In for a penny … In for a pound. Another Banner Response On Life

“Is an embryo a human life? I think of a stored embryo as the product of a scientific process. Once received and nurtured in a woman’s womb, it becomes a human life. The embryo is a significant component, but there is no human life apart from the womb’s significant contribution.

And isn’t the use of embryos to find cures for other diseases and disabling conditions also a “God thing”? Jesus was very much concerned with the restoration of the sick. I have a friend who is wheelchair-bound. He is active, employed, and has a family. Wouldn’t it be a “God thing” and an affirmation of the sanctity of human life if through the results of embryonic stem cell research he would be restored physically?”

—Rev. Jochem Vugteveen Grand Rapids, Mich.

1.) Something can be the result of a “scientific process” can still be a human life. In point of fact one could easily say that a fertilized egg arising from a man and a woman having intercourse is a “scientific process” though to say such probably wouldn’t earn you the “Romantic of the year award.”

2.) Rev. Vugteveen will have to supply us the hard data that time in the womb is what makes a fertilized egg human. What will the good Reverend say when technology arises where a fertilized egg can come to full gestation apart from time in the womb? Would a human nurtured in a artificial womb not be a human because they weren’t in a human womb? Finally, on this point, why should I take Rev. Vugteveen assertions as being authoritative? By what standard is Rev. Vugteveen asserting that a human isn’t human until it has spent time in the womb?

3.) If the scientific process gives us a fertilized egg why do we euphemistically refer to that fertilized egg as a “product of scientific process.” The cynic might observe that the depersonalization of that which is human (fertilized egg) serves an agenda of those who desire to use the human as spare body parts.

4.) I wonder if Rev. Vugteveen has really thought through the implications of using human life as spare body parts. What happens to the value of life when men become disposable? What happens when we begin to cannibalize our children in order to heal our aged? If man can create man for the sake of man then what keeps man from destroying man for the sake of man whenever he determines that is convenient? Jochem needs to spend a weekend reading and reflecting on the book Frankenstein.

5.) Rev. Vugteveen needs to read the research surrounding embryonic stem cell research. While human stem cell research has shown promise, embryonic stem cell research shows little promise.

6.) The price we pay for healing the sick at the cost of taking the life of the unborn is to great a cost to bear. To be blunt it strikes me as the height of generational selfishness to want to cannibalize the future for the sake of the present.

Author: jetbrane

I am a Pastor of a small Church in Mid-Michigan who delights in my family, my congregation and my calling. I am postmillennial in my eschatology. Paedo-Calvinist Covenantal in my Christianity Reformed in my Soteriology Presuppositional in my apologetics Familialist in my family theology Agrarian in my regional community social order belief Christianity creates culture and so Christendom in my national social order belief Mythic-Poetic / Grammatical Historical in my Hermeneutic Pre-modern, Medieval, & Feudal before Enlightenment, modernity, & postmodern Reconstructionist / Theonomic in my Worldview One part paleo-conservative / one part micro Libertarian in my politics Systematic and Biblical theology need one another but Systematics has pride of place Some of my favorite authors, Augustine, Turretin, Calvin, Tolkien, Chesterton, Nock, Tozer, Dabney, Bavinck, Wodehouse, Rushdoony, Bahnsen, Schaeffer, C. Van Til, H. Van Til, G. H. Clark, C. Dawson, H. Berman, R. Nash, C. G. Singer, R. Kipling, G. North, J. Edwards, S. Foote, F. Hayek, O. Guiness, J. Witte, M. Rothbard, Clyde Wilson, Mencken, Lasch, Postman, Gatto, T. Boston, Thomas Brooks, Terry Brooks, C. Hodge, J. Calhoun, Llyod-Jones, T. Sowell, A. McClaren, M. Muggeridge, C. F. H. Henry, F. Swarz, M. Henry, G. Marten, P. Schaff, T. S. Elliott, K. Van Hoozer, K. Gentry, etc. My passion is to write in such a way that the Lord Christ might be pleased. It is my hope that people will be challenged to reconsider what are considered the givens of the current culture. Your biggest help to me dear reader will be to often remind me that God is Sovereign and that all that is, is because it pleases him. View all posts by jetbrane