This headline is from a
recent edition of the London Daily Mail
online. The rest of the headline reads: Scientists create sperm and eggs from stem cells.
Here are a few quotes from this article:
The
Scientists
at
The
American team used stem cells taken from embryos in the first days of life but
hope to repeat the process with slivers of skin. The skin cells would first be
exposed to a mixture which wound back their biological clocks to embryonic stem
cell state, before being transformed into sperm or eggs.
The
double success, published in the journal Nature,
raises the prospect of men and women one day 'growing' their own sperm and eggs
for use in in vitro fertilization treatments.
Parents, while this is not
exactly pleasant reading material, you can be assured that your children will
be hearing about this "breakthrough" sooner than later in their education;
perhaps even tomorrow. So what do you say to your 13-year-old with whom you
have been slow to have "the discussion" about how babies are made?
These bio-medical endeavors,
however noble their stated purposes may be, ultimately seek to gain control
over the process of creating life. Ultimately, these projects seek to give man
control. Neither men, women, nor God are necessary to create a child. All that
is needed is some skin, a petri-dish and some drugs
If the book of Genesis
makes anything clear, it is this - God is the Author and Sustainer of life. Modern
man has come to believe that he is in control of his own life, even to the
point of making children apart from the reproductive process ordained by God.
It is still too early to tell whether the research being done at Stanford and
other places will actually result in human life. However, the question must be
asked: why would someone think he could
do a better job at bringing babies into the world than God? Ultimately, the
answer must lie in the fact that the fear and awe of God has been lost. Genesis
speaks of a God who spoke the Universe into existence. The God of Genesis
created matter out of nothing, to be used for his purposes. The scientists
mentioned in this article, while they are attempting to by-pass the human
reproductive process, must begin with something. They cannot will matter into
existence.
Genesis speaks of the living,
eternal God of heaven and earth. He has no beginning or end. He is not dependent
upon anyone or any matter to do as he wishes. He does not experiment by testing
hypotheses to see if his plans will work. God purposes and it happens. There
was nothing, and then there was. No laboratory or research team can claim
anything like that. Instead of being humbled by these attempts to create life
man's way, these scientists actually appear to thrive on the struggle. While it
is commendable to persevere, it is arrogant to attempt to replace God.
How
do you explain these things to your children? The best place to start is the
Bible itself and Genesis in particular. The whole story is there: God's power,
His majestic plan, His overwhelming creativity, the wonder of man, the
devastation of sin, the wreckage of life made by humans enslaved to sin, the
hope of redemption and a Redeemer. This is Genesis. This is the beginning of
the story of the Creator and his creatures. It is your story and, most
importantly, it is God's story.
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