Part Two: Sacrificing “Potential Persons”
MARTIN CAREY
In the first segment of this series on the nature of man, we looked at how physicalism is at the root of Adventist theology and philosophy of life. Physicalism is the belief that humans are only physical beings, composed of only matter and energy, with no immaterial spiritual aspect. In this segment, I want to explore how physicalism has shaped how we answer the fundamental questions of human value, especially the value placed on children. I intend to demonstrate that the physicalism forces us to value human life according to very narrow, dehumanizing standards. Those standards can only consider a child’s measured capacities, such as intelligence, health, social awareness, or contributions to society.
Are some children less valuable than other children? Most of us would say “No!” But we must go deeper and question our premises. So how do we determine a child’s value? Even if these questions seem outrageous or inappropriate, the answers to them are vital for us who live in outrageous times. As Christians we need answers that honor God’s word and honor the value He places on every person.
When a child is struggling and failing in school, schools have the obligation to find answers to the child’s struggles and offer solutions. This may require a psychological assessment of the child’s cognitive abilities, and his or her academic skills. Naturally, children’s abilities vary a great deal, from very weak to very strong, while most kids fall somewhere in the average range. In school psychology we have often used the bell curve, a graph that shows the “normal” distribution of IQ scores of the population. Average kids score near the middle of the curve, with the extreme lows and highs at either ends of the curve. I’ve had the privilege of testing thousands of kids, with their mental abilities ranging from very disabled to very gifted. I’ve learned that a good and useful tool, the IQ test, is limited in what it reveals about a person, and it’s very often misunderstood. Our contemporary culture places great value on high IQ and denigrates people with “low IQ.” IQ scores are now a place-holder for human value.
The bell curve is very controversial in psychology, since it has been used to devalue and marginalize students. A prominent example of that abuse is the way standardized intelligence tests were used before 1984.
The bell curve is very controversial in psychology, since it has been used to devalue and marginalize students. A prominent example of that abuse is the way standardized intelligence tests were used before 1984. Low IQ scores were simply interpreted as indicating mental retardation, and many minority children were removed from their general education classes and placed in separate classrooms for the “retarded.” IQ scores were used to measure the child’s overall fitness for school and in subtle ways, taken as a measure of the child’s value. Fortunately, we now have laws that protect children from such abuses, and cognitive tests are designed to be more “culture fair” for minority students. Test scores help us understand how we can help students succeed in school. On the other hand, the bell curve example demonstrates the problems with measuring a child’s value by his or her capacities.
As Christians, we affirm that all humans are valuable because they are made in the image of God. However, if we limit that God-like image to the physical, to capacities that are higher for some humans, we place the image of God on a bell curve. Many of us aren’t as good at reasoning, and many of us have weak, unattractive bodies. Most Adventists would hesitate to state the obvious—that sickly, low-IQ people cannot equally reflect God’s image, but that is where physicalist theology leads. When physicalism drives our theology, we tend to measure and value people according to their placement on our scales of ability, strength and beauty. We construct our own little bell curves, valuing and placing people as we judge them, especially small, weak people.
We see this physicalist, bell curve theology played out with the abortion discussion. Adventism has had an increasingly confusing, mixed message about choosing to terminate pregnancies. Tolerance and even promotion of abortion in Adventist health institutions has grown since the 1960s. In 1991, George Gainer gives a fascinating history of abortion guidelines from Adventist leadership (Ministry, https://www.ministrymagazine.org/archive/1991/08/abortion-history-of-adventist-guidelines). He found that Adventist leadership never gave unified, consistent, or open guidance for terminating pregnancies. In fact, many prominent leaders would speak of the “sanctity of life” as they moved to the pro-choice policies. The following quote is very telling:
“Though we walk the fence, Adventists lean toward abortion rather than against it. Because we realize we are confronted by big problems of hunger and overpopulation, we do not oppose family planning and appropriate endeavors to control population” (Neal C. Wilson, President NAD, 1970).
In Loma Linda, Dr. Jack Provonsha remains one of the most influential and revered teachers and thinkers. Dr. Provonsha taught that the value of infants could be placed on a continuum, based on their development in the womb. The fetus began the continuum from a Thing (tissue), to a Person (symbol), to a Potential Person, to an actual Person. He stated that “symbolic” persons are less valuable than real persons, and can be sacrificed for the good. An abortion is justified
“When for some reason the requirements of functional human life demand the sacrifice of the lesser potential human value.” Reasons for termination of pregnancy can include physical and mental handicaps (Jack Provonsha, file:///C:/Users/mcarey/Desktop/AA%20Nature%20of%20Man/Winslow-Adventists-Abortion-ABC-2019.pdf ).
Dr. Provonsha is very consistent with the view that a child’s value is measured by its measured “potential human value,” by it’s capacities. Children with Down Syndrome are, by this policy, less valuable, and can be sacrificed. The Ministry magazine article documents that many elective, unnecessary abortions are performed in Adventist hospitals because of the increasing social and financial pressures placed on them from local communities and by government. Life may be “precious” at the General Conference, but local policies operate by the Conference’s own unpublished “Interruption of Pregnancy Guidelines” which gave the hospitals a free hand with abortion (https://www.ministrymagazine.org/archive/1991/08/abortion-history-of-adventist-guidelines). Those secret policies resulted in a sordid and bloody trail of tears for thousands of families.
Adventism’s subtle endorsement of abortion finds solid footing in its 28 Fundamental Beliefs. In the official book explaining the 28 Fundamental Beliefs, Seventh-day Adventists Believe, is this sentence in the chapter on the Nature of Man. This sentence which clearly reveals Adventism’s belief that a human soul does not exist until a baby breathes after being born, is quoted from the Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary:
“Similarly, a new soul comes into existence whenever a child is born, each ‘soul’ being a new unit of life uniquely different and separate from other similar units” (Seventh-day Adventists Believe, third ed., 2018, p. 94, Ministerial Association/Review and Herald Publishing Association).
Bad theology not only damages the soul and conscience but carries heavy consequences for lives. Although Psalm 139 was often quoted throughout the discussions on the value of unborn children, its real message is blown aside in a blizzard of arguments. Scripture is clear, however, about the real value of the unborn child. In Psalm 139:13-16, we see God’s sovereign handiwork:
For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them (Psalm 139:13-16).
God Himself forms every unborn child, and each is wonderfully made, even weak children with low IQ. God Himself forms our bodies, and all our days, and all the rhetoric of theologians, professors, and conference men cannot devalue the life of any child. As Jesus told us, children are great in the Father’s sight, and harming a child has eternal consequences (Matthew 18:6). We need to pray for His grace to change hard hearts. †
—For further reading about the history of abortion in Adventism, read “Abortion In Adventism: Why Seventh-day Adventism Promotes Choice”.
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