Morality of Human Reproductive Cloning

      • "Be fruitful and multiply" – assumed to be natural, but IVF and cloning not mentioned in the Bible
      • Problems with cloned animals – most suffer premature aging and other genetic problems. Might be avoidable with better techniques?
      • Biblical basis to condemn human reproductive cloning?
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What should be our moral reaction to reproductive cloning? Most people are against it, including scientists. However, the primary scientific reason for opposition to reproductive cloning is that cloned animals tend to suffer premature aging and other genetic problems. My guess is that this problem will be solved by better techniques. What should our response be then?

God's first command to the human race was to "be fruitful and multiply." Most Christians assume that the reference is to natural methods of reproduction. However, many Christians have used in vitro fertilization (IVF) to produce children. These techniques are not without ethical concerns (such as what happens to leftover embryos). Cloning is another grey area that Christians will have to debate regarding its morality. However, the Bible is largely silent on the issue.


References Top of page

  1. And God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth." (Genesis 1:28)
    And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. (Genesis 9:1)


File formats available

This slideshow was presented at Paradoxes Sunday School Class at Sierra Madre Congregational Church. Files available for download:

http://www.godandscience.org/slideshow/stem063.html
Last Modified October 4, 2004

 

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