It is an unfortunate truth that our ability as a society to ethically think through and respond intelligently to the issues of ethics related to technology have not kept up with the results of that technology. This includes not only babies (through the availability of birth control, various fertility technologies and the care of premature infants) but also throughout life, with the issues of organ transplantation, allocation of resources, and end of life issues. As a whole, far too many of us would rather be spoon fed our response to such issues (usually through our religious affiliations) than to actually research them and then think them through. This society no longer really values life or the collective good of society as a whole. Our preoccupation with youth and "success" as well as a whole other slew of causative issues too in depth to get into here - has caused us to collectively view each individual as valuable only in as far as he/she can contribute to the welfare of whomever is making the value judgement. This is evident in such things as abortion and our lack as a society to care for those in need - the mentally ill, homeless, elderly and disabled.

Having been a critical care nurse and nurse practitioner for over 20 years I have seen that our incessant use of very expensive technology on everyone, regardless of actually usefulness of such technology to affect the eventual outcome (death) - is not actually doing many of these people any favors. We are now able to keep babies born at 22-24 weeks (term is 40 weeks) alive - but at what cost? Many of them suffer strokes, are born not fully formed, live for weeks or months on ventilators because their lungs weren't developed, and end with many physical and developmental issues to deal with their entire lives. It is said that greater than 80% of the entire medical costs of our lives are spent in the final 6 months or so - and that is generally true. It has always amazed me that we, who are Christians and believe (or are supposed to) that we are leaving this life to our real one in Heaven, are so afraid of dying. The vast majority of our technology is really useful to deal with acute illnesses or trauma (supporting a patient's life while they heal from life-threatening injuries or illness), but is used instead to prolong the dying process. And much of it is pretty darned uncomfortable. Very few lay people know what "doing everything" for their loved one really means in practical (and financial) terms. Very few medical people have any intention of allowing themselves to be kept alive on machines for any length of time at all. It is an interesting dichotomy that we do not really value life (aborting inconvenient pregnancies or using abortion as a form of birth control; putting our elderly in nursing homes; allowing our mentally ill and disabled individuals to live out on the streets because they can't take care of themselves or function in society; allowing our elderly to live in poverty where they have to choose between their medications and food or heat) yet will do anything and everything to prolong it when it is us or our loved one. This does not even begin to cover the other technologies that are available such as stem cell research or cloning.

Allocation of resources is another issue here. The cost of healthcare is skyrocketing and shows no evidence of stopping. Much of the cost goes to the high-tech end of life support and such things as organ transplantation, maintaining those on life sustaining therapies such as dialysis or ventilators, and trying to keep premature infants alive to develop. Each of these are individually based considerations. The societal considerations that are not discussed very often (that I've noticed anyway) is that resources as a whole are finite. If we are to spend $100,000 on an individual heart transplant or over a $ million to keep someone alive on life support - that means that community vaccination programs or child at risk nutrition programs or prenatal care cannot be funded because the money isn't there. If society spends the percentage of the GNP on health care as they do, other sectors of society cannot be funded. Everyone has their opinions and when it becomes an individual concern - we all generally react similarly - in our own best interest (or what we THINK is in our own best interest).

We as a society have completely disassociated the concept of responsibility or accountability with our actions. If something happens - we have to blame someone else for the outcome. If it is bad, we also want to "make them pay" often to the tune of many thousands to a million or so at a pop. Mess around without using birth control - well, yeah, pregnancy is usually the outcome (and not the absolutely worse thing that you could "catch"). Do something illegal and get caught - it's cause you weren't raised by two loving parents, or whatever. Consequences? What are consequences? In our society, if the outcome is bad, then of COURSE God is "punishing" you rather than it being a natural law of physics or of the world. God put those laws of nature and physics into place. He then told us what they were, but we never seem to grow up and listen, do we? I don't think most of us are aware of just how much our actions and thoughts impact those around us. We, as a whole, are too caught up in our selves to even notice that we have hurt someone or gotten in the way between them and God. Too often, we never grow out of that total egocentrism of the infant into a fully mature adult - not only as it pertains to our lives in the world, but also as Christians. It is that egocentrism and unawareness of our impact that drives others away, along with the fact that there are millions of Christians out there, quietly going about their daily lives, being "Jesus with skin on", but it's the lunatic fringe that get all the publicity. And all of us are painted with the brush of a few that shouldn't be let out in public without a keeper and a roll of duct tape.

How do we fix this? God can, if we will get the heck out of His way and let Him. Otherwise, I guess it is one small step at a time. Thanks for the opportunity to rant.

I agree with your statement logically, even if it comes off as a little self righteous. I think you also need to identify with the sinner as Jesus did, eating with sinners and tax collectors and taking their sin upon himself and paying for it. Identifying with a 13 or 14 year old girl who is pregnant as a natural consequence of her own wrong choices, may lead to an understanding of her feeling like she is being punished if she were to be required to carry a pregnancy to term and then have a baby to support and raise. Rather than outrage, it may be a more useful and Christlike response to determine how we can come along side this girl and support her through the pregnancy and place the child for adoption in a family that can support it better than the single, teenage mother. If we are separated into two camps, one that excuses sin and views the natural consequence as punishment and the other that is self righteously outraged, there is no-one left to reach out to the sinner, sacrificially, with the love of Christ, in a redemptive manner.

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