Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Stem Cell Research - An Island of Lies


The world of Sci-fi is an interesting place to visit; all you need is your imagination to start your voyage. I’m not a scientist, not even a good student of current events; but one of the issues of our time, one that is hotly debated is stem cell research. The one side wants to cure the world by leaving no stone left unturned; adult stem cells, embryonic research and fetal stem cells. The other side is more than a little squeamish about dabbling in areas that involve the rights of individuals; to include the rights of the unborn. So there in lies the division of thought; not much different than the sides taken on the abortion issue. Does a society, one that esteems itself civilized, consider their actions as morally acceptable in the sight of God when contemplating the abuse of even one solitary mortal soul?

I watched a movie the other night, The Island ( website link: http://www.theisland-themovie.com/ ) which took those arguments to an extreme. The sci-fi technology leap which we were asked to accept was that the rich and shameless, those with enough money could purchase an adult clone as an insurance policy to provide replacement parts for accidents, old age degeneration and even child birthing. The clones were kept isolated from the world living in a fabricated delusional state to prevent them from the realization of their actual purpose.

The entire system was founded on lies. Those who purchased the “insurance policies” were told that the magic material that would provide them with replacement limbs and organs was a lump of specialized tissue without a conscious, without feelings or thoughts, without the sensation of pain and without a soul; not a human life form. The “product” was told a series of lies starting on the premise that the entire world had been contaminated and they, the survivors, could only exist within the limited facilities provided. Each clone was provided with a set of false memories, lies if you will, of former family events, of homes they’d lived in and all was done to maintain the illusion and keep order among those destined to be “reclaimed” when the policy came due.

The “carrot” before the cart lie, the hope of all hope for each clone, was called the lottery. The winner’s picture would show up on screen as each individual dreamed of his/her chance to leave the limited confines and live in luxury on The Island. The winner of the lottery would never have to put up with the mundane existence provided as visions of white sands and palm trees blowing in the wind provided escape. Unfortunately for the winner of the lottery, that was a way of saying that an insurance policy had been reclaimed, that it was time to harvest kidneys, heart, lungs, or even a full term pregnancy by proxy. Their friends would never suspect that it was a one way ticket away from the land of the living; all is well, they went to The Island.

We have a system that is well on its way to becoming such an island of lies. The way it works is to pull the wool over our eyes a little at a time until we accept the entire lie. It starts with creating doubts about basic truths and goes on from there at a tedious pace which chips away relentlessly at those truths, truths that have been accepted from generation to generation up to the present, until they are no longer accepted as truths.

Stem cell research may be the only way to provide a better quality of life, a means of reducing suffering and might even cure some devastating diseases. Are we going to let some blob of useless cells that some fruitcake religionist group calls “human life” stop this great work? If we had to kill just one living being to save the human race wouldn’t it be worth it? ( Never mind that his name was Jesus Christ or that He has already been sacrificed for us all )

Do we really believe that our country was the result of a loving Creator, God? Why would the founding fathers have used such vague language when referring to His desires; that His children be uniformly obedient to His commandments when they worded our most important documents? Do we really believe in the concepts penned in the Declaration of Independence where it refers to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness?

God, the Supreme Being, Father in Heaven, Lord and Creator, the Author of Liberty has been a topic of debate ( link in title bar ) rather than the Great Arbitrator for quite some time in our society. I’d venture to say that He’s been officially banned from being associated with the running of our country.

The next step comes so easily; Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness must man made or government issued privilege since it has already been determined that they couldn’t have come from something that is not, that “God in Heaven” crutch the weak minded Christian community keeps clamoring about.

Life is, now, whatever the government claims it is or isn’t. Abortion isn’t murder because the government has defined that point in time when a formed group of cells within the womb is a life form unto itself. The lie which the pro-choice folks would have us believe is the same as in the movie; that an embryo or fetus is without a conscious, without feelings or thoughts, without the sensation of pain and without a soul; not a human life form. It is no different than a hang nail being discarded and you certainly would have no qualms about clipping a toe nail, well, would you? Life must not be all that sacred since to be sacred automatically requires a belief in a Supreme Being. Murder is a made up word that accidentally got tied with abortion and euthanasia. If a person is worn out and taking up space, valuable space in an over crowded world it would be so much the better if that person simply checked out quietly to make room for another.

Liberty is a privilege granted by the government, there is no such thing as inherent rights; remember, we’ve already covered that issue. Only a divine being, God, could have such power and there is no such being running our show here in the good ole’ USA. Property rights; gone, they never were so how can you say you lost them by virtue of the Kelo SCOTUS decision? You have the government’s permission to pursue any endeavor your heart desires as long as you can obtain a permit, a license and can afford to pay the taxes and fees associated with such extravagance.

We are well on our way to making The Island a reality. May we see the error in our ways is my humble prayer. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

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