Karyotype Testing: Is it Biblical?
Karyotype testing relies on artificial circumstances performed in a professional health clinical setting; while the discoveries of potential defects can lead some to seek to abort their unborn, for Christians, using karyotyping to make a diagnosis allows families to know what God intends to bless each family with. Yet, there remains dispute if the testing process itself is Biblical in nature, as some declare it to be a violation of faith, while some Christians see it as responsibly stewarding technology, should their decision to keep the child not be imparted upon. According to the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Library of Medicine (NLM), the Karyotype testing process involves[1], “[t]he laboratory specialist [using] a microscope to examine the size, shape, and number of chromosomes in the cell sample. The stained sample is photographed to show the arrangement of the chromosomes. This is called a karyotype.”
This means that upon the discovery of potential defects like Trisomy 21, parents can prepare themselves for the additional necessities required to raise a potentially handicapped child in accordance with God’s plan. There are medical experts called “Genetic counselors” who are available to help families[2] “suggest ways to cope with anxiety, fear, or guilt, associated with taking genetic tests–or not taking them,” (Lewis, R. 2021, 417); while it may be better not to know, in the long run, it makes sense to prepare yourself for what to expect. The decision to know about potential birth defects is a difficult one, yet its findings should not matter. It is better for Christian parents to be able to prepare themselves for potential genetic abnormalities than to neglect them until birth. However, with all medical technology, the enemy will always find a way to weaponize this against Christians.
In Judges 7:3 (NLT) the Lord spoke to Gideon, stating “There are still too many! Bring them down to the spring, and I will test them to determine who will go with you and who will not.” In many horrifying correlations, the enemy seeks to mimic the authority of God, consistently influencing the secular to imitate similar principles in society. God used tests to discern which men to equip Gideon for battle; this ultimately meant some would be dismissed as inferior to those chosen. Notably, those dismissed were already born, and were not exterminated. Yet the message given to the public through nefarious legislators and other maleficent forces is a wildly different interpretation of discrimination; that it is man who must mimic the decision made by God; to allow life or condemn death. This means man assumes the right to choose who lives and who dies based upon an artificial test, when in actuality the results may be a test in itself to determine the faith and will of Christian families. Just because a genetic test reveals an abnormality in the genetic composition of God’s creation doesn’t mean that it isn’t subject to change at His will before the child is born, free of disease and mutation.
God has a way of testing us, giving us opportunities to give the entirety of our faith to His design, knowing that He has a plan for us if we just trust in Him. While genetic testing can become weaponized against Christian values, blurring the line between eugenics and informed decisions, it can also be implemented as a tool for good. This means giving families time to prepare themselves for the gift of new life that God has granted them. This reveals the fallacy that evil is a result of the environment, or specific technology, which coerces us to submit to evil. By our design, we are created depraved, sinful, and fallen.
This means without the protection of Jesus Christ, we will take any opportunity to engage in sin by any means necessary. Karyotype testing is just another platform for us to stray from the path the Lord has called us to. Only once this is realized, can we begin to rely on this technology to be implemented in a Christian way. This being said, the writer would submit to this sort of testing, rather than blindly await the unexpected. This does not defy holding faith in God, but it produces information that can be acted upon in a Christian manner.
Bibliography
1) Medlineplus. "Karyotyping: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia." Medlineplus. Accessed on March 5th, 2023 https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/003935.htm.
2) Lewis, R. (2021.) Human Genetics: Concepts and Applications (13th ed.). Accessed on March 6th, 2023. McGraw Hill LLC.
[1] Medlineplus. "Karyotyping: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia." Medlineplus. Accessed on March 5th, 2023 https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/003935.htm.
[2] Lewis, R. (2021.) Human Genetics: Concepts and Applications (13th ed.). McGraw Hill LLC.