We Are God's Special Creations (TRIGGER WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES)


Have you ever heard that you are wonderfully and miraculously made? That you are God's special creation?  I know I heard that a lot growing up, at church, in VBS, and from my family. 

This is indeed a Biblical concept! Just look at the following verses.

  • You alone created my inner being. You knitted me together inside my mother. I will give thanks to you because I have been so amazingly and miraculously made. Your works are miraculous, and my soul is fully aware of this. (Psalm 139:13-14)
  • We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.  (Isaiah 64:8)
  • I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb.  (Jeremiah 1:5)
  • More verses here
The Bible does unequivocally declare that each of us is deliberately made by God.  We are all miraculous works.  And so we praise God for our sons and daughters who are born with ten fingers and ten toes, and with all their parts in the right places. 

Do we also blame God when our children turn out like this?


God's precious creature
A deformity called diprosopus ("two faces") (Credit Wiley Online Library)

A child with a "facial mask" deformity

Don't get me wrong. I am not disparaging these poor children.  I am in no way calling these innocent babies less human or an abomination (though God probably would).  But I have A LOT of questions.  If people pray for their babies to be born healthy, that implies that they believe God has control over how their children turn out.  So if God creates perfect, healthy children, does he also not create the deformed children? The children with 2 faces, 3 eyes, or even 2 heads?

Conjoined twins born in India (article) 

And if what the Bible says is true, then God DOES take a hands-on approach to baby making.  He designs them in the womb, knows how many hairs are on their heads, and has a plan for them.  FOR ALL THE BABIES.   So he has some answering to do.

Here are my questions: 

If what the Bible says is true, then the red text in the sub-bullets are the answers to my questions.
  • Does God deliberately create children with horrific deformities?   
    • Yes, God creates all of us in his own image.  He knew us all before we were formed.  So he does indeed purposefully create babies with deformities. 
  • Does God have the ability to prevent these deformities from happening? If so, why doesn't he? 
    • Yes, God is all-powerful.  He doesn't prevent the deformities because...(choose from the following list of common apologetic responses)...he has a plan; his ways are mysterious; if he didn't show us pain then we wouldn't know pleasure; it's the devil; it's because of original sin; he's punishing you
  • Is he overseeing the fetal development process at all?
    • Of course; he designed the process, and knitted us all in the womb. We are the clay and he is the potter.
  • Doesn't he realize that this type of deformity will either kill the child immediately, or will cause a lifetime of pain, suffering, and mental issues for both the child and the family?  
    • Of course he realizes this--he is all-knowing.  

Now let's ask these same questions again, but directed toward nature. 
  • Does nature deliberately create children with horrific deformities?   
      • No. Nature is not aware, so nature cannot do anything deliberately. 
    • Does nature have the ability to prevent these deformities from happening? 
      • Not totally.  Though there are many checks and safeguards in place to ensure accurate DNA replication, the fetal development process is not perfect. 1 in 4 pregnancies miscarry.  Genetic diseases are common.  Deformities like diprosopus are rare, but they do happen.  DNA replication is not error-proof.  Mistakes happen.
    • Is nature overseeing the fetal development process at all?
      • Nope. It's just a chemical process, developed over 3.8 billion years.
    • Doesn't nature realize that this type of deformity will either kill the child immediately, or will cause a lifetime of pain, suffering, and mental issues for both the child and the family?
      • No, nature has no consciousness.
    I am not claiming that this definitively disproves the existence of the Judeo-Christian God, but it GREATLY reduces the likelihood of this God being real.  You have to ask yourself: does the God described in the Bible hold up when faced with the reality of horrific birth defects? If this God exists and he designs people this way, is he cruel?  

    Which scenario makes more sense in light of debilitating birth defects inflicted on innocent children?  A caring, loving, deliberate creator?  Or an unfeeling evolutionary process?

    Further reading:
    • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diprosopus
    • https://biblereasons.com/being-unique/
    • https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Leviticus%2021%3A16-23&version=NIV

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