Framing Our Thinking About Biotechnology 3

Continuing reflection on the workshop titled Faith on the Edge: Christian Ethics in Fertility, Birth Control, and Genetic Engineering presented by Dr. Robert W. Weise.

The human body & soul – in Christ, the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

When asked why it is permissible to kill embryonic human beings to conduct scientific research or why aborting a human fetus is not wrong, the answer must always be to deny the personhood of the unborn or newly created human. The pro-ESC (embryonic stem cell research) and pro-abortion crowd will usually argue that they are only killing "potential human persons," not actual human persons. Since virtually every embryology text book in use today acknowledges that a human being is created at conception those in favor of killing the unborn have no other choice than to make this argument.

To the contrary, the Bible teaches that at every stage of development, human beings are persons created in the image of God (Jer. 1:5; Ps. 139; Ps. 51 for example). David Adams, Old Testament Professor of Exegetical Theology at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, holds that Scripture shows that the procreation of a human being in the womb is a continuum, a process. To see this, consider the following passages.

1. When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman, so that her children come out, but there is no harm, the one who hit her shall surely be fined, as the woman's husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine (Ex 21:22).
   
2. When the water in the skin was gone, she put the child under one of the bushes (Gen 21:15).
   
3. When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not in the pit, he tore his clothes and returned to his brothers and said, "The boy is gone, and I, where shall I go?" (Gen. 27:29-30)
   
4. Then the king of Israel summoned an officer and said, "Bring quickly Micaiah the son of Imlah." (2 Ch 18:8).
   
5. And Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made for himself horns of iron and said, "Thus says the Lord, 'With these you shall push the Syrians until they are destroyed.'" (2Ch 18:10)
   

In each of the passages, the word in bold italics is derived from the same root word, yeled, with the base meaning of something born, i.e. a lad, boy, child, fruit, son, young man. In (1) it refers to a child in the womb. In (2) it describes the infant Moses. In (3) the word describes the boy Joseph, probably not yet a teenager. Finally, in (4 & 5)
young men are described by yeled.

As we approach questions about the proper use of technology we have identified three foundational truths with which to frame our thinking.

1. The clear distinction between Creator and creature.
   
2. The human creature is made in the image of God that he or she bears from the moment of conception. This takes on even more importance in the incarnation of Christ.
   
3. From conception, the unborn is a human person with potential and must allowed to develop that potential.