Over the past five years, stem cell research has been a controversial topic. In North America the subject made news on August 9, 2001, when President George Bush of the U.S.A. allowed research on existing lines of stem cells to resume, but put a moratorium on the harvesting of any new embryonic stem cells in government laboratories. Other countries such as Britain, France and Italy have also passed laws governing stem cell research. Enthusiastic proponents of such research feel that it offers the greatest potential benefits to mankind in the treatment of many chronic diseases, including cancer, diabetes, Parkinsonism and multiple sclerosis. The debate continues in many parts of the world, and Christians may well wonder what their attitude toward it should be. Does such research simply involve man’s using his God-given ability to relieve some of the effects of the fall, or does it cross a moral line into an area that the Word of God would forbid?
Briefly, stem cells are primitive cells that have the potential to develop into most of the 220 different types of cells that make up the human body (for example, heart muscle cells, brain cells and blood cells). There are two basic types of stem cells that are used in research, adult and embryonic. Adult stem cells are taken from adult human beings (for example, bone marrow cells). Because the extracting of these cells does no harm to the individual, there is no real controversy over research involving them. However, adult stem cells are limited in their ability to differentiate into the many types of cells in the body, and because of this they are not nearly as useful as embryonic stem cells. They are also difficult to remove and therefore are limited in quantity. Embryonic stem cells can differentiate into almost all of the cells in the body and thus have far greater research potential. These must be obtained from human embryos, and the most common source is from surplus frozen embryos produced by in vitro fertilization at fertility clinics.
What Researchers Hope
By experimenting with these stem cells, researchers hope to be able to develop tissues that will, for example, give a diabetic a normal pancreas, or someone in renal failure a new set of kidneys. The eventual goal of stem cell research is to create a replacement organ or part of an organ. Stem cell research is similar to what is known as “therapeutic cloning,” the object of which is to make an embryo which is the exact “clone” of a person. Its stem cells would then be extracted and used to create an organ or perhaps a type of tissue. When this was later transplanted into the individual, there would be no rejection because the transplant would contain the DNA of the individual. Although this is not technically possible at present, the potential is indeed awesome when we consider the chronic diseases that plague many individuals.
We can sympathize greatly with those individuals who suffer, sometimes for a lifetime, with a chronic, debilitating disease. Many of us are most thankful for advances in medical technology that have alleviated suffering and saved lives. However, when moral issues surround man’s research into problems involving life and death, the Word of God must be our guide. We have the assurance that God in Christ has given us “all things that pertain unto life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3). I believe that the Word of God answers the question of embryonic stem cell research for us.
The Heart of the Controversy
At the heart of the stem cell controversy is the question of whether an embryo is a human being with a soul and spirit. Most embryonic stem cells are extracted from very young human embryos —typically a few days old. Extracting the stem cells kills the embryo immediately. Is this murder in the eyes of God?
As with many other moral questions, we must remember that Scripture is written for hearts wanting to do God’s will. Thus we may not find an exact answer to every question that comes up, but the heart wanting to do the will of God will find that Scripture makes the mind of God clear in the matter.
With reference to the question before us, I am not aware of any Scripture that tells us with absolute certainty when a human embryo obtains a soul and spirit. However, we will refer to two Scriptures that I believe bear on it. First of all, in Exodus we have instructions as to an injury to a woman carrying an unborn baby. The verses read as follows:
“If men strive together, and strike a woman with child, so that she be delivered, and no mischief happen, he shall in any case be fined, according as the woman’s husband shall impose on him, and shall give it as the judges estimate. But if mischief happen, then thou shalt give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, branding for branding, wound for wound, stripe for stripe” (ch. 21:2225 JND).
I would suggest that this scripture shows us that an unborn child is looked upon by God as a human being. If the child were born (after the injury to its mother) without any problem, then only a fine was imposed. But if the child lost his or her life, then the one causing the death must lose his life. If the injury were less serious, then the individual causing the injury paid an appropriate penalty according to the degree of the injury.
What God Sees
Second, we have David’s comments in Psalm 139:1416 concerning his own development in the womb. Here is what he said by inspiration:
“I will praise Thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are Thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from Thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in Thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.”
Here we see clearly that God has His eye on a developing human being right from the beginning and that He sees all of its substance, although unperfect. (Note that Scripture is very accurate in saying “unperfect” in the sense of not yet fully formed, but does not say “imperfect,” which would imply something defective.) Further, this Scriptures tells us that all these members were written in God’s book, showing us that God takes an intense interest in the development of His creature.
From these Scriptures, it is clear that any adverse interference by man with a developing human embryo at any point is a serious matter. I prefer to believe that God views a developing embryo right from conception as a human being with a soul and spirit. Thus, to take its life does, in fact, amount to murder. We know that abortions have been done legally on demand for more than thirty-five years in North America as well as in other areas of the world, mostly as a matter of convenience. In some countries of the world (China, for example), abortions are insisted upon in order to limit the size of families. Believers have always viewed this as being morally wrong. I suggest that extracting embryonic stem cells and thus killing the embryo amounts to the same thing.
The ramifications of all this are most serious and, in addition to the matter of stem cell research, call in question the whole idea of in vitro fertilization. Although this article is not primarily about in vitro fertilization, perhaps a few comments on it are in order, since it is closely tied to stem cell research. We can surely sympathize with couples who desperately want children and who are, for various reasons, unable to have them in the normal way. It is one thing to undergo a reasonable investigation to see if there is anything that medical science can correct to make this possible. It is entirely another matter to resort to in vitro fertilization, which almost always leaves excess embryos and the problems that result. If it is morally wrong to use them for stem cell research, then it becomes a major issue as to what to do with them.
Children — a Gift of God
Throughout the Word of God, children are presented as being a gift of God, and it is clear that God alone has the prerogative to control whether children are born or not. Psalm 127:33Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. (Psalm 127:3) tells us that “children are a heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is His reward.” In Genesis 20:1818For the Lord had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham's wife. (Genesis 20:18) we read that “the Lord had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech,” while in Genesis 30:2222And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and opened her womb. (Genesis 30:22), we read that “God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and opened her womb.” In Ruth 4:1313So Boaz took Ruth, and she was his wife: and when he went in unto her, the Lord gave her conception, and she bare a son. (Ruth 4:13), it is recorded, concerning Ruth, that “the Lord gave her conception, and she bare a son.” Many other Scriptures could be quoted to show that God keeps in His hand the giving or withholding of children. All of these considerations raise the question of whether believers should be involved in this practice, in view of what Scripture says about God giving conception.
In conclusion, I would say that extracting stem cells from human embryos and killing them in the process is no different from abortion. Believers should have no part in it. May we not become involved in areas that Scripture shows us are beyond man’s proper domain. Let us remember that the root of these problems is often the exercise of man’s will independent of God. Thus, he seeks to manipulate everything in this world to his own ends. Self-centeredness impels him to use modern technology to exploit even human reproduction without regard either to God’s claims or the children involved. May we who know the Lord and acknowledge His claims keep well away from such an attitude and not be enticed by man’s penchant for putting his technology into an area which belongs only to the Lord.
W. J. Prost