Cloning: Make it Double or Not
On March 5, 2007, Laura Keeble (wife of preacher Marshall Keeble) entered into her eternal reward at the age of 108. During her lifetime she would watch as homes became wired for electricity and indoor plumbing became the norm. The introduction of the Model T Ford was still ten years away when Mrs. Keeble was born on August 8, 1898. It would be roughly 80 years after her birth before small desktop computers would arrive on the scene. Like most individuals who have been blessed with a long life, Mrs. Keeble witnessed many changes during her lifetime. However, during her last year on Earth, there was one announcement that I suspect Mrs. Keeble never envisioned, as even a remote possibility—human cloning. On April 13, 2006 Harvard University announced that stem cell researcher Doug Melton had been cleared to pursue human cloning. However, Dr. Melton is not alone. Less than a month later, on May 6, 2006, scientists at the University of California, San Francisco threw their hats into the cloning ring. And so now we await the first human clone.
Can we do it? It appears so. The creation of Dolly, the first cloned mammal, clearly demonstrated that it could be done. Is someone going to try? Several teams are already hard at work—history now awaits the first person who can proclaim: “I successfully cloned a human being.” In fact, Harvard University has given Doug Melton a 4000 sq. ft. secret basement laboratory in which he will conduct his experiments. Clearly the race is on. Do we have the technology? Definitely. In the years following the birth of Dolly, scientists have successfully cloned goats, pigs, cattle, mice, horses, mules, deer, cats, and rabbits. But should we do it? That is one question that science cannot answer. Science is great at a number of things—for instance, we can cure diseases, we can put Rover’s on Mars, and we can make “infertile” ground yield tremendous crops. Oftentimes it appears that there is nothing that science cannot do. And that is part of the problem. Somewhere along the way many scientists have forgotten in Whose image they were made, and they forgot Who gave us this beautiful brain to begin with.
Someone should be willing to ask the question: “At what cost are we willing to proceed with this manipulation of life?” For instance, it took 277 tries before Ian Wilmut was able to create Dolly. How many tries will it take before Time magazine is able to feature a healthy baby clone on its cover? (Don’t expect them to reveal images of all the failed attempts.) Additionally, many cloned animals have revealed serious abnormalities and have experienced adult onset diseases at very early stages in life. Do we really want to expose humans to these malformations? Consider too, that human cloning violates two of our own ethical laws and guidelines. In this country, two safeguards have been put into place before experiments can be performed on humans: (1) the person being experimented on must provide “informed consent;” and (2) the experiment is supposed to be to the subject’s benefit. Human cloning violates both of these ethical guidelines.
Like it or not, human cloning is firmly on our doorstep and as faithful Christians we must know how to respond. Anytime science hands us a brand new technology, we must remember to ask: “What are the implications of this new technology”—because with cloning there are many implications. If we want the biblical answer, it begins all the way back in Genesis 2:24-25, which states: “… and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife….” It was within the beautiful Garden of Eden that God instituted marriage between man and woman. This was the beginning of the family unit—a concept that is carried throughout God’s Word. In the New Testament we find Paul writing that he desired young widows to “marry, bear children, and manage the house” (1 Timothy 5:14). Notice the divinely laid down order. Women are to marry first, then bear children and manage the house. With human cloning you don’t need to be married. You do not even need a boyfriend or girlfriend. All that is necessary is a single cell. Human cloning violates God’s plan for the family unit at every single turn, and as faithful Christians we have no business supporting it. We must continue to maintain the sanctity of human life.