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42
As I reflect on my own experiences during nearly forty years
of ministry, I am reminded of those instances when obedience
meant difficulty. There were occasions when decisions resulted in
misunderstanding and estrangement. Other decisions brought
financial sacrifice. Often the greater the awareness of the
difficulties involved, the more one‘s obedience of faith is tested.
Although I recall well several occasions when the obedience of
faith resulted in agonizing decisions and sacrifice, there were also
some instances where the agony lay more in the decision-making
process itself because it was difficult to determine the right thing to
do.
As an example, during our seminary years, my wife was
exposed to German measles in her first trimester of pregnancy. It
was a traumatic experience because we were well aware of the
potential damage to our child. Birth defects were likely. At this
point in time, babies born to mothers who had taken thalidomide
were born with grotesque deformities and became a sensation in
the media; consequently, people were alarmed about these new and
unexpected problems and it caused anxiety about related matters,
such as her exposure to measles. My wife was urged by her
doctor to have a therapeutic abortion in order to avoid anything
similar. He was kind and did not press the issue, but the fact that
he, our competent doctor, was concerned enough to recommend the
abortion created a traumatic situation for us.
We were faced with a tough decision. On one hand, the
Bible was clear. Abortion is wrong, so we knew that we should not
agree to therapeutic abortion, but on the other hand, we faced the
likelihood of giving birth to a child with mental or physical
deformities. About that time, a prominent pastor preached about a
couple who birthed a mongoloid child. That sermon, in addition to
the daily photographs of deformed thalidomide babies and the
warning of our physician, was enough to cause tremendous mental
and emotional anguish as we wrestled with the possibility of
raising such a child. We were unable to sort out all those feelings,
nor could they be dismissed by force of will. The undesirable