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Creation Of Human-animal Embryos


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Lounge Daddy

[url="http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/story/0,,2081755,00.html"]From the Guardian Unlimited[/url]

[quote][size=3][b]Hybrid embryos get go-ahead[/b][/size]

UK - The government has overturned its proposed ban on the creation of human-animal embryos and now wants to allow them to be used to develop new treatments for incurable diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.

The proposal, in a new draft fertility bill published today, would allow scientists to create three different types of hybrid embryos.

Scientists would be allowed to grow the embryos in a lab for no more than two weeks, and it would be illegal to implant them in a human.[/quote]

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OK, I've got a question. It might sound silly but here goes.

If God gives every Human Being a Soul, than how would we classify a manufactured half human half animal? Would that even be possible? Perhaps my rudimentary understanding of biology is showing :idontknow:

I suppose every human being begins as an embryo, whatever might be added to that embryo is irrelevant; a human is a human is a human and must be treated as such.

With the "advances" (should read perversions) of modern science, it seems that in the not too distant future, it may be difficult to distinguish between what is human and what is not.

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[quote]I suppose every human being begins as an embryo, whatever might be added to that embryo is irrelevant; a human is a human is a human and must be treated as such.[/quote]

I think that they are taken an already fully formed human embryo and adding animal to it.

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fearundercontrol

[quote name='T-Bone' post='1276375' date='May 18 2007, 03:30 AM']Scientists are too busy asking "Can I?" when they should be asking "Should I?"[/quote]
Well said.

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The Joey-O

I think something very important to keep in mind is our disposition to those who are chimeras. It is terrible that scientists mess with nature in this way. However, when they do, we cannot shun their "creations" as evil. It's unfortunate that they are made this way, just as it is unfortunate that some people are born blind. But, we still have to recognize that these people deserve love and respect. I worry that so much deserved antagonism against the messing with embryos in this way will result in antagonism toward the innocents harmed by the scientists.

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I found this on another board and it seems to make sense:

"The Soul is what animates otherwise lifeless matter. You can tell if a material creature has a soul if it is alive or not.

If it is made of matter and is alive, then it has a soul. This is true from amoebas, plants, animals and humans. Humans are unique because our soul is spiritual and immortal.

If you want to know if a clone has a soul, check to see if it's breathing and has a pulse.

Secondly, since it is the soul that animates the body, it is a one to one relationship. One soul is animates one body. If there are two living bodies present that means two souls.

One does not make a 'copy' of a soul by copying the genetic structure. There is no 'soul gene'. It is de fide teaching of the Catholic Church that souls are unique and made by God out of nothing. To say otherwise is to deny Church teaching.

Human souls are also unique because they are rational. A human has the capability of reason, and this faculty is provided by the soul.


So, in short:

If a clone is living, it has a soul.

This soul would have been created by God for that particular body.

If the soul is rational, it is a human person."


I suppose the same reasoning would apply to chimeras.

Agree?? Disagree??

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[quote name='SJP' post='1276688' date='May 18 2007, 02:13 PM']I found this on another board and it seems to make sense:

"The Soul is what animates otherwise lifeless matter. You can tell if a material creature has a soul if it is alive or not.

If it is made of matter and is alive, then it has a soul. This is true from amoebas, plants, animals and humans. Humans are unique because our soul is spiritual and immortal.

If you want to know if a clone has a soul, check to see if it's breathing and has a pulse.

Secondly, since it is the soul that animates the body, it is a one to one relationship. One soul is animates one body. If there are two living bodies present that means two souls.

One does not make a 'copy' of a soul by copying the genetic structure. There is no 'soul gene'. It is de fide teaching of the Catholic Church that souls are unique and made by God out of nothing. To say otherwise is to deny Church teaching.

Human souls are also unique because they are rational. A human has the capability of reason, and this faculty is provided by the soul.
So, in short:

If a clone is living, it has a soul.

This soul would have been created by God for that particular body.

If the soul is rational, it is a human person."
I suppose the same reasoning would apply to chimeras.

Agree?? Disagree??[/quote]
Disagree. Not all living things have souls. Human beings have souls, not plants, animals, etc.

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Here is how Frank Sheed explains it:

[quote]The mingling of spirit and matter in human actions arises from a fact which distinguishes man's spirit from all others. Ours is the only spirit which is also a soul--that is to say, the life principle in a body. God is a spirit, but has no body; the angels are spirits, but have no body. Only in man spirit is united with a body, animates the body, makes it to be a living body. Every living body--vegetable, lower animal, human--has a life-principle, a soul. And just as ours is the only spirit which is a soul, so ours is the only soul which is a spirit.

--"Theology for Beginners"[/quote]

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Groo the Wanderer

I think it has already been done....

At least, most of my family thinks I am an ape-man. Must be all the hair hm...


Going for a banana now :banana:

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[quote name='Pontifex' post='1277005' date='May 18 2007, 09:09 PM']Disagree. Not all living things have souls. Human beings have souls, not plants, animals, etc.[/quote]

I was under the impression that every living thing had a soul. However, only a Human Being could have a rational soul.

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[quote name='Groo the Wanderer' post='1277101' date='May 18 2007, 08:19 PM']I think it has already been done....

At least, most of my family thinks I am an ape-man. Must be all the hair hm...
Going for a banana now :banana:[/quote]
:hehehe:

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[quote name='SJP' post='1276688' date='May 18 2007, 01:13 PM']{snip}
If it is made of matter and is alive, then it has a soul. This is true from amoebas, plants, animals and humans. Humans are unique because our soul is spiritual and immortal.
{Snip}[/quote]

A soul is by definition immortal and spiritual.


Unless heaven is not eternal, the above is true, and brings to error your statement.

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