Mailbag

Horror stories critiquing “reproductive technologies”

Leah Savas wrote that listeners to the Conceiving Crime podcast should not “expect arguments in favor of more ethical approaches to IVF.” This implies that there are indeed ethical ways to approach IVF, a claim with which I strongly disagree.

My first objection is that even if the parents do not store their embryos indefinitely, “donate” their children, or selectively kill or abandon their embryos, IVF still bears a concerning resemblance to slavery since IVF involves the parents giving money to a fertility clinic with the expectation that they will get a child in return.

To be clear, I am not saying that parents who have children via IVF treat or view their children as slaves. They deeply love their children just as parents who had children by natural means or adoption do. But parents’ love for their children conceived by IVF does not justify how their children were created—just as deeply loving children produced by adultery or fornication does not justify adultery or fornication. Loving the children is a moral necessity now that they are created.

Another objection is that even if parents were to go through IVF without paying the fertility clinic, IVF is based on the assumption that it is so important that an adult’s desire to have children be satisfied that it is acceptable to create people for the sole purpose of satisfying that desire. Children created by IVF exist only because their parents wanted to have them, not as an overflow of the parents’ love for each other (as in natural conception). Adoption is not the same as IVF since adoption is an expression of love for a child who already exists and needs a family.

For these reasons at least, I do not believe there is an ethical way to approach IVF. I think that Live Action is correct to treat IVF as an inherently unethical technology.
     —Daniel Swartzendruber / St. Paul, Minn.

Rethinking retirement

Two excellent articles in your “360” package about retirement planning. The outlook for Social Security is probably not as pessimistic as the media and other sources lead us to believe, but nobody should plan on it being their sole source of retirement income. It remains mind-boggling to me how otherwise responsible adults fail to maximize their 401(k), including an available match, along with other saving strategies, and then compound the problem by failing to take into account modern life expectancy by allocating their investments too conservatively. At the same time, we should be cautious about the extremes of the “Super Savers,” which can amount to anti-Biblical hoarding. Keep up the great work!
     —Nathan P. Shive / Macungie, Pa.

You write that “Uhlir is one of the estimated two-thirds of U.S. workers who haven’t saved enough to maintain their standard of living in retirement.” That statement is not true. Her careful savings were robbed by the U.S. gov­ernment’s irresponsible inflationary financial program. The government devalued her savings by printing (they call it “borrowing”) dollars that dilute the buying power of Mrs. Uhlir’s saved dollars. Inflation robs every one of us.
     —John Smith / Oneonta, Ala.

Your cover story about planning for retirement is so timely and appropriate. I think it would have been a better story if you had spoken to any of the hosts on The Ramsey Show, who help older folks address the reality of retirement daily. It was otherwise a great story. We hope and plan, yet life throws us too many curveballs.
     —Brad O’Brien / Schertz, Texas

Wistful, witty, and winsome reads

In your review of children’s books you recommended Where Are You, Brontë? by Tomie DePaola. I’m wondering if your readers would also like to know that he was a practicing homosexual for most of his life. I checked into this after noting some things that seemed a little abnormal in some of his writings. Worldview comes through. Be warned!
     —Sara Hall / Milwaukie, Ore.

What is telephobia?

In the article on telephobia, I noticed that Bekah McCallum focused a lot on classes and low-stakes phone calls, along with deep breathing and prayer, as good ways to recover from telephobia. However, I think real-life conversations might be the best first step to recovery. If you have problems with conversations on the phone, then you probably don’t do well with conversations in person either. So, get off your phone and have a conversation with someone, as the X user McCallum quoted would put it, like a “normal person.”
     —Ruby Bromley / Modesto, Calif.

Is Hollywood listening?

The article regarding declining ticket sales at cinemas across the country provides an excellent insight into the struggles of cinemas with competition from streaming platforms. Part of the enjoyment of going to the movies is the big-screen experience. However, I have noticed that the screens at several nearby theaters are dimly lit. An online search suggests that the expensive halogen bulbs dim over time and that cinemas are not replacing them as often to save money. This trend of dimly lit screens may drive me away permanently!
     —Ed LaBelle / Johnson City, Texas

When winsome fails

Thanks to Nick Eicher for his strong defense of Biblical authority. He quotes Andrew Walker who states ­correctly that “we’ve skipped Genesis in our preaching.” Many pastors shy away from the clear (albeit controversial) statements in Genesis about gender, sexuality, and marriage. But let’s not throw away the adjective “winsome.” It is possible to be both truthful and winsome. I remember a layman who said, “My pastor preaches the Bible but does not beat me over the head with it.” St. Paul urges us to “speak the truth in love.”
      —Rev. Bill Bouknight / Columbia, S.C.

Nick’s column was another reminder about government-compelled words and thoughts. Ever since high school when I read Brave New World and 1984, I would never have believed that kind of world could ever happen. But today just silently praying across the street from an abortion facility can get you arrested. How can this be? To quote the 1943 Supreme Court decision in West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnette: “If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, religion or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein.” Would today’s court confirm that judicial precedent?
     —Larry King / Jacksonville, Fla.

This column was outstanding. Refusing to address an issue does not make the issue go away. Our church’s mission is to “make fully committed disciples,” but they refuse to mention anything political from the pulpit. Truth-telling is a necessity.
     —Tom Edgerton / Lakeville, Ind.

Moral minority

This article about secular and neo-pagan influences in the Republican Party was brave, bold, and necessary. I was saddened but not surprised. As a onetime strong Republican, I started to “smell a rat” 10 years ago. The appeal to Christians felt phony as they wanted our votes but not our influence. Politics has led many Christians astray. “Return to your first love” and forsake the false god of politics.
     —Dean Davis / Carbondale, Ill.

I was pleased to read this enterprising piece. In characterizing the thinking, and warning about the influence, of Yarvin, BAP, and Sailer, the writer did Christians a true service. But there is more to be concerned about even with some of the Republican politicians now in power. Yes, Donald Trump has given the impression of establishing Christian sexual morality, getting control of the national debt, and handling the immigration problem, but in so doing he’s ignoring what Jesus called “the weightier provisions of the Law: justice and mercy and faithfulness” (Matthew 23:23). Just one example: his merciless cruelty in going after immigrants, even legal immigrants, and his unconcern for their right to due process. Concerns about such issues are not woke. They’re Christian.
     —David Campbell / Greenbelt, Md.

Corrections

Vietnam’s capital city is Hanoi (Global Briefs, July, p. 24).

The image on p. 76 shows Pete Richardson at the ARC ­conference (“Cracks in the foundation,” July).

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