Crosstalk: Naturally Speaking

There are times when I think that the world must be going crazy. Today was one of those times. I was reading about the conference in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia. It was a gathering of humanitarian organizations and philanthropists on how to reduce human suffering around the world. One of the presenters told his gathered audience, “pregnancy is not natural.” Think about that sentence for a minute. “Pregnancy is not natural.”

If natural may be defined as that which is a common experience, I can’t think of anything that is more natural than pregnancy. After all, without a doubt each and every one of you exist because of a pregnancy — namely, your mother’s! More than that, if all pregnancy would suddenly stop today, this world would be emptied of all people–not to mention almost all animal life–within a hundred years. “Pregnancy is not natural?”

Not only is this sentence nonsensical from a practical standpoint, it is even sillier from the standpoint of language. “Natural,” after all, comes from the Latin word, “natus,” meaning “to be born.” The very definition of “natural” has to do with the bearing of children. In fact, it is from this same Latin word that we have dozens of other words having to do with birth. Pre-natal means before birth. Your nativity is your birthday. Your nationality is the place of your birth. Innate qualities are those qualities you are born with. “Pregnancy is not natural?” You might as well say that light is not enlightening!

The frightening thing is that Mr. Kissling was able to speak such utter nonsense without being laughed off the stage. What kind of world do we live in? How did we get to the place that somebody could even think such orwellian nonsense? More alarming still, is the fact that he said it in a conference to eliminate human suffering.

Then again, I suppose there is some logic at work here. What better way to eliminate human suffering than to eliminate humans? What kind of world do we live in? The kind where the highest priority for secular humanitarians is to reduce the number of human beings. That is a sad fact, but it is a fact. That is the best that secular human aid can do.

Seeing this dead-end fact provides a strong incentive to look for a better solution. If secular humanitarians can do no better than this, let’s have another look at what divine humanitarianism has to offer. What does God do to eliminate human suffering?

First off, God became a human being. We confess, “He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and was born of the Virgin Mary.” God came as a pregnancy into the womb of the Virgin Mary. Nine months later, God was born into the world on the first Christmas–the Holy Nativity. By this simple and profound act, God did not give up humanity as a hopeless cause. Rather, He renewed our hope and redeemed the entire human experience.

By becoming a man, Jesus shows us that humanity is not forever doomed to be separated from its Creator. In fact, He shows that your human body has the capacity to be the temple of God Himself by faith in Jesus Christ. He returns us to our true nature. There’s that word, “natus” again! Our true nature is what we are intended to be by birth. By your very birth, you were created to have faith—the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Here is the answer to human suffering.

Human suffering is not eliminated by eliminating humans but by returning to true humanity. This humanity is described in the Bible as the image of God. It “loves the Lord, your God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind; and your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27). What could be more natural?

To be sure, the devil is trying hard to wipe out this true humanity. No wonder that secular humanitarianism has this as its goal! But now the mask is off. You see Satan’s work for what it is. All the confusing and nonsensical language of the world is exposed in a brilliant flash of clarity. Satan kills. Only the Lord gives life. And this Life is embodied in Jesus Christ, God-made-man.