Tuesday, June 1, 2010

The Human Commodity Part 2- Hook and Vogel, JOFMM Spring 2004

Beliefs about the nature of human beings affect all of life, and
they influence the ways medical studies and practices are carried
out. Christian and secular approaches to medicine can be profoundly
different. Because church members do not always suspect
this, regular teaching from the pulpit and via individual counseling
is crucial. In this part of the article, we will discuss some bioethical
issues that demonstrate the impact such beliefs can have, and we
will identify a few of the limitations of science and medicine.
No One Believes Nothing
Secular scientists and clinicians (like all people) think, say, and
do things on the basis of their faith. Whether it is self-conscious or
not, what one believes matters. As we discussed in part one, those
who believe the universe is homogeneous effectively begin and
end in the same place as those who hold that only life (or human
life) is sacred.1 Both deny God and reject His values, and both
demean human beings and all of His creation. It can even be hard
to tell who is in which camp:
For three thousand years at least, a majority of people
have considered that human beings were special,
were magic. It’s the Judeo-Christian view of man.
What the ability to manipulate genes should indicate
to people is the very deep extent to which we are
biological machines. The traditional view is built on
the foundation that life is sacred.… Well, not anymore.
It’s no longer possible to live by the idea that...

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