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CLONAID STARTS CLONING HUMAN BABY
A secret human cloning laboratory run by Clonaid is said to be based in the Nevada desert, with the first human cloned baby expected to be born in 2001. The plan is that the human cloning experiment will produce a replacement copy of a 10 month old girl who died last year.
Clonaid says five British couples, including two pairs of homosexual men have asked to be cloned. A couple, both computer consultants from Huntingdon Cambridgeshire UK have expressed an interest in human cloning as an alternative infertility treatment but will not say if they are in touch with Clonaid. (Sunday Times 5 November 2000)
Clonaid is registered in the Bahamas and was founded by the Raelian movement who claim more than 50,000 members in 85 countries. Brigitte Boisellier is a 44 year old French biochemist who often speaks for Clonaid as scientific director. She says that Clonaid will shift from animal cloning to human cloning experiments in January 2001, hoping for the first human cloning pregnancies by February.
More than 50 surrogate mothers have been selected to carry the human cloned foetuses throughout pregnancy, including Brigitte Boisellier's own 22 year old daughter, Marina Cocolios.
Raelians believe that humans are all cloned from alien scientists who visited earth. The movement was started by Claude Vorilhorn, following a spiritual experience in 1973. He changed his name to Rael and founded the cult. America has no laws preventing human cloning research, unlike the UK, although no public funding is available.
What is our Christian response?
Without a God-centred and Bible informed view of the world, it is possible not only to construct all sorts of nonsense, but also to treat human beings as pieces of machinery. The Lord Jesus Christ was always totally opposed to impersonal processing of individuals.
The God given responsibility of free choice brings with it the terrifying prospect of making decisions that violate the character of God and of all that He has made. Indeed, despite the protestations of humanists, when you cease to give God the glory you will inevitably debase the glory of His creation.
The possibility of human cloning is not in doubt. The probability that a cloned individual will be borne is now virtually certain, but what does that prove? The Christian's compassion should pour out towards those whose identity is confused or obscured by the selfish acts of those who treat human life to be a game in which the clever or self-obsessed take pride. Even without cloning, there are millions of such individuals within sight of Banstead. They need to know the safety and security of a Father who loves them and a Saviour who can redeem them.
TRIPLE TRAGEDY
Years ago, when it all went wrong, they called it "an act of God", but never blamed God. Today, they call it 'awful', but have such little awe of God that they feel free to blame Him.
This week, the Doncaster train crash, foot and mouth disease and the earthquake in Seattle have hit our headlines.
Our culture seems to demand somebody be to blame. Then poor Landrover driver is the most obvious target for the train crash; the Geordie farmer is the culprit for foot and mouth. But the problem lies much deeper. That was seen in Seattle.
Once the wealthiest man in the world, Bill Gates was hustled from the stage of an important Microsoft presentation. As the cameras rolled, the chandeliers swayed and lights fell from their gantries as the ground shook. Despite the pretence of power, the biggest man is very small compared to the power in even the tiniest of atoms.
To make the situation more comical, the Microsoft building had previously been specially strengthened to resist earthquakes.
The Lord Jesus was once challenged about such disasters and his response in Luke 13:1-5 helps us to understand the meaning of these events:
Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them--do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish."
There is enough tragedy caused by "negligence, weakness, and our own deliberate fault" compounded by the environmental disasters of a disordered world, to cause us to reflect on our own mortality.
Having reflected, we need to act. Motorway barriers need to be strengthened, cattle and even ramblers need to have their movements restricted and perhaps businesses will relocate away from earthquake zones.
But none of this is as important as the time we spend in strengthening our relationship with our Heavenly Father. The strengthening starts when we recognise the areas of weakness. That is why the prodigal who returned in repentance was not down and out - but rather he had started on his way up.
This Lent gives us a fresh opportunity to consider the contrast between our Holy God and our own unholiness. We have a fresh opportunity to repent before we perish.
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