WHAT SHOULD WE THINK ABOUT CLONING?
GENESIS 11:1-9
I know what you all might think about the topic that we would discuss this morning. You may think that everything I’m about to say sounds like science fiction. You know what, it does! It does sound like science fiction, but what we will talk about today becomes more and more a reality as time passes. The topic this morning is cloning. I realize this may seem like a far out subject, but our world is face paced and our technology grows by leaps and bounds daily. Cloning is the copying of an organism (plant, animal, person) by taking a cell and growing an exact duplicate. It can be done. It has been done. People are treading cautiously because of all the moral problems attached to this scientific process. What are we to think, as Christians, about cloning? Is it ok? Is it wrong? Is it somewhere in the middle? Can we decide?
ILLUSTRATION… news article from Reuters
Government plans to permit further research on human embryos are due to be debated in the House of Commons on Friday, to the dismay of pro-life campaigners and the head of Scotland’s Roman Catholic Church, Cardinal Thomas Winning. Scientists are urging the government to extend the scope of research that can be carried out on embryos and even permit cloning in the hope of finding cures for a range of serious diseases. These include leukemia, heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and Parkinson’s disease. "We need to grasp the opportunity now," said one of Britain’s leading genetic researchers. "The technology gives us the potential to address some of the most severe diseases that we suffer from," Dr. Harry Griffin of the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh told Newsroom. "That potential would be difficult to realize if the research opportunities were limited by law." The Roslin Institute produced the first cloned sheep, Dolly, in 1996.
But other experts in the fields of medicine and the law are equally adamant in their opposition. A leading commentator in the United Kingdom and the United States warned delegates at a conference on cloning in London this week that the issue touched "the salvation or damnation" of mankind. "These technologies could end up destroying those they are intended to serve," argued Professor Nigel M. de S. Cameron, executive chairman of London’s Center for Bioethics and Public Policy, which hosted the conference. He cited the outbreak of mad cow disease and the marketing of the thalidomide drug in the 1970s that resulted in the birth of deformed babies as examples of the results of "technology and venture capitalism driving the agenda. Unless we proceed with caution as we progress up this experimental curve, disaster awaits us," he contended. "Those who argue the inevitability of reproductive cloning are, sadly, probably right." A leading judge in the field of medical ethics also urged caution over proceeding with human cloning. "It is the end of homo sapiens, and a new type of man—perhaps another übermensch (superman)," warned Christian Byk, who is from France and is a member of the International Association of Law.
But the full-blown cloning of adult human beings is not on the House of Commons’ agenda. There is no lobby in the United Kingdom to allow the cloning of children or adults. What is being debated is whether to permit the cloning of human embryos up to five days old and whether to allow further research on embryos to develop new therapies. Scientists say their intention is to find new ways of treating diseased or damaged tissues and organs as well as mitochondrial disease, where defective genes are inherited from the mother leading to possible blindness, epilepsy, or death. Scientists are pressing for the legalization of stem cell therapy, which requires certain "master" cells to be taken from human embryos at their earliest stages of growth. The prospect is that these could be transplanted into a patient and that they would then grow and repair damaged and diseased body parts, reducing the need for invasive surgery. The process always results in the death of the embryo.
Scientists are seeking permission to use existing human embryos for this purpose, possibly taken with permission from abortion or fertility clinics. But they want to go a significant step further—to clone human embryos in the lab and allow them to develop to up to five days old. The aim is to provide a ready supply of stem cells for therapeutic purposes, though as Griffin acknowledged, "it’s clearly not therapeutic for the embryo." Similar cells can be found in mature human beings, which would avoid killing an embryo. But these are available in far smaller quantities and could treat only a limited range of body parts, researchers contend. No adult stem cell has yet been found that could treat heart disease, for example, so scientists would rather cultivate embryos to harvest their stem cells.
Ultimately they hope to discover how to use a patient’s own stem cells to create perfectly matched transplant material, thus avoiding the use of embryos. They argue that research must first be carried out on embryos to make that possible. "Human embryo stem cell research is crucial to the development of stem cell therapies—at least until the programming of cell development is better understood," according to a statement from the Medical Research Council, which has its headquarters in London.
The Commons debate is likely to be emotional, and the stakes are high. "Most of us will pick up a major, debilitating, degenerative disease in our early 60s," Griffin argued. "If we can’t research on the human fetus, then the British scientific community will have to progress with one hand tied behind its back," he told Newsroom.
The weight of medical opinion has swung behind extending the 1990 Human Fertilization and Embryology Act to allow further research. Therapeutic cloning has won the support of an expert group chaired by Britain’s chief medical officer. It is also backed by the influential Royal Society of Medicine and the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority, which advises the government.
After Friday’s debate, Britain’s Labor government has promised members of Parliament that they will be allowed to vote on the matter according to their conscience, possibly in December. But as some medical ethicists point out, it is not just the potential for British science that is at stake. The potential of the human embryo used in research to develop through to adulthood would be obliterated. "The embryo is a human being—one of us," Dr. Teresa Iglesias, a lecturer in philosophy at University College in London, told the London conference on cloning. "And every human being deserves that no deliberate harm should be caused to them."
Prolife organizations agree. LIFE, based in Leamington Spa, England, has dubbed the process of killing an embryo to save an adult "neo-cannibalism." And Scotland’s Cardinal Winning has written to every Scottish member of Parliament urging a vote against so-called therapeutic cloning.
"The simple truth is that therapeutic cloning ultimately means killing those embryos which are raided for their cells," he wrote. "This procedure exploits human beings at the most vulnerable stage of their lives."
Are you convinced yet that this is real? Soon we will be living in a new world full of thousands upon thousands of possibilities. What are our options? What moral decisions will we have to make about this? I think that we will be able to make dreams come true with this science, but also we will cause nightmares.
1. Create animals for use in medical research.
2. Preserve the existence of endangered species.
3. Clone the insulin gene and save all the lives of diabetics.
4. Give the ability to repair present nonreversible injuries (spinal cord, liver, etc).
5. Give the ability to regrow fingers, toes, arms, and legs.
6. Help infertile couples create offspring without worrying about bad genes.
All of these are wonderful possibilities and will actually be welcomed as a great benefit to mankind. Who of us would deny such possibilities to someone in need, especially if that someone is part of our family? These are the things that will usher in cloning and cause people to welcome it with open arms. But, we will not stop there!
7. Improve the human race (eugenics), but by whose standards
8. Clone twins with one being born and the other frozen.
9. Stop genetic diseases. If the embryo tests positive then all of the clones would be destroyed. If the embryo tests negative for diseases then one of the clones could be implanted to produce a healthy child.
10. Create an entire group of clones developed for certain jobs or task (war, etc).
11. Reproduce one’s own qualities. Supermodels can be cloned or sell their DNA to others.
12. Reproduce the great minds (doctors, scientists, etc.) of the world - i.e. Mozart, Einstein, etc.
13. Clone spare parts of yourself.
14. A definite way for pro-team owners to copy their greatest players and create the unbeatable team.
15. Recreate those who have died
We are on the threshold of developing the power to change and manipulate the very basic fundamentals of life. There are some very central questions that must be asked and will never be answered are:
1. Do we have the character to manage this power properly? Given the fallen nature of human beings, the potential for abuse is absolutely frightening. Will that fact stop us? No!. Will the debate stop us? No! Will laws stop us? No! The debate, the questions, the concerns, the problems, the awesome possibilities have just begun. This technology in the hands of an already morally bankrupt society is frightening indeed.
2. Are the potential benefits if managed correctly enough to outweigh the dangers if it is abused? If society were to decide it wanted to stuff cloning back into the box, could it? No. Did we stuff nuclear bombs back into the box? Did we stuff biological or chemical weapons back into the box? No. Nor will we cloning.
3. Can scientists be trusted to make the correct moral decisions about their research? The answer is no way, because we have a culture that is without a moral rudder. The driving motivation will be money, not ethics or morals. As long as there is potential for profit and a perceived scientific benefit it will be attempted.
We as Christians must decide what we think about cloning? Part of our decision making
Process is to consult the Scriptures and let God tell us. I invite you to turn to Genesis.
READ GENESIS 11:1-9
How far will God allow us to go? How far will this science go? Only God will be able to stop us! He has before and He can certainly do it again. He stopped mankind from building the tower of Babel. I want you to notice what God said about us in verse 6… “nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them." He then confused their languages and they were scattered. I think that we have again arrived at a place where nothing we can imagine is impossible for us to do. It seems as if we have arrived again at this point… what will God do?
We must remember that God is still in control. Nothing is happening that He is not aware of. How far will He allow us to go in fooling with manipulating the genes of His crown creation? I don’t know. I do think that God will bring all this to a halt sooner or later. The most important question of all: "Where will you (the Christian) stand concerning this issue?" How far will you go before you say that’s too far? Where will you draw the line? The world will want to know and it won’t like it no matter where you draw the line. We as Christians must understand this issue because we will have to stand somewhere.
CONCLUSION
