THE CLONING DILEMMA

Well now, as I opened the broadcast with that dramatic statement, I can honestly say I didn't overestimate its importance, nor its shocking revelations for today's world. You see recently, science has broken a new threshold. One that for years has only been occupied by science fiction writers and Hollywood films. Yes, as of now, scientific advances have seemed to come to warp speed in the grand tumultuous pageant of human history. In fact, 1996 Nobel prize-winning chemist Dr. Robert F. Curl of Rice University has rightly said, "This [20^th century] is the century of physics and chemistry, but it is clear that the next century will be the century of biology." In a feat that has been anticipated and dreaded more than any other, researchers in Edinburgh Scotland have reported that they have successfully cloned an adult mammal for the first time! This achievement has shocked leading researchers, who claimed it couldn't be done in our lifetimes. Yet this reality of the 21^st century has already been born before it has even arrived. However, along with its arrival comes the thorniest of theological, ethical and philosophical questions.

On February 22, 1997 the biological century prematurely was thrust upon us when a Scottish research team headed by Dr. Ian Wilmut of the Roslin Institute outside of Edinburgh, Scotland stunned the world by announcing the successful cloning of a an adult Dorset sheep. This historic breakthrough brought forth an exact copy ¾ a clone ¾ of another sheep whose mammary gland cells and their DNA were used to create it. With the birth of this lamb, they named it Dolly, after the Country rock singer, Dolly Parton. Now that this "genie in the bottle" has been uncorked, CLONING will never again be a matter of science fiction. Now all that remains is to consider its implications on humanity, and its far reaching effects upon life as we know it.

Yes February 22, 1997 brought forth a shocking explosion that has reverberated around the world. Cloning of mammals is no longer a Hollywood science fiction story for film, but now a matter of reality for all humanity to consider. For if scientists can successfully clone a mammal, theoretically it may be possible to clone a human being. In this postulation, lies a world of serious thought for what once was the subject of writers and filmmakers fantasy, and may well be reality in the days ahead. Now, everyone knows of Mary Shelley's 19^th century horror story of Dr. Frankenstein's scientific murking around with the creation of life, as do we moderns who have gasped at the fiction of "Jurassic Park," ¾ all of which warn us not to play around with the creative forces of life, or you will come to a bad end. Fictional cloning stories have abounded for years. From the writings of David Rorvik's book "In His Image," that claimed secret human cloning had been accomplished, to the host of bad taste films such as the "Boys for Brazil," which posits a plot to clone little Hitlers ¾ Indeed, Hollywood has been awash with warnings of man's sinful misuse of God's creative powers. Yet here we are. Cloning of a sheep is reality and it can never be turned back again. 

So now what are we to do? Some advocate banning all experimentation especially in the realm of human life. Republicans and Democrats alike in the U.S. Congress acted swiftly to prevent human cloning experiments from being conducted at taxpayer expense, by introducing a bill to ban federal funded human cloning experiments. Calls from all across the world are demanding that research in the area of human cloning be banned, until bio-ethicists can consider the implications of this amazing technology. However, let's talk about cloning and find out exactly what it is.

First of all, cloning is a technique of reproducing an exact copy of an existing living organism. Dolly, the cloned lamb is an exact copy of the donor sheep who gave some cells for its reproduction. Dr. Wilmut's experiment was simple, in retrospect. He took a mammary gland cell from an adult sheep and prepared its DNA so it would be accepted by an egg from another sheep. He then removed the egg's own DNA, and replaced it with the DNA from the adult sheep by fusing the egg with the adult cell. The fused cells, carrying the adult DNA, began to grow and divide, just like a perfectly normal fertilized egg, to form an embryo. From there, Dr. Wilmut implanted the embryo into another sheep and in July of 1996, the sheep gave birth to a lamb they named Dolly. Though Dolly seems perfectly normal, DNA tests show that she is the clone of the adult sheep which supplied the mammary cell and its DNA.

Now this sound quite simple, but in reality Dr. Wilmut's work is phenomenal. You see for decades scientist have known that every cells DNA contains all the blueprints for that life, but each cell that has grown into its unique existence, does not have available anymore the use of that blueprint. Everything except the unique use of that cell in its present shape is locked away, sealed and laid dormant for any further use. Well, Dr. Wilmut found a way to unlock that blueprint, and to reset the DNA so every aspect of its initial code would be available for use by nature again. He did this by isolating the adult mammary cell of the sheep and starving it for nutrients. This, in effect, reset the "turned off" genes and primed them to turn on again. Wilmut took the nuclei, and thus all the genes out of the sheep egg and then placed this DNA extracted altered egg next to the primed, reactivated mammary gland cell. With the help of a little electrical spark of energy, this caused the two cells to fuse, dumping the adult sheep/s genes into the waiting egg. After that another electrical pulse, prodded the oocyte or egg, to accept this new fully unleashed DNA as its own. From there it is history, for Dolly the lamb grew and was born.

Now, if this can be done with mammals such as sheep, theoretically, it can be done with human mammals as well. Now this is what is scary. Can man now reproduce him or herself without God's predetermined way of sexual reproduction? If so, what are the implications? Well for starters, Dr. Ian Wilmut the historical inventor of this process of cloning mammals, says he did it mainly for humanitarian reasons. His work was funded by a pharmaceutical company whose only goal was to produce useful proteins, like the clotting factor needed by hemophiliacs. The cloned animals would produce immense amounts of proteins in their milk, making the animals into living drug factories to help mankind.

Others see this as a boon to the agricultural world. For this could shake the dairy industry. For instance it could allow cloning cows that are super-producers of milk, making 30,000 to 40,000 pounds of milk a year. Now, the average cow makes about 13,000 pounds a year. Moreover, as wild as it seems, understanding and manipulting DNA to release its blueprints for life, some scientists see it replacng the silicon based chip used in computer technology. Silicon chips today can do only one thing at a time. But if a DNA chip could be utilized, it theoretically could do 100 million billion things at once! Yes, the lure of genes and the production of them in cloning life has a myriad of useful mind boggling advantages to life beyond even today's science fiction writers imaginations. However, what Hollywood has capitalized on is not the advances for human good, but the evils that can accompany it, as it is coupled with the sinful nature of man. This is where we move right now.

As Christians, we know God has told us that all humanity is fallen and exists in a sinfully depraved state. We don't need the Bible to tell us that, all we need to do is read the news and history books to see this depravity of humanity. What would happen if a human being could be cloned? The answer is simple ¾ mankind would begin using it for self interest, greed, and the destruction of others. The fact is, we do not live in a logical or altruistic world and never will as long as man exists in this fallen state. We live in a world that commercially will exploit anything that makes money, brings power, and controls people and feeds our prurient interests. This has happened with every invention and scientific finding of man to date.

Now let me ask you for what purpose would we want to clone ourselves or another human being? Only one reason ¾ to "use" that being for one's own purposes. Clones would only be raised for a role of serving someone else. Perhaps to replace a dying child or mate, or more sinister to hold in reserve an exact copy of ourselves for donor replacement of vital organs, or parts. Doctors could prevent the clone from developing a brain, and thus it would not be considered a person. This would allow surgeons to draw on its organs to repair failing bodies indefinitely. Commercially, nations would easily consider cloning its most intelligent, biologically strong, and ruthless of society to form massive armies of the "perfect soldier," to fight wars for us, or to be used in experimentation for future medical advances. Then there is the pornography industry and the fashion industry, wanting bodies, they will pay the highest prices for anatomically perfect clones and exploit them for their depraved, sensual and commercial interests. Why today talk already has arisen that the infertile growing homosexual crowd sees this as a possibility of reproducing itself without the normal heterosexual relationships for such reproduction. Moreover, many would consider such beings as secondary sub-citizens, if that at all and they would surely become "slaves," of today's naturally born peoples and bring us a forever nightmare that will not go away. Yes, it will happened no matter how science promises us a utopia as a result. Fallen sinful mankind will misuse this technology, commercialize it and corrupt any possible usage for good.

Now all this must be considered a possible scenario because the Bible says that mankind in its fallen depraved state of sin, can only gravitate downward in its quest to "be like God." Remember Satan's temptation towards the first man and woman. The Bible records, 

Note the temptation, "you will be like God!" Man craves to have the power of God over life and death. This new genetic engineering offers the theoretical potential to do just that. The only difference is that man will be like God in the ability to manipulate what God has created, but we will be unlike God, in not having the omnipotent power to control all evil. We will know evil, that is experience it, but we will not be powerful enough to control or prevent it. To be good we will have power to accomplish it, but we will not have the power to sustain it. Herein lies the danger of treading where God may not want us to tread. I personally feel to attempt to clone human life would be a violation of God's Word and law. Here's why I believe this. 

1. HUMAN LIFE WAS DESIGNED BY GOD TO COME FORTH IN THE CONFINES OF A SEXUALLY LOVING RELATIONSHIP - God created Eve out of Adam, a clone if you will in a sense, but not one either, for she was different from him physiologically, emotionally, and anatomically. Yet God deemed that the human race be propagated through the monogamous and sexual union of a man and his wife. To produce human life any other way, violates this prime directive, which God warns holds a number of strong judgments for. Thus, the cloning of human life is unnatural and directly rebellious to God's purposes for life.
2. GOD HAS DESIGNED THAT NORMAL REPRODUCTIVE LIFE REGENERATE AND CLEANSE ITSELF - There is an amazing Scripture that can be related to this idea of cloning. We read in,
   
   Exo 34:6-7 (NIV) "And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, "The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.""
   
   Our evolutionary world of science only sees human beings as material and soulless beings. The Bible says we are created in the image of God. God is a spirit, as such we are "spirit beings," housed in human bodies. However, the tri-partite nature of man having a spirit, soul and body is all intertwined and cannot be separated one from another except by God at death. Since man is a fallen being, our spirit is dead and our soul is corrupted. In Romans chapter seven, we are told that SIN DWELLS IN THE FLESH (Romans 7:25). As such, we sin and the effects of sin are somehow carried on from generation to generation in our bodies through the normal propagation of life. However, even science today affirms that criminality has a proven family history beyond the influence of environment. Violent crime run in families, but we've seen that time is the healer of these terrible traits which seem to run for no more than three to four generations. At that time, God has designed by normal human propagation for this to run its course. But, with cloning, the evil and negative traits of humanity can be reproduced generation after generation and perpetuated forever! The mercy of time will have been superceded and bypassed. Thus the wicked which often control the financial power of the world could conceivably continue undiminished through the ages.
3. GOD HAS DESIGNED HUMAN BEINGS WITH THE RIGHT TO BE UNIQUE -A human clone would be an individual who was forced against its will to duplicate a life already lived. Cloning would imply "ownership" by the parents which would deny its normal freedom to develop his or her own and unique nature. Parents, the Bible says, are only temporary custodians until a child reaches adult age and completes its own adult personality. The Bible says each human being is born into a special relationship to his or her Creator, each of us is free to develop or reject this spiritual bond during our lives. Human clones would be deprived of this uniqueness, and simply be a fragment of a split personality.

These and a host of other concepts, call for godly Christians to stand firmly against any calls for experimentation of human cloning, no matter what health benefits it may bring to us or future generations. When we begin to play around with God's creation of life, we are entering His domain and may well open a door which we can never shut. Not being God, nor having His omnipotent power of wisdom and goodness, we may bring a nightmarish destruction or termination of the human race as we know it. This happened once before you know. In Genesis Chapter six we read,

We all know that God intervened in the past world when the strange happenings occurred. We are told the "sons of God," sexually united with the "daughters of men." Some believe this was a sinister mating of spirit demons and human women, producing a wicked, supernatural corrupted race that God would not permit to exist on the face of the earth. If this is true, we may again be bringing such a race of humanity to this world that God will destroy. These are things to consider. Meanwhile, we must be vocal and oppose all requests by the godless evolutionary crowd, to call for human experimentation in future days. Since the progress of cloning of mammals has the potential to change humanity's existence, there are greater things at stake than the freedom of science to see its so-called progress. I submit to you any concept at all, of human cloning is unbiblical and ungodly. As such, we must not be silent. Our silence in religious and social issues has been read as acquiescence. We must take action when necessary. Support any congressional bans on human cloning research. Write letters to the Editor of local newspapers explaining peril of this technology. Speak out utilizing what I shared with you today and inform others of the implications of such research. Then, be sure to only vote for leadership in government that supports a biblically based moral ethic that seeks to control the advances of science that thumbs its nose in the face of God. And lastly, be sure that you faithfully pray asking God to preserve the human race, and prevent another Genesis disaster that may well bring God's final judgment against a world in full rebellion to His rule and authority.

Yes, today it's only a lamb named Dolly, that has begun a new uncharted world of exploration into the creation of life. But, with God's Word and His wisdom, we can control the future. Let us influence the cloning debate in the coming years with wisdom and goodness from Scripture, and let's be sure that our own hearts and lives are in alignment with God's truth through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The cloning of an adult mammal sheep offers us a glimpse into the new world of technology that is outstripping the moral and social thinking of ethicists, and theologians alike. The dawning of the biological age causes us all the more to see that the time is near for the coming of the Lord. Are you ready? Have you trusted in Jesus Christ alone for your salvation, full forgiveness and life eternal? God created you a unique being, so that you will forever stand in His presence enjoying that uniqueness of spirit and soul. Although our bodies perish, our soul and spirit will live on forever and ever. May it be in the presence of God, in alignment with His purposes and will, and may the joy of the Lord ever be your guide and stay through it all. God bless you my friend.

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• "THE PRICE OF A PERFECT BABY," By Bruce L. Anderson, Bethany House Publishers, Minneapolis, MN.
• "CAN WE CLONE HUMANS?" Newsweek Article by Sharon Begley, March 10, 1997, page 52.
• NEW YORK TIMES Articles:
  1. A Warning as Science Catches Up with the Movies on Cloning - February 26, 1997, Critics Notebook by Caryn James.
  2. Scientist Reports First Cloning ever of Adult Mammal - February 23, 1997 by Gina Kolata.
  3. Congressman Offers Bill to Ban Cloning Humans - March 6, 1997 by Katharine Q. Seelye.
  4. Can Lines Be Drawn on Cloning? - March 8, 1997 by Peter Steinfels.
• BUSINESS WEEK - March 3, 1997 Cover Story, "THE BIOTECH CENTURY"by John Carey & Naomi Freundlich.
• ETERNITY MAGAZINE - "Has Science Gone Too Far With Cloning?" Eternity Magazine website located at: http://www.eternitymag.com

• Radio talk #1997
• Broadcast date: May 11, 1997
• Speaker: Dennis L. Finnan, Commentator
• Program: The World, the Word & You! Radio Broadcast
• Address: P.O. Box 575 St. Charles, MN 55972-0575

The World, the Word & You! Broadcast is a non-denominational ministry based on the historic fundamental evangelical interpretation of the Scriptures.A copy of our doctrinal statement is available upon request.These weekly radio commentaries can be heard in selected areas around the nation. Dennis Finnan has been the speaker for 16 years, and serves as General Director. These transcripts are available free of charge to all who desire them. Also available are radio cassette tapes and printed booklets of each message. A free listing of all messages is available upon request also.

For further information, reprints, or a listing of all topics, please write to our speaker, Dennis L. Finnan(dennis@wwy.org),or visit our webpage at http://www.wwy.org/