Revision as of 17:43, 5 December 2018

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.

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 what is commonly called multi-potent. That is, an adult stem cell can transform into many different (multi) cells. Embryonic stems cells are found in embryos and are totipotent because they can change into anything. For this reason embryonic stem cells are of particular interest to individuals trying to cure disease.

Remember that, naively, disease occurs when some portion of the body is failing. Stem cells provide a particularly interesting option because a stem cell could be turned into a highly specialized cell and used to replace the failing cell in the diseased body.

Medications

Abusing Drugs

1. ↑ Emily Singer, Lack of Human Eggs Could Hamper US Cloning Efforts, MIT Technology Review, June 1006, accessed 11/28/2018