Christians Ethics Life Issues INTRODUCTION AND REVIEW
Welcome back to week two of our class on Christian ethics. I know you all are swamped with exams and final projects. This morning we’re going to be talking about an area of ethics called bioethics. Bios is the Greek word for ‘life.’
Bioethics is the study of those ethical issues which have to do with human life. But first, I’d like to review our definition of Christian ethics. Do any of you remember any of the parts that make up our definition?
“Christian ethics is the rational process of making real-life decisions that agree with both God’s character and purposes for creation as revealed through his Word.”
Christian ethics certainly has to do with what we believe to be right and wrong. But it also has to do with the decisions we make in the real world. Bioethical dilemmas have been with humanity since the beginning, but today’s technological advances mean they are more confusing than ever before. This morning we are going to develop some principles for bioethics from the Bible, then we are going to talk about abortion and some other life issues, and then we’re going to talk through some case studies.
BIOETHICS AND THE BIBLE
So what does the Bible have to say about bioethics? On many of the issues which vex us, nothing directly. Abortion and euthanasia were practiced in the ancient world, but aren’t mentioned. Certainly, there is nothing about cloning or
embryonic stem cell research. Indirectly, however, the Bible says a great deal about these issues. I want to go over a number of principles with you.
First, the Bible clearly asserts the dignity and worth of every human being. We looked at Genesis 1 last week; we’ll look at it again this week.
Genesis 1:26-27 God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
Human beings are not like the animals. Certainly, we share the same physicality. But we are uniquely created in the image of God. In some way, we reflect his glory back to him. We were created to be like him and to represent him. This profound theological truth has a lot of implications; one of them is that every human being has unique dignity and worth. That worth doesn’t come from what we can do; rather, it comes from God’s creative act.
The Bible makes it clear that our actions towards our fellow human beings ultimately reflect upon our actions towards God.
In James 3, James is talking about the tongue, how we speak to one another. He makes it clear that the way we treat other human beings reflects our attitude towards God. James 3:9 “With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.” He’s saying, “How can you claim to love and honor God when you dishonor and curse his image?” It’s utterly incongruous.
Psalm 139 takes this even further and talks about the wonder of God’s creative work in forming each person. David declares,
Psalm 139:13-16 3 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. 14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.
Look at what David says. “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” In other words, the human being is a remarkable work of creation that brings God praise and glory. David marvels at the way God wove him together in his mother’s womb. This is a clear statement of God’s active role in shaping a human being in the womb, and then ordering the rest of the days of his life. Human beings are beautiful things. They bring God glory.
Think back to the definition we developed of Christian ethics. We want to act in ways that accord with God’s character and his purposes for creation. We’ve just learned something about God’s attitude toward humanity and his purpose for creating the human race. How should this shape our approach toward bioethical issues? The chief bioethical issue facing us is that our society assigns human lives different values based on constantly shifting criteria. The lives of the unborn, old, sick, and disabled have less value than the lives of, well, us.
Second, the Bible teaches the humanity of the unborn child.
This principle has significance for a whole host of issues. One of the most striking examples of this is in Luke 1.
Luke 1:41-44 1 And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, 42 and she exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.
Our daughter was an active baby before she was born. I don’t know if she ever leapt for joy, but I think she was doing gymnastics or something. John the
Baptist—Elizabeth’s child—leaps for joy. He hasn’t even been born yet and he’s experiencing joy and he’s under the influence of the Holy Spirit. Notice also that Elizabeth calls Mary, “the mother of my Lord.” Jesus hasn’t been born yet, but he is the Lord already. He did not cease to be Lord when he became a tiny fetus. Some argue that our generation is actually more pro-life than our parent’s generation. There has clearly been a slight but noticeable shift over the last few
decades in how Americans feel about abortion. What has made the difference? Ultrasound. Today we can have unbelievably accurate pictures of unborn children very early in pregnancy. The Bible confirms what science tells us—that each
unborn child is a unique human being.
Third, the Bible is strong and unambiguous in its prohibition against taking innocent human life.
We probably don’t need to spend too much time on this one. You’re familiar with the sixth commandment: “You shall not murder.” Turn to Genesis 9. Would someone read Genesis 9:6?
Genesis 9:6 6 If anyone sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; For in the image of God has man been made.
Why does God say murder is to be punished so severely? Man is made in the image of God. Human beings aren’t just biological systems. We are spiritual
beings who bear the image of God. To kill a fellow man is to strike at God himself. For this reason, Christians have generally come down quite clearly on life issues. Abortion and infanticide were common practices in the ancient world. Early Christians were well-known for their opposition to both. Tertullian, an influential Christian writing in the third century, wrote this:
“For us, indeed, as homicide is forbidden, it is not lawful to destroy what is in the womb while the blood is still being formed into a man. To prevent being born is to accelerate homicide, nor does it make a difference whether you snatch away a soul which is born or destroy one being born. He who is man-to-be is man, as all fruit is now in the seed.”
Early Christians didn’t have the same medical knowledge we do. They didn’t know anything about embryology, and what they thought they knew was largely wrong. What they did have was the Bible. They recognized that abortion
Fourth, Christians have a particular obligation to protect the weak and vulnerable. The Scripture is full of commands to take care of the week and vulnerable. Can I get two readers?
Jeremiah 22:3 “Thus says the LORD: Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place.”
Psalm 82:1-4 ESV God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment: 2 "How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Selah 3 Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. 4 Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked." In each of these texts God himself speaks on this issue; he prohibits us from taking advantage of the weak and he positively commands us to deliver them. What relevance does this have for life issues?
When we put these biblical principles together, I think we can conclude a number of things: we ought to recognize abortion as evil, we ought to work to see just laws established the protect the vulnerable, and we ought to personally do what we can to take care of the weak and vulnerable.
Fifth, we must seek salvation in Christ not in ourselves.
Abortion, euthanasia, genetic manipulation and cloning all stem from the human desire to shake free of God’s sovereign rule and to live self-determined lives. We want to live on our own terms. These things are just modern expression of the original sin. We want to be like gods ourselves. And then we fell into sin and God cursed the world. He said that man would die and woman would suffer in
childbirth. Death, toiling and pain. God provided a means of escaping this curse—Jesus Christ. Godless men want to persist in their rebellion and find
technological solutions to the curse. Christians must humbly acknowledge God as the only God and look to Christ for deliverance from the curse.
1 Corinthians 15:42-44 So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
In addition to fighting against bioethical transgressions, we need to hole out a better hope. Any comments on any of that?
ABORTION
Let’s turn now and talk about abortion. I want to begin with a quiz. I am going to read a statement and I want to see if any of you can guess where it came from.
We should “work for legislation that will allow the possibility of abortion under such conditions as rape, incest, clear evidence of severe fetal
deformity, and carefully ascertained evidence of the likelihood of damage to the emotional, mental, and physical health of the mother.”
(SBC Resolution on Abortion, 1971)
Any guesses on where those statements came from?
That was from a resolution adopted by the Southern Baptist Convention in 1971, two years before the US Supreme Court handed down their decision in Roe v. Wade. Notice what it clearly affirms—Southern Baptists are called to work to make abortion legal in cases of rape, incest, birth defects, likelihood of damage to the emotional or mental health of the mother. This is essentially an endorsement of abortion on demand. In the year following Roe v. Wade, the SBC passed
another resolution adopting essentially the same position.
Today, the SBC is one of the most reliably pro-life denomination in the country. It wasn’t until 1980 that you find the SBC adopting a different stance, saying that abortion should be illegal “except to save the life of the mother.”
What caused the shift? I can think of a number of explanations. But much of it has to do with the staggering statistics. From 1973-2005, more than 45 million
abortions were performed. That’s almost 15% of the current U.S. population. Annually, more than one million children are aborted. Looked at another way, about one in five pregnancies in the United States ends in abortion. I read awhile back that abortions actually outnumber live births in Washington, DC.
In the aggregate, those are staggering numbers. But one of the things we need to realize is that this is a personal issue to. All of us are touched one way or another by abortion. We all know women who have had abortions, even if we don’t know it. You’ll likely talk to someone considering an abortion at some point in your life. EUTHANASIA/ASSISTED SUICIDE
Assisted suicide is already legal in Oregon, Washington, and Montana. As
populations age worldwide, I think you’ll see an increased demand by people to control life and death on their own terms. Euthanasia is often portrayed as a last resort for terminally ill people. Evaluations of assisted suicide clinics in Europe show that a large percentage of people who take their life through them aren’t even terminally ill. How should Christians think about these issues?
EMBRYONIC STEM CELL RESEARCH
This has been a significant issue for a number of years now. Embryonic stem cell research involves the destruction of human embryos for human cells that have the potential to turn into any cell in the body. The thought is that if these cells can be programmed correctly, we can reverse aging, grow new organs, and cure all kinds of diseases. Essentially, unborn children are used as spare parts. IN VITRO FERTILIZATION
Doctors extract eggs from a woman and fertilize them outside of her. Generally speaking, some of the resultant embryos are implanted in the woman and others are frozen for potential future use. There are currently somewhere around a half a million embryos in freezers in fertility clinics around the U.S. Most of them will never be used.
GENETIC MANIPULATION. The ability to manipulate human genetic material is a new human capability and the technical capability advances practically daily. Just
this weekend I read that scientists had demonstrated a new gene therapy for a certain kind of hemophilia. Other kinds of genetic research are more troubling. Researchers have combined human and animal DNA, there is talk about
programming the physical characteristics of children.
Probably all of you remember the announcement of a number of years back that scientists had successfully cloned a sheep. They named her Dolly. In the years that have followed, other animals have been successfully cloned. Research into human cloning is advanced, and it wouldn’t surprise me if we saw human clones before too long. What are the ethics of creating new human beings through cloning?
We could go on and list other issues. Notice how many of these are new. I think it is likely that ten years from now there will be issues nobody had even thought about now. These are major issues and we need a biblical framework that can help us address them. In short, we need to know what human life is and how God wants us to treat human beings at all stages of development.
CASE STUDIES
I think one of the most valuable ways to think through these issues is with some case studies.
Case Study # 1: You’re on an airplane and you strike up a conversation with the woman sitting next to you. You talk about your lives and then the conversation turns to spiritual things. She hasn’t been to church in years and she confesses with tears that she had an abortion years ago. She feels conflicted about it. What do you tell her?
Case Study #2: You suffering through Organic Chemistry and Cell Biology have paid off and you’ve inexplicably been accepted into med school. During your orientation you are told that your med school trains all its students how to perform abortions. You’ll be required to observe a live abortion and learn the techniques for performing one. If you refuse, you’ll be removed from your program. It’s too late to go to a different med
school and you think it would be a shame to waste all that past training. What do you do?
Case Study #3: Your dear Aunt Mildred has been suffering from a
degenerative muscle disorder for some years. She is excited when a new treatment comes on the market that can improve some of her symptoms, but she is troubled to learn that it was developed through research that destroyed human embryos. She wants to get better but she also wants to do the right thing. She figures you would be the right person to talk to about this …
Case Study #4: You’re working in a lab that is looking for a cure for Alzheimer’s. Scientists in your lab are planning on genetically modifying mice to give them human brain cells. They think this will allow them to study the disease in new ways that might lead to a cure. They want you to help manage the lab and care for the animals. What do you do?
This might sound like science fiction, but it has already been done. The animals are called chimeras after the monsters from Greek mythology, Chimeras that had body parts from various animals. For years, researchers in various parts of the world have been creating hybrids that contain some animal cells and some human cells. For instance, they’ve injected human brain cells into