Friday afternoon Debbie, me, Kendra, Jeremiah and one of Kendra’s friends jumped into the car for a last minute trip to Austin. My niece was playing in the high school basketball playoffs, and Kendra’s softball game had been cancelled. A mad dash when school let out got us to the game just at tip off. On the way home everyone, (except for yours truly), slept. (By the way, Heather’s team won, and made it to the state quarterfinals before losing yesterday).
The trip to Austin seemed much quicker than the long road home that night. Partly because we were fresh, but mostly because a good portion of the journey was taken up with a rather challenging conversation we had.
We discussed a number of ethical questions which seem to be challenging our society today. Questions such as the morality of capital punishment, abortion, cloning, and stem cell research.
The purpose of this short article is not to recap our conversation. Suffice to say it was lively, challenging, and helped the time to pass quickly. The point is this. Even though society may have difficulty wrestling with the morality of these “hot button” issues, God has supplied to us the information necessary to “discern both good and evil” (cf. Hebrews 5:14).
The key is to take the principles that you find in God’s word and apply them to modern day issues. Though the issues are modern, God’s word supplies us with all things necessary to equip the man of God unto “every good work” (cf. 2 Timothy 3:16-17).
For instance, will it be possible to clone a human being, and if so, will that clone have a soul? I have heard many ask these questions, and there really simple answers to it. Actually, the two questions are inextricably tied together. To answer one is to answer the other. First, it will be possible to clone humans if God permits it. (Note: God permitting something is not the same thing as God condoning it. Man is permitted to do many things that are evil in the sight of God).
If God permits it, this means that the clone indeed will have a soul. The soul is the part of a man (that makes him a man) which God supplies. “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” (Genesis 2:7).
It is inevitable that man will try to clone a human. It remains to be seen if God will allow it.
