Say NO to Embryonic Stem Cell Research

By Marta

Life is worth living from the moment of Conception to the Moment of Natural death.  Say NO to embryonic stem cell research.

Human embryos have to be saved and safeguarded by the adult population.  No promise of a fountain of youth is worth the sacrifice of human lives.  No human being has the right to sacrifice another human being for their benefit.

I received an email the other day and the first question posed to me was: “What is wrong with using the embryos that are going to be discarded to facilitate productive lives?”  You say “embryos that are going to be discarded”  are okay to be used for research and I ask you – A business will be created once it  is allowed.  There are only a few that are going to be “discarded” so business will find ways and excuses to produce some more “discarded embryos.”  Life is not meant to be discarded and used as a thing.  Slavery in the South of the U.S.A. and the Hebrew slavery in Egypt compares to that.  An end doesn’t justify the means.  If you allow an evil act - more evil will be generated.

I asked a teenager what would happen if there was a hole in a dam and it was not covered right away, and quickly he answered: “It will break the dam and the water flood will come.”  What happens when we allow a small evil and not stop it on time is that evil will grow in ways that we could not even imagine and we will live to regret it.

There are two types of politicians-

THE LONG RANGE PLANNERS-the ones who look ahead and act carefully when making decisions, knowing that a simple law can stay in the books for a long time and it can affect in a negative or in positive manner society long after the politician is gone and the reason for his or her initial actions are forgotten.

The one to worry about is THE SHORT SIGHTED ONES- the ones who act for the present- and believe that tomorrow will take care of itself.  Such an action translates into pain for many innocent people.

The decision of embryonic cell research is a serious one not to be made without intense prayer and consideration on the long range effect of the action.

In the same email the individual continued to make an argument by saying: “Does God want those embryos in the fertilization freezers which are going to be thrown away discarded?, or would God want improved quality lives for those that wake up and have to worry about concentrating on chewing every morsel of food they chew for they might choke?; or if they can get the volume out vocally because their muscles are so tight?   They are individuals that have done the right thing, and now have no voice because they served our country, and their disease has taken their independence away."

Two wrongs do not make a right and the end does not justify the mean.  Let’s imagine a scenario which may explain the situation better that a simple statement- I will give you two examples:

First:  A man is killed and lays on the hospital just a few feet from another man who needs a liver transplant-  Does the doctor have the right to cut out the liver of the dead man to transplant into the patient in need of a liver?  You may quickly say; “No.”  The reason why you would think of that to be unthinkable is that first you need the approval of the family, you do not have any legal right over an individual even if it is to save another individual’s life.

Second:  Around a table there are five people- whatever action you take will not be judged by anyone.  Everything will be done in secret away from anybody’s knowledge. (1) One person is a World War II veteran, saved ten soldiers in an amazing campaign, and is the father of ten, and he is afflicted with Parkinson’s disease.  (2) Another person has Alzheimer, is completely disabled and everything has to be done for him.  He no longer recognized his family, cannot talk, and there is no reaction noticeable by him to the world that surrounds him.  (3) Sitting on a high chair there is a boy beautiful blue eyes filled with total innocence to the world that surrounds him, he has AIDS. (4)  The fourth individual around the table is a two day old girl abandoned by her mother in the garbage dumpster of an apartment in the middle of the bad side of town.  (5) Then there is the middle age woman, a physical therapist who has given her life and love to her family faithfully.  Her life is one of no reproach- she cares and she loves everyone who touches her life.

A person walks in and makes the decision.  No one has a claim to the two day old girl(4), she seems to be an unwanted child, and she is killed to offer a gene that will mean healthy life for the remainder of the life of the World War II veteran.  The decision is made to kill (5) so her genetic information can be used to heal the Alzheimer victim(2) and the baby with AIDS(3). 

The actions taken above are horrific.  No human being should die for another – The greatest possession we have in this life is our life.  The fifth commandment says: “THOU SHALL NOT KILL.”  And I will add FROM THE MOMENT OF CONCEPTION UNTIL NATURAL DEATH.

A society civility is measured by how they treat the sick and the disabled. 

Nazi Germany in its war crimes was accused and condemned for using human beings for medical experimentation.  Is America ready to do that in the quiet and cleanliness of its laboratories?

There has to be another way to help the sick and the handicapped and America has the intelligence and the resources to do just that.  If I understand the statement in the email message correctly , it advocates the use of embryonic stem cells to help handicapped people.  Let us place our energy in research that will not go against our religious ethics of behavior.

Our behavior ought to be guided by the law of God.  God is the BOSS.  The fifth commandment says Thou shall not kill.  In the New Testament Jesus said love God with all your heart and mind and your neighbor as yourself.  Keeping both of those in mind, we cannot support embryonic stem cell research because we are sacrificing a human life -an embryo. Adult stem cell research can be pursued instead.

As a society we need to respect its most vulnerable member, the embryo, a human being in the making. Our greatest treasure is our lives.

We will be judged by God and He is  a just God. We need to remember Jesus' word:

What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world,

and looses his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?

For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels,

and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.

Matt 16:26-27

What you do in the depth of your conscience is known to God.  A society will prosper or degenerate into chaos depending on their moral grain and code of conduct.

We can speak and let our family and friends know what we think, what we believe and together we can make a difference.

I need to pray.  Let us pray for the unborn child to be born.  Let us pray for the cure to illnesses to be found to relieve the suffering of so many without using human fetuses.  Let us defend life and the right to live of others.  Let us fear God and obey his commandments that his glory may dwell in our land.

Surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear him, that glory may dwell in our land.

Psalm 85:9

Article written by Marta
LEAP OF FAITH
http://faithleap.home.att.net/stem_cells.htm

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