Date Posted:09:12:58 12/03/01 Mon Author: Charles Subject: Attack of the clones
There has been a rowdy debate about the ethics of cloning. With this as
the back drop a radio pulpit speaker (as his grounds for saying its
morally wrong) that in the bible it says Only God gives life, and God
takes life away. In effect we are playing God.
At this moment I have no opinion about so called "cloning", but his
statement disturbed me. My first thought was " Well what about all the
other life saving medicines and operations etc. we have" Based on his
interpretation (or my perception of his interpretation) we are not to
meddle with life, or death. Coz its God's domain. I can't say I agree
with him fully. I believe there are questions that need answers (i.e.
cloning - why the debate), but I also believe God gives us knowledge etc
(medicine) to intervene (like when God uses doctors to help the healing
process).
I understand that as Christians we have to hold the high moral ground,
and that is right. We have to see the dangers of a situation, and stand
against it. But somewhere someone is going to break the law and then
what? Why are we as Christians so quick to Criticize, even before we
know all the facts. And I do mean facts. We perpetuate personal opinion
as "rule", and the word of mouth of the "new evil" spreads faster than
wild fire. I wish the "rumour" of Christ's importance to us would
circulate so fast.
When did we change from providing solutions to providing problems? We
complain, we bemoan the situation... then sit back and ask the powers
that be for a solution. we want the powers that be to think for us, to
give us a solution. Because if they do it, we are safe to criticise when
the attempted solutions do not meet our needs. So what's the solution?
Maybe we should stop judging the world and start loving it (Like Jesus
did). We should stop accepting everything we are told and actually use
our God given mental faculties to make a decision for our selves. The
world is becoming more and more grey, and issues are cropping up all the
time that are not directly handled in the bible. (This does not mean
that Biblical ethic does not apply to new situations). At the end of it
all God is going to ask us individually why we did, thought, felt and
believed what we did. This does not mean that the people misleading
other will go unpunished, but it does mean that God expect us to think
for ourselves.
Do I feel that "cloning" someone for harvesting purposes is wrong - Yes
I do. Not because of the process (which at this stage still uses the
same natural process but with the clonee's genes), but because clone or
not the result would still be a human being, with the same rights and
obligations, the same faults and shortcomings, the same image of God.
