This novel, by popular author Francine Rives, features a likable young woman named Dynah. She could be anybody’s daughter, pursuing an education at a Christian college far from home. By choice, she attended a college in the suburban Chicago area, having moved there from her parents’ home in California. We can all identify with the desire to establish our own life.
On the way home one evening, back to her dorm on the college campus, Dynah is raped and as a result becomes pregnant. One of the hardest things to read in this book is to read how easily her fiancée, a committed young man who was studying for the ministry, encouraged her to have an abortion. To him, the baby was a monster, conceived in violence and tragedy and therefore, not a living human being with a spirit and a soul.
Dynah struggled throughout the book with the lack of support, from first her fiancée, then the Dean of the college, and finally, her parents and well-meaning friends. She wavered on the edge of having an abortion, despite her upbringing, and with the active encouragement of her parents. She went so far as to visit an abortion clinic and after counseling, fled in panic as God’s Spirit dealt with her in compassion and entreaty. However, in the end, she decided against having the abortion, even as she struggled with the practical matters such as how to support a child. Of course, of no little concern was how she would be viewed in her church circles, as someone who was tainted. Not a few would view her as having had illicit sex with her fiancé or some other sordid happening.
How do you deal with problems when confronted with a difficult personal issue? I found this book altogether so believable in terms of how individuals react in crisis. Although I have never been pregnant and thus cannot even begin to feel what it is like to have another life in my body, I watched with fascination as Dynah struggled with various ideas. She wondered to herself throughout the book, “how do I feel about this baby, this thing growing in my body?” Is this baby, the product of violent rape, is this baby a real human being? Should I keep this baby or is it OK to have this violence aborted from my body? How could I possibly love this baby that was forced on me? On and on the questions come.
What Dynah does not know, having never been told, is that her mother and grandmother struggled with the same issues. Her mother actually had an abortion and later married another man. She thought that this issue had been dealt with long ago, only to find out that new resentment and feelings of unworthiness surfaced as she heard about her daughter’s rape. Talk about the curse that crosses generations! Dynah’s mother struggled anew with her own decision to have an abortion before Dynah was born, a sibling that Dynah never knew. Dynah’s fiancée, thankfully, mercifully disappears early on. I personally was ashamed of the entire male species, based on his behavior. In his place, his roommate, a redeemed former gang member named Joe, takes an interest in Dynah.
Dynah left her Christian college in shame and moved back home. I could not help but cringe as throughout the book those who should have been her strongest supporters, instead became her detractors. It made me wonder exactly what many of those who face this choice of aborting a baby today go through. This book, more than almost any other book I have read, including the very first book I reviewed, entitled “unplanned,” brought home to me the very real heartbreak faced by those women who meet rape and abortion, and perhaps both together, face to face. You see, it is true. Christian books do change lives! Christian books are not a substitute for the Bible, but they are a great resource for thinking Christians who want to explore the great issues of this age.
The author made this novel invaluable and quite believable by giving us a glimpse inside the abortion clinic that Dynah visited. We see the turmoil going on in the doctor who performs the abortions and why he made his decision to do so. We see the hard-hearted attitude of the clinic director who sees only the great profit available in performing abortions and not the great tragedy that lies behind. In short, we see all sides of this great pressing social and spiritual issue of our time. The question of abortion has not been satisfactorily resolved yet and perhaps never will be. The Christian who studies, believes and faithfully reads the Bible as the Word of God will recognize, or course, that abortion is wrong. There is somewhat legitimate concern that the child of rape could be tainted. But in this novel, as in real life, God values human life and honors those who do the same.
This book, “The Atonement Child” by Francine Rivers is available at www.InHisHonor.org. Christian Books do indeed change lives. Read this book today for a fresh and vivid look at this pressing current social and spiritual issue: when and where, if ever, should abortion be a valid consideration in the life of a Christian woman?
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