of New Orleans! All we've been seeing is the bad news. The American people have been fooled by the liberal press into thinking that things in New Orleans are not going well. Thank goodness we have independent blogs like this one to remind us of all the good things. George Bush truly is a visionary.

The amusing history, frightens me such medicine a little

You are missing the bigger picture...the birth of Noah means (gasp) fewer of those precious stem cells that, maybe, perhaps, possibly--but who can say---cure athlete's foot, or whatever the maladie de jour happens to be this week.

Let us all hope fervently that God's plans for young Mr. Markham do not include boatbuilding on scale similar to that of his Old Testament namesake.