BUT A POOR REFLECTION: ethical issues

Monday, January 21, 2008

Saving the planet by creating new synthetic life forms?

Dr. J. Craig Venter, one of the scientists who decoded the human genome, says he is about to create the first artificial life form. I saw him on BBC World today (The Richard Dimbleby Lecture - click here) and I was impressed by what he had to say. Some of these developments are really scary and I am still thinking about what this man said about "creating life which is not forged by Darwinian evolution, but created by human intelligence".

Dr. Venter is talking about 'reading the code of life' and 'writing the code of life' and I do hope that he is willing to give some credit to the original Author of this DNA code (but that might be wishful thinking on my part). Based on this lecture it is more likely that this man's motto is: "In Science We Trust". He expects to find bio-technical solutions for many of the major problems that we are facing in the world. Dr. Venter wants to do something against the green house effect by finding a renewable alternative biological energy source that can replace the carbon based fossil energy sources; he also talks about possibilities for better medical treatment by preventing illnesses in stead of curing them. It all sounds too good to be true and I also get the impression that this man expects only good things from science and is not too concerned about the possible dangers. Don't know what to think about this yet, but it worries me to be honest. Feel free to let me know what you think by leaving a comment below.

More information here

God loves us

Have you ever wondered why God gives so much? We could exist on far less. He could have left the world flat and grey; we wouldn’t have known the difference. But he didn’t. He splashed orange in the sunrise and cast the sky in blue. And if you love to see geese as they gather, chances are you’ll see that too. Did he have to make the squirrel’s tail furry? Was he obliged to make the birds sing? And the funny way that chickens scurry or the majesty of thunder when it rings? Why give a flower fragrance? Why give food its taste? Could it be he loves to see that look upon your face?

Max Lucado - He Chose the Nails

Sadhu Sundar Singh

I do not condemn theologians wholesale, but it is unfortunately the fashion in Western thinking to doubt and deny everything. I protest this tendency. I never advise anyone to consult theologians, because all too often they have completely lost all sense of spiritual reality. They can explain Greek words and all that, but they spend too much time among their books and not enough time with the Master in prayer. It is not that I oppose all education, but education without life is certainly dangerous. You must stop examining spiritual truths like dry bones! You must break open the bones and take in the life-giving marrow.

Oswald Chambers

In the Bible clouds are always associated with God. Clouds are the sorrows, sufferings, or providential circumstances, within or without our personal lives, which actually seem to contradict the sovereignty of God. Yet it is through these very clouds that the Spirit of God is teaching us how to walk by faith. If there were never any clouds in our lives, we would have no faith. "The clouds are the dust of His feet" (Nahum 1:3). They are a sign that God is there. What a revelation it is to know that sorrow, bereavement, and suffering are actually the clouds that come along with God! God cannot come near us without clouds— He does not come in clear-shining brightness. (Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, July 29th)