My wife and I have been discussing the possibility of trying to have a baby sometime in the not too distant future. One thing we both agree on is that we'd prefer a baby girl. To that end, she has been reading articles and books on methods of pre-determining the baby's sex, inasmuch as that's possible.
One day, I was reading through one of these books, which contained reprints of letters sent to the doctor who wrote the book, from satisfied "customers." One of them made me just shake my head. Here's what it said:
Thank you for your book. My husband and I are Christians, and I do believe that regardless of attempts suggested by your book, the sex is predetermined by God, though I don't think it hurts to make His job easier.
This is exactly the sort of hypocrisy that really burns my biscuits.
This woman is going to use the methods in the doctor's book, but if she succeeds, she'll give the credit to God.
People like her are everywhere, taking advantage of spectacular human accomplishments, such as those in medicine, but giving thanks to God instead of doctors.
If these Christians really wanted to rely on God for these things, then they wouldn't utilize doctors! This ignorant letter writer wouldn't claim to be making her omnipotent God's job "easier." (That wouldn't be possible, anyway.) She knows damn well that relying on God to give her the gender of baby she wants is only going to be about a 50/50 chance of success for her. Science, once again, will improve the odds… will win out over faith.
And of course, those who do choose to rely on faith rather than medical science all too often invite tragedy. But I guess by their twisted sense of things, having a kid die of a friggin' ear infection is God's will…
Even the Christian's favorite Jew said, "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's…" One could rephrase that as the familiar, "Give credit where credit is due." And in the case of this woman and her letter, the credit would most certainly be due the doctor and his program, not God.
