Doug Phillips: A Hopeful Theology of Miscarriage

 From The Baby Conference:

In Doug Phillips’ talk, “A Hopeful Theology of Miscarriage”, he encouraged his audience to rethink their vocabulary and perspective on the unborn: to minimize the use of such terms as “fetus” or “embryo” that tend to dehumanize our thoughts of children in the womb and use more personal terms such as “baby” and “child” instead.
Doug outlined three major views held by Christian on pre-born and infant death:

1. All Children who Die Go to Heaven
2. The Children of Believers go to Heaven
3. All Children called of God go to Heaven, and Christians can have great Confidence in the Mercy and Goodness of God.

Siding with the third view, he gave three clues that point to the significant role that the unborn and young children play in God’s’ covenant of grace:

1. The Kingdom of Heaven Belongs to Little Children (Luke 18:15-17)
2. The Multitude of Children in Heaven (Revelation 7:9)
3. At least some children are chosen and sanctified from the womb (I Samuel 1:8-2:21; Luke 1:15; Jeremiah 1:5; Psalm 22:9)

Though acknowledging the sadness and loss of miscarriage — with he and his wife Beall having lost two unborn children — Doug offered two key points of hope that the loss of a child in the womb can bring:

1. The hope of discipling our families on the priorities, nobilities, and sacrifices of Motherhood.
2. The hope that tragedy provides to model confidence in the sovereignty of God to your children and the world.

As he drew his message to a close, he posed this piercing question to mothers: “What if miscarriage was God’s mean of showing mercy and love on a human soul, and if He chose you to be the honored vehicle to usher that child into eternity?
“Miscarriage is for a moment; a soul is forever.”