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TEST-TUBE
(Continued from page 32)
nations.
h
is the subject of clon–
ing- the asexual production of a
genetically identical organism from
a single cell.
Cloning has already been suc–
cessfully carried out in lower life
forms a nd recently in mice. There
is a n imme nse biologica l gap
between mice and men, it is true.
Nevertheless, Dr. Robert Snowden,
director of Population Studies at
Exeter Un iversity, is concerned
enough to demand legislation pre–
venting test -tube technology from
being used to clone people.
"With new techniques, a sing le
fema le egg can be split into four
separate cells," Reuters quotes Dr.
Snowden. "Each one can be split
again and the division conti nued.
This means that from one human
egg it is now possible to produce a
whole regiment of genetically iden–
tical people.
It
would be like pro–
ducing an army of ants."
Combi ne this technology with
the advances in genetic engineering
and what many describe as a more
awesome genie yet is Jet out of the
test tube. In genetic engineering,
genes can be altered, thus manipu–
lating and determining the physical
c haracteris tics of t he resul ting
organism- a n organism that could
then be copied a n innumerable
number of times.
The Cause, Not the Effect
Most of the ·efforts of humankind to
better its condition are directed to
treating effects instead of causes.
This is true with regard to crimi–
nology, medicine, dentistry, pollu–
tion abatement, alcohol and drug
abuse, geopolitics-you name it.
And it is true with regard to infertile
couples who wish to have children.
Artificial insemination, surrogate
motherhood ,
in vitro
fertilization,
cloning or any other technique
aimed at artificially inducing repro–
duction, is an effor t to treat the
effect
rather than the
cause
of a
problem.
Few seek to know what is the
cause
of infertility in the first
place. When God created the fi rst
human couple, Adam and Eve, he
"blessed them, and ... said unto
34
them, Be fruitful , and multiply,
and replenish the earth ..." (Gen.
1:28) .
Notice two things: 1) Naturally
being able to have children is a
blessing from God. lt is spoken of
as such often in the Scriptures
(Gen. 9:1, Ps. 127:3-5, 128:3-4).
Either a couple has that blessing or
the couple does not. 2) There was
no fertility problem with Adam and
Eve.
Then what caused reproduct ive
problems in human beings?
We begin to see the answer in
the third chapter of Genesis. Adam
and Eve were given a choice, sym–
bolized by two trees in the garden
in Eden. They could choose either
the way of life based on God's laws
(the t ree of life) or the opposite
way, based on human reason and
disobedience to God (the tree of
the knowledge- by experience-of
good and evi l).
Adam and Eve chose the way of
disobedience-of sin. Humanity
has followed that way ever since.
One of the immediate conse–
quences, according to the Bible, of
choosing the way of sin was that
childbearing was rendered more
difficult (verse 16)!
Adam and Eve were still fertile.
They were sti ll able to have chil–
dren. To that extent they were still
blessed. But the point is that sin so
soon in history brought about an
adverse effect on the reproductive
process, as it ultimately did on
every facet of life.
As generations continued to live
in transgression of God's spiritual
and physical laws, the sad results
became more and more evident:
confused, unhappy lives, anxiety,
suspicions, hatred. And on the
physical level, sickness, degenera–
tiott, a host of in firmities and
defects-includ ing additional re–
productive problems.
Later in history God set the
choice of obedience or disobedience
before a whole nation that he had
selected to perform a special ser–
vice-the nation of ancient Is rael.
God Iisted one of the curses for
t he ir c hoosing the wrong way:
"Cursed shall be the fruit of thy
body" (Deut. 28:18). Yes, mal–
formed children, miscarriages, in–
abil ity to conceive- these would be
a part of the bitter harvest of sin.
On the other hand, God held out
one of the blessings he would give,
..And the Lord will make you
abound in prosperity, in the fruit of
your body ..." (verse 11 , RSV) .
God is able to do this because he
is the Giver of Iife. Psalm 11 3:9
declares: " He maketh the barren
woman to keep house, and to be a
joyful mother of children." Need–
Jess to say, God is able also to give,
through divine healing, a sterile
man the ability to father children.
Sorne may laugh at that sugges–
tion. They would not be the first to
take it lightly. The Bible records
the case of the patriarch Abraham
and his wife Sarah. They were past
the age where they could expect to
have childre n . "Abraham a nd
Sarah were old, advanced in age; it
had ceased to be with Sarah after
the ma nne r of women" (Gen.
18: 11 , RSV).
Very real physical facts rendered
ch ildbirth impossible. Neverthe–
less, God told them they would
have a c hild. "So Sarah
/aughed
to
herself, saying, 'After 1 have grown
old, and my husband is old, shal.l 1
have pleasure?' The Lord said to
Abraham, 'Why did Sarah laugh,
and say, "Shall 1 indeed bear a
child, now that 1 am old?"
l s
any–
thing too hard for the Lord?'
"
(verses 12- 14).
Is anything too difficult fo r
God ? " Y es!" modero science
replies all too often, as it goes
about trying to contrive alternate
remedies to problems. The cause
of reproductive difficulties- and
any other physical defect- is that
physical sin has been committed
somewhere a long the 1ine either
by the affticted individuals them–
selves or by o thers. Sickness,
infirmities, bodily disorders are
the penalty of broken laws. That
is the
cause.
The solution is not to try to get
around those penalties by sorne
scientific, a rtifici ally contrived
means. That is treating the effect.
The solution is to have sin forgiv–
en and the penalty removed. That
is the way it will be done in the
world tomorrow. And that is the
way humanity should be doing it
today. Our free booklet
The Plain
Truth About H ealing
explains
this wonderful promise of divine
healing.
o
The PLAIN TRUTH