We hear politicians and others who promote embryonic stem-cell research speak of the diseases that could be cured by it, and how promising it is. We hear of Michael J. Fox who has Parkinson's disease, and of children with Diabetes and others whose illnesses they say could be cured by using embryonic stem cell research. And although there are people with various diseases who have unfortuntaely come to believe this, I want to make my own voice known about this also. I have Muscular Dystrophy, and I can assure you, that although I do want a cure to be found, I don't want it as a result of embryonic stem cell research, which involves the killing of human embryos. Fortunately, the Muscular Dystrophy Association is involved with research using adult stem cells, which has been shown already to be more promising, and has even developed therapies for various other conditions.
A fine job has been done in the world to condition people to think of a mere "mass of cells" when hearing the word "embryo". Many do not realise that a human embryo is actually a human being at a very early stage of development. Calling a human being who is only a few days old in the mother's womb an embryo, doesn't make that person less human. Yet their personhood is denied, and it is deemed by many to be acceptable to use human embryos for research, a practice that involves their destruction.
Joseph Mengele, a nazi scientist, experimented on Jews and this was deemed acceptable practice, and the nazis considered the Jews to be less than human also. When a persons humanity is denied, it becomes easy to kill them and do evil to them. Just as surely as it was evil to do to the Jews what the nazis did, it is evil also to consider human embryos as anything less than a human being with the right to life. They are as much human beings as the Jews, Asians, those of European descent and all others.
I want to make it known that niether politicians nor anyone else speaking in favor of embryonic stem-cell reseaerch speak for me or for many others with diseases who could supposedly benefit by such research. I don't want such evil to be promoted or advanced for any reason, including the supposed good it would do in finding cures for diseases. Research to cure diseases is a good thing and should continue, but there is a right way and a wrong way to go about things. We cannot abandon goodness in order to bring about good. The ends doesn't justify the means. Research to cure disease is in itself a positive and good act meant to help human beings, and it expresses, or ought to express, an innate respect for life. But when groups of human beings are regarded as less that human, and their right to life denied, then respect for life has disappeared and the value of human life is diminished.
If human life is not valued for the very reason than God created it and loves it Himself, then the value of each individual is diminished and endangered. The reasearch for cures and treament of disease comes to be at the mercy of those who lack the love and sense of value that every human person has as one who was created by Almighty God.
Some may say that they don't care what the motives are as long as a cure is found for their illness. But motives which are not grounded in what is good and true, can be more easily twisted towards evil ends, and those awaiting a cure may find themselves to be considered by others as useless members of society not worth keeping alive. In such a culture of death, the unthinkable becomes reality and it is already happening. A young woman named Terri Shiavo was killed in cold blood by dehydration and starvation and it allowed by a court right here in America. Such things are happening elsewhere in the world too, as the culture of death spreads its shadow over the minds of many. Only the light of Christ Jesus can enlighten our minds and hearts. We must turn to Him and be converted.
People claimed that she was a mental vegetable and had no awareness of her surroundings. Yet I went to a website dedicated to her and saw a video of her where a balloon was being passed over her face and her eyes followed its movement, which at the very least indicated awareness of her surroudnings. If it does not prove she was aware, even a skeptic must admit that it produces a reasonable doubt as to her state of awareness. This same reasonable doubt would prevent a court from sentencing a criminal to death. Why are criminals protected by such a reasonable doubt and yet a poor disabled woman in bed is not, and her family all the willing to take her home and care for her? But such is the state of things in our country today because respect for life has been lost, and evil is called good, and good evil.
As for the claim that embryonic stem cell research promises cures for diseases, there is much less promise in that area, whereas there are more success stories about adult stem cell treatments. More on this, I'll discuss in future posts.
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