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Originally Posted by xepherys
Since many religious folk feel abortion is wrong, I've started thinking a good deal about the nature of the bible and what it says and what many Christians, specifically, seem to say about such matters. The reason abortion is wrong, in their eyes, seems to be that it's against god's will, or that we are somehow disgracing the "divine spark" that creates life. However, when a puppy is born, is this not the same divine spark? The spark of life? It seems to me that for this to be the case, animals would also have to have souls... something the bible says is not the case. At any rate, I digress... This argument is also used in regards to true human cloning. That it's an afront to god by way of us foregoing said "divine spark". What are your opinions?
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Man is not just another animal to God, but we are his finest work. We were created in His image, we were left in charge of all His stuff, we were given free will, we were saved by His son's sacrafice. We're good people, in His eyes. According to many Christian faiths, animals do not have souls. So, because we are better than everything else and we have souls, we are set apart. That is where the "divine spark"", or the bestowing of a soul, comes into play. This is what I call the biblical uncertianty primciple:
if there is an unknown in matters of spirituality, one should always err to the side of caution. This means that because we don't know when the soul enters the body or grows or whatever, we should assume that it does when life begins: conception. The spermatazoa combines with egg (neither of which are alive) and become a zygote (which is alive).
Genesis 1:26-30; 2:5,7,18-22; 3; 9:6; Psalms 1; 8:3-6; 32:1-5; 51:5; Isaiah 6:5; Jeremiah 17:5; Matthew 16:26; Acts 17:26-31; Romans 1:19-32; 3:10-18,23; 5:6,12,19; 6:6; 7:14-25; 8:14-18,29; 1 Corinthians 1:21-31; 15:19,21-22; Ephesians 2:1-22; Colossians 1:21-22; 3:9-11.
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Originally Posted by xepherys
IV. Salvation
Personally, I believe that all life has the same ethereal, intangible, spiritual base. Humans are nought but animals anyhow. I know many of you here are, like myself, no Christian, or even classified by a strict religion. However, I'd be interested to hear the thoughts and opinions of all of you, regardless of your particular religious viewpoint. As for cloning, I think that we are not foregoing anything. That by creating life one way versus another does not prevent it from being life. From a religious standpoint, if we CAN do it, god has allowed us to, and therefore it is his will. *shrug* But again, I have more spiritual, less god-based beliefs, so perhaps I'm missing a fundamental aspect here (though I am reasonably well versed in theology as it's a topic of interest to me).
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I think cloning is an issue today as transplants were an issue a hundred years ago. It's a matter of people being unable to define where a soul lies and what the nature is of a soul. Is a clone without a soul? Well of course not. Twins with patching phenotypes and genotypes each have souls, so it's the same difference, IMHO.