Miracle baby arrives!

Hi

I am thrilled to announce the birth of my daughter on 24th July 2008. (I haven't been able to post this earlier because I left my blogger password at work)

Mrs...being an older mother with a history of miscarriages ...went for a routine check the day before, and they found that the baby had wriggled out of position and was now 'in breech'. So they demanded that she come in for a caesarean the next day.

At 9lb 12oz (4.42kg), it was probably the best thing for her.

Mrs has given her a fantastic name - long and a bit of a mouthful, but with a deep meaning such that her very name is a gospel message wherever she goes, without being embarrasing. Shame this is an anonymous blog!

The first week was increasingly difficult, until we twigged that she wasn't getting enough milk and switched to formula. Instant new baby! She slept 9.5 hours last night. So much for 'breast is best'!

This birth is of the essence of this blog. It is quintessential. A normal life with God is an adventure that leads you to do things that you would not normally do without him. It is a NORMAL LIFE ADVENTURE.

For those that have not been following the story, we are an older couple in our 40s, with 6 other children. I had had a vasectomy owing to my wife's arthritis medicine being harmful to unborn babies. But the Lord called Mrs to have another child. After prayer for healing she was able to come off the drugs (though she still has rheumatoid arthritis), so we sought guidance about vasectomy reversal. My GP laughed his head off, and then told me 101 reasons why it was unlikely to work. I could not get it done on the National Health Service, but a private doctor was much more positive and had me dome within weeks. We got pregnant quickly, but miscarried at 7 weeks. After a longer wait, she became pregnant again but miscarried at 14 weeks. Then we had a long wait, and seriously doubted if we had heard the vision correctly. We had more prayer for pregnancy and healing. eventually, she did become pregnant agian, and this time has carried it to full term. Normally, rheumatoid arthritis flares up after a pregnancy and she has a hard time after the miscarriages, but so far she has been ok with this one (though it's too soon to say for sure). So, God has givin the vision and then he has fulfilled it. (see my post for 21 July 2006)

"I'm confidenent of this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it". (Philippians 1:6)

Sex leads to Virgin Birth

I think I am having a Eureka moment, but it’s still a bit vague and hasn’t quite crystallised yet.

Sam Norton has been talking about the virgin birth. Kyle Potter has been talking about marriage and this has led to a wider debate on sexuality in the comments. Martin Hallett has been talking to me about ‘one flesh’ as a divine mystery.

Martin says that the orgasm is a celebration of the creative act of God. From this conversation I have concluded that the primary function of sexuality is for relationship/procreation. I don’t place them in any order or make too great a distinction between them, and yet they can exist independently. You can relate to your sexual partner without procreation, to can have a baby without the parents being in relationship. Independently, they are in their own way expressions of the image of God but the fullest image of him is where they come together. [dare I say….cum together?] So man and woman become one flesh, in relationship, in the jigsawing-together of their bodies, but equally in the creation of a new life that combines theirs.

So, how do we view the virgin birth through this vision of sexuality?

Sexual reproduction creates a NEW human who is a combined version of the parents; a whole that is more than the sum of the halves; a whole in which the halves cannot be distinguished.

So, if Christ’s conception was a sexual one his person would be a NEW human, not the pre-existing ‘Word-Son’ of God through whom the universe was created.

And, if Christ’s conception was a sexual one his person would be part Mary, part A.N. Other; a whole that is more than the sum of the halves; a whole in which the halves cannot be distinguished. Yet our knowledge of Christ through the scriptures and the church fathers and the creeds is that Christ is part human and part divine; a whole that is more than the sum of the halves; a whole in which the halves cannot be distinguished. If Christ was born of a one-flesh human union, then he was fully human, and only fully human. He was a new creation, not an incarnation. There is no way for him to become Divine.

It is because of ‘one flesh’ union that each child is a celebration of the image of the creator god. It is about creation of something new, not incarnation of something old.

It is because of ‘one-flesh’ that virgin birth is necessary, for Christ was not a new creation.

It is because of ‘one-flesh’ that for Christ to be divine his origin must be divine, not human.

It is because of ‘one-flesh’ that Christ’s conception was not sexual, but incarnational.

It is because of ‘one-flesh’ that we must so jealously guard and carefully cultivate our relationships, our actions, our theology of marriage, our theology of contraception, our theology of divorce, our theology of homosexuality, and our church practices on these issues.

It is because of ‘one-flesh’ that our sexuality is the image of God – three in one, diversity within unity of relationship and of substance; diversity and unity within relationship and substance; diversity and unity in relationship creating substance.

It is because of ‘one-flesh’ that the contrast of virgin birth is so vivid and so dramatic and so important.

It is only by understanding ‘one-flesh’ that we can understand virgin birth.

Eureka?

(maybe the Lord is indeed calling me to become a Roman Catholic!)