Latest revision as of 16:00, 18 February 2019

The following lesson is intended to span roughly two weeks of instruction. The organizational principle of the lesson is that of an outline with suggested discussion question formatted as

• Question
  • Possible answer or points of discussion

Objectives

• Students will take a Godly perspective on cloning.
• Students will take a Godly perspective on Embryonic Stem-Cell Research.
• Students will take a Godly perspective on medication.

Introduction

Main Body

Cloning

Cloning Animals

• What command is given in Genesis 1:28?

Cloning Humans

• Is there really a difference between humans and animals? What does the Bible say?
  • Genesis 1:27 makes it very clear that God created man differently than humans. God created man in His own image.

• According to Genesis 1:26, what dominion should humanity exercise?
  • Genesis 1:26 commands humanity to exercise dominion over the animal kingdom. However, nowhere does the Bible command humanity to exercise dominion over humanity. Since humanity is different than the animal kingdom there are different rules that apply.

Is cloning murder?

One of the biggest problems with cloning humans is that the cloning process requires the murder of a significant number of humans. The cloning process generally involves the fertilization of a significant number of eggs. In fact, some scientists argue that harvesting enough eggs is one of the biggest hurdles to human cloning.^[1]. What is significant for our discussion is the fact that each fertilized egg represents a person and therefore destruction of fertilized eggs represents the destruction of a person. If a scientist fertilizes 1000 eggs and then keeps 10 of the strongest eggs for further testing they have effectively killed 990 humans.

Overstepping Our Bounds

• Many people take Isaiah 14 to be a passage that describes the fall of Lucifer. What sin did Lucifer commit in Isaiah 14:14?
  • Lucifer, in his pride, tried to take the place of God.

• According to Genesis 1:26-27, what template did God use for the creation of man?
  • Man is made in the image of God.

• Who is qualified to build something whose template is God Himself?
  • Only God is qualified to construct man.

• According to Genesis 1:28 what additional command did God give to man and woman?
  • God called on Adam and Eve to reproduce but notice that he called on both of them to reproduce. God's design for reproduction is for a man and women to do so. Natural reproduction creates genetic diversity. In fact, in-breading is illegal largely because the lack of genetic diversity leads to significant problems. Cloning is no different. God's design was for children to share the genetic code of both parents.

I do not want to dogmatically say that cloning is an attempt to put oneself int he position of the creator but my personal conviction is such that I am very nervous about cloning and worry that we are getting awful close to overstepping our bounds. I also find it interesting that God seems to have placed his own lock on primates and humans when it comes to cloning. Currently cloning is achieved through a process called somatic cell nuclear transfer where the nucleus of an unfertilized egg is replaced with the nucleus from a somatic cell. The process effectively replaces the genetic material of the egg with a complete copy of genetic material from the donor. However, in primates and humans there seems to be a problem, the NuMA and HSET proteins that guide mitotic spindles are concentrated near the nucleus and are removed in the process of removing the egg's nucleus. Effectively this causes the genetic structure of the clone to break down in the first few cellular divisions. In other words every attempt to clone a primate or human (at least using current methods) is destined to fail. In other mammals those proteins are distributed throughout the cell and so removing the nucleus does not effect the proteins.

Embryonic Stem Cells

A stem cell is an unspecialized cell that has the potential to become many different specialized cells. There are two types of stem cells that often receive attention. Adult stem cells are located throughout the body and are commonly called multi-potent. That is, an adult stem cell can transform into many different (multi) cells. Conversely, embryonic stems cells found in embryos are totipotent because they can change into anything. For this reason embryonic stem cells are of particular interest to individuals trying to cure disease.

The process that the embryo must go through to knit cells together into smoothly working and precisely functioning tissues and organs is more than just “turning on” a cell and telling it to make this tissue or that organ. Multiple cells must “turn on,” then “turn off,” and then rearrange multiple times to produce the final perfect product. Research with embryonic stem cells has shown that process to be beyond our understanding at this time. Another disturbing consequence of using embryonic stem cells has been that once they are “turned on,” they are unable to be “turned off.” The result has been the development of rapidly growing tumors and other serious side effects.^[2]

• What do Psalm 51:5 Psalm 139:13-16 tell us about an embryo?
  • These verses indicate that even an embryo is a person.

In order to harvest embryonic stem cells, the embryo must be destroyed. Therefore, as Christians we cannot endorse this practice. Furthermore, we must realize that the current hype over embryonic stem cells is largely hype. We must also understand that adult stem cells provide a means of conducting much of the stem cell research. Therefore, not only do embryonic stem cells present an ethical dilemma, but adult stem cells provide an alternative.

Some Denominational Perspectives

• The United Methodist Church supports Embryonic Stem Cell Research provided embryos are not created solely for the purpose of harvesting embryonic STEM cells. Specifically, they "urges national governments to pass legislation that would authorize funding for derivation of and medical research on human embryonic stem cells that were generated from IVF embryos and remain after fertilization procedures have been concluded." ^[3]

• The Southern Baptist Convention has adopted a resolution that "strongly support stem cell research that does not require the destruction of human embryos or put them at risk in obtaining human stem cells;"^[4]

• The Roman Catholic Church opposes "any research that exploits or destroys human embryos."^[5]

Medications

• Should a christian take medicine?
  • The purpose of this question is to get discussion started.

• What does Paul command Timothy to do in 1 Timothy 5:23?
  • Paul commands Timothy to mix some wine with his water. The wine, or juice, served a medicinal purpose.

• Is it okay for a christian to go so a physician?
  • Again this question is to generate discussion.

• According to Colossians 4:14, who was with Paul?
  • Paul brought Luke, a physician with him.

• According to John 4:14, where does ultimate healing come from?
  • God is the one who provides ultimate healing. We must look to God first and foremost for our healing. However, God has also chosen to work through his creation. We farm, not because does does not provide the arrest, but because God works through the efforts of man. Similarly, a christian can take medicine and that medicine can provide relief.

• What medicine is discussed in Proverbs 17:22?
  • Joy, in all of the modern medicine we must realize that God has designed us to be joyful and that joy can be one of the greatest medicines.

Conclusions

• We have only touched the surface of medical ethics, we could also talk about depression, drug abuse, birth control, infertility, and many other topics. Additionally, we cannot even imagine conversations on medical ethics that will ned to take place 100 years from now. The point is not to answer every question that you have, but rather to demonstrate that questions of medical ethics can be answered using the Bible and carefully thinking through the consequences of each decision.

References

1. ↑ Emily Singer, Lack of Human Eggs Could Hamper US Cloning Efforts, MIT Technology Review, June 1006, accessed 11/28/2018
2. ↑ "Stem Cells: Promise or Peril?" GARBC Baptist Bulletin. Accessed December 05, 2018. http://baptistbulletin.org/the-baptist-bulletin-magazine/stem-cells-promise-or-peril/.
3. ↑ United Methodist Communications. "Ethics of Embryonic Stem Cell Research." The United Methodist Church. December 19, 2008. Accessed December 05, 2018. http://www.umc.org/what-we-believe/ethics-of-embryonic-stem-cell-research.
4. ↑ "Southern Baptist Convention." Southern Baptist Convention The Southern Baptist Convention: A Closer Look. Accessed December 05, 2018. http://www.sbc.net/resolutions/1144/on-stem-cell-research.
5. ↑ Current State Laws Against Human Embryo Research. Accessed December 05, 2018. http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/human-life-and-dignity/stem-cell-research/catholic-support-for-ethically-acceptable-stem-cell-research.cfm.