A Christ-follower with a limp: Science

Showing posts with label Science. Show all posts

Sunday, January 23, 2022

The Sanctity of Life is more than just abortion

“Science is a gift from God. He gave it to us so we can know more about Him.” Dr. Joe Francis

A little earlier this month medical science entered a new world. David Bennett, 57, became the first person to receive a heart transplant from a genetically-modified pig. So far he is doing well after the experimental seven-hour procedure in Baltimore. The transplant was considered the last hope of saving Bennett's life, though it is not yet clear what his long-term chances of survival are. “It was either die or do this transplant,” Bennett explained a day before the surgery.

Doctors at the University of Maryland Medical Center were granted a special dispensation by the U.S. medical regulator to carry out the procedure, on the basis that Mr. Bennett - who has terminal heart disease - would otherwise have died. He’d been deemed ineligible for a human transplant, a decision often taken by doctors when the patient is in very poor health. The pig used in the transplant had been genetically modified to knock out several genes that would have led to the heart being rejected. For the medical team who carried out the transplant, it marks the culmination of years of research and could hopefully change lives around the world.

Animal-to-human organ transplants were first attempted in the 1980s. In a famous case, Stephanie Fae Beauclair (known as Baby Fae) was born with a fatal heart condition and received a baboon heart transplant. She died within a month of the procedure due to her immune system’s rejection of the foreign heart and similar transplant attempts were abandoned. Medical researchers hope the use of pig organs will prove to be more successful. For this transplant, four genes were “knocked out” of the pig organ to make it more compatible for use in a human. Six human genes responsible for immune acceptance of the pig heart were also inserted into the pig genome.

More than 100,000 Americans are currently waiting for an organ transplant, and 17 die each day waiting for a transplant. But is it biblically ethical? Is it ethical to transplant animal organs into humans?

Most Christians have never had to consider the ethics of xenotransplantation, the transplantation of an organ or tissue from one species to another. With technological advances in biomedicine, that may soon change. While we need to continually be cautious about abusing our roles as stewards of Creation (Gen. 1:28), specifically the animal kingdom and avoid crossing obvious interspecies barriers, we should also give thanks to God for the lives that may be saved by such transplants.

This is also not a huge leap. For some time pig heart valves have been used effectively in humans. Literally, thousands of Americans are walking around with functioning heart valves that came from pigs. When it comes to pigs, there has been less rejection than from other species and the size of a pig's heart is similar in size to a human one.

But science asks the wrong question. Science asks, “Could we?” when the more important ethical question is: “Should we?” What was once science fiction is becoming accepted “science.”

Coma was a 1978 American mystery thriller film based on the 1977 novel of the same name by Robin Cook. Healthy patients are deemed brain dead and then their bodies stored so that their organs can be harvested.

Human Rights advocates have been alarmed for years by reports of organ harvesting in China targeting minorities - Uyghurs, Tibetans, Muslims, and Christians who have been imprisoned by the Communist government. While our government has sanctions against North Korea, the evils of China are ignored. There is one primary reason – it’s not profitable to American business or our government to hold China accountable.

Yet, one does not have to travel across the world to uncover atrocities. Abortion is a lucrative business. Those who defend it the most ardently often have a financial interest in keeping it legal and common. Nearly a million children lose their lives annually in the U.S. because abortion is a billion-dollar business.

Let’s consider the ethics of David Bennett’s case. Why him? Weren’t there more worthy candidates for this experimental surgery? In 1988 he stabbed a bar patron seven times in a brutal attack and was convicted of it. After the attack, the victim, Edward Shumaker, became an invalid. The attack ultimately resulted in a stroke and his premature death.

Then, do we really believe that a culture that has little problem terminating life in the womb will have a moral dilemma terminating life at the end? Active euthanasia is becoming more common in Europe and not just for terminal illness. In 2015 doctors in Belgium granted an otherwise healthy 24-year-old woman suffering from depression the right to die, even though she does not have a terminal or life-threatening illness.

Will we get to a place where euthanasia is chosen because it is less expensive to terminate the elderly, terminally or mentally ill than it is to care for them? Are we that far behind Nazi Germany or North Korea?

Is it an accident that the same states with the most liberal abortion laws, put Covid patients in nursing homes, knowing full well that the elderly and infirm were the most vulnerable to the virus?

Elitism is rampant in our country where the superrich and ones who make the laws fail do not live under those same laws. Is it farfetched to believe that we’re on the brink of cloning to harvest organs for some elitists?

Today we are celebrating Sanctity of Life Sunday (some churches celebrated last Sunday). If Christians do not have a firm grip on the sacredness of life and the importance of the Imago Dei, what kind of world might we soon have? Isn’t the role of Christians as salt and light in our culture to resist pragmatism and question the scientific community with “Should we?” Trusting “science” unequivocally has the potential of opening a Pandora’s Box, that once open, will never be closed.

Can we help you spiritually? Can we help you know Jesus better? Please check out more resources on our church's web page, Gracechurchwi.org. Or, call us at 262.763.3021. If you'd like to know more about how Jesus can change your life, I'd love to mail you a copy of how Jesus changed my life in "My Story." E-mail me at Carson@gracechurchwi.org to request a free copy. Please include your mailing address.

Sunday, October 10, 2021

"I Think You're Going to Need a Better Dictionary."

“The worst thing one can do with words is to surrender them.” George Orwell

When Lewis Carroll’s Alice goes Through the Looking-Glass, she finds a world turned upside down, especially in regard to words. Trying to have a sensible conversation only makes her head hurt. Nowhere is this more apparent than in her meeting with Humpty Dumpty, who takes nothing she says at face value and loves a good argument: “There’s glory for you!”

“But ‘glory’ doesn’t mean a ‘nice knock-down argument,’” Alice objected.

“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.”

“The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.”

“The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master—that’s all.”

“When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean…” Apparently, someone needs to get the memo to Steven Spielberg and the Discovery Channel that Jaws and Shark Week have been filleted. Two Australian states — Queensland and New South Wales — have softened their tone when it comes to the language of reporting shark attacks. From now on, sharks will “bite,” not “attack,” and when humans have a less-than-ideal meeting with them, even if they end up fish food, it’s now to be referred to as an “encounter” or an “incident.” Changing the meaning of a word doesn’t take its “bite away,” especially if you’re the one attacked.

Contemporary culture attempts to reshape and remold words as if they’re Play-Doh. They’re not. The Bible is a book made up of words – words that have a clear meaning.

Some years ago I had a conversation with a man about truth. My friend related that there was no such thing as truth and so the words in the Bible could have virtually any meaning. I replied that words have meaning. To which he responded, “Orange may be orange to you but it could be purple to me.” Yet even the biggest skeptic looks both ways when they cross a busy street. Words have meaning and you may redefine a speeding car but when you end up as a hood ornament, it won’t matter.

Over the course of the last year, we’ve been inundated with “Trust the Science.” It’s ironic that many of the same “trust the science” advocates tell us that we’re on the wrong side of history to refer to pregnant women. The Atlantic recently had an article “The Culture War Over ‘Pregnant People’.” Even the ACLU is willing to sacrifice their own. A few weeks ago they altered the wording of a Ruth Bader Ginsberg quote to include gender-neutral pronouns. On the first anniversary of the Supreme Court Justice’s death, they tweeted: “The decision whether or not to bear a child is central to a [person’s] life, to [their] well-being and dignity ... When the government controls that decision for [people], [they are] being treated as less than a fully adult human responsible for [their] own choices.”

Uhm, ACLU, trust the science. People don’t have abortions, women do. People don’t have babies, women do. Even someone as progressive as Ruth Bader Ginsberg knew that. This isn’t science, it’s sociology and insanity. FYI: It’s not “reproductive rights” when life is terminated not produced.

None of this is new. Other societies drunk on their own self-importance and intellectual insanity attempted to alter the meaning of words. They failed. The French Revolution attempted to wipe out gender distinctions with the genderless term “citizen.” Incidentally, they also failed when they attempted to change a seven-day week to a ten-day one. The Communists attempted it by calling everyone the genderless “comrade.”

Because of a dictionary that is reputedly fluid, many today are skeptical of anyone’s claims to know the Truth. Some want to abandon the hunt for truth altogether, declaring a universal cease-fire on all truth claims. But can we really live without truth? Philosopher Roger Scruton rightly argues, “All discourse and dialogue depend upon the concept of truth. To agree with another is to accept the truth of what he says; to disagree is to reject it.” In other words, we can’t even talk to each other without a foundation of truth. Truth can’t be true if it’s true for you but not true for me. That makes words and communication an impossibility.

Christians must be committed to clear definitions of words and truth. John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” God is the Creator of words and gave them meaning. We must not surrender to cultural pressure or shaming. When we do, we lose our voice in the culture and dishonor the God of truth. Yet, there will be growing pressure along with the threat of being canceled.

We must not alter words to be more acceptable. Even some Christians rightfully appalled at the horrors of racism declare that it’s only correct to say that “Black lives matter” and they do. Scripture though is our standard, not the values of the day. God had to rebuke the early church that had bought into only “Jewish lives matter.” Read the New Testament. It’s clear that “all lives matter” because Jesus died for all people. To discriminate or be prejudiced toward someone because of their ethnicity, disabilities or economic status is sin. It’s a falsehood to suggest, as some in the heat of the cultural disarray have, that “white people can never call black people racist.” Racism is evil whether it comes from the heart and lips of a white person, black person, Asian, Hispanic, etc. It may make good press but the glossing over of evil won’t stand before the throne of King Jesus.

Inigo Montoya from The Princess Bride had wise words for our culture and today’s Christian, “You keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means.” God is the Creator of life and language. What He says it means, it means…and that my friend is the final word!

Sunday, July 15, 2018

Science or Science Fiction???

“Real science can be far stranger than science fiction

and much more satisfying.” Steven Hawking

This week is one of those, “where were you when…?” for me. My family was in Ormond Beach, Florida. I’ll always remember being called in from the pool to watch a grainy broadcast and hear those immortal words from Neil Armstrong, “One small step for man; one giant leap for mankind.”

As a young man, I had a teacher, Mrs. Ethel Cornelius, who instilled in me and all of her other charges a love for science. We were enthralled with amoebas and paramecium.

Too often there’s a seeming war between Christianity and Science. Yet, God as the Creator, created Science. The conflict comes when science is deified and supplants God’s rightful place. Science then becomes an idol.

Unfortunately, many deify those in white lab coats as the new priests of truth, yet what is sacrificed is true Science. As Alina Bradford writes in Live Science, “The explanation of a phenomenon is called a scientific theory. It is a misconception that theories turn into laws with enough research.” Yet, it is theory that’s consistently forced down the throat of a naïve public as scientific laws and facts. It’s junk science and more Science Fiction that actual science.

A Wall Street Journal article entitled, “How Bad is the Government’s Science?” (04-16-18) points this out. It begins with a quote from John Ioannidis, a Stanford professor, “Half the results published in peer-reviewed scientific journals are probably wrong.” He first made that claim in 2005. Since then, researchers have confirmed his skepticism by trying—and often failing—to reproduce many influential journal articles. Slowly, scientists are internalizing the lessons of this irreproducibility crisis.

According to the WSJ article, the biggest newsmakers in the crisis have been from the field of Psychological Science, which while often capturing massive media attention, “scientific truth” has frequently proved irreproducible and cannot be replicated by others. For one 2015 article in Science, independent researchers attempted to replicate 100 prominent psychology studies with only a 39% success rate.

It’s not overly surprising. Some of us have been around long enough to remember when “recovered memory therapy” was a psycho-therapy fad and the horrible damage resulting false charges caused in family relationships. I still remember a man telling me he’d learned that he’d been molested as a child through a “recovered memory therapy” session, though there was no evidence it ever actually took place. It’s probably not an accident that Shirley MacLaine’s, Out on a Limb, was popular during that same era where she claimed that she’d once lived in Atlantis, a fictional island created by Plato, and is a reincarnated Buddhist monk.

In 2012 the biotechnology firm, Amgen, attempted to reproduce 53 “landmark” studies in hematology and oncology. The outcome was that they could only replicate six. A serious question must be asked: Are doctors basing serious medical decisions about medical treatment on unverified studies? A 2015 study estimated American researchers spend $28 billion annually on irreproducible preclinical research.

Contrary to the Conventional Wisdom of our day, scientists are not infallible. Much of what’s purported as scientific fact is theory, and sometimes not even good “theory.” Yet, our culture is so beholden to science and so-called statistical evidence that we’re easily exploitable when either “deity” is used to prove a point.

John Calvin wisely warned that “the human heart is an idol factory.” Rejection of biblical truth is enticing for those who do not want to submit to God as their Creator, Sovereign and Judge. This tendency to churn out new, cutting-edge findings is often a smokescreen for an autonomous humanity rebelling against the commands of God’s Word, particularly on social issues. It’s often driven more by volition, not intellect.

The trust is that we still know so little about Creation. The science is far from settled. It’s imperative then that we think and keep asking critical questions. As Bible-believers, we’re not looking to science as the final word. In the end, it’s not statistics or experiments that prove our case. It’s God’s Word. When we add science to our argument, let’s make sure it’s real science and valid statistics. The God of all truth demands that.

Then, we need believers who are honest scientists. It will require great courage and boldness to stand up against accepted groupthink. It will usually bring great ridicule. Intellectuals aren’t known for being gracious or generous with those who dare to disagree. There’s great peer pressure to conform. Many a Christian on a university campus has caved rather than be publicly ridiculed for being so “ignorant.” Yet, shouldn’t Science encourage us to think and ask questions, not pressure us on how to think?

Bible-believers are continually derided for seeking to maintain, in the face of scientific thinking, the belief that God created humans as they are now. We do not bow before the lab door or view scientists as the sole authority on science issues. Scientists are not god-like nor do we worship science as a god. The same lab producing the latest theory purported as “fact,” often with further research contradicts that same “fact” with new research.

Antitheists and elitists love to trot out Galileo and his abuse by the Catholic Church for his views that contradicted the Church’s then teaching that was later proved to be accurate. The shoe is now on the other foot. It’s Christians who are abused and ridiculed by scientists. Though the Bible has proven accurate over and over again, don’t hold your breath waiting for scientists to admit God’s Word is accurate and their theories have been proven false. Pride often motivates us to cling to obvious fallacy because submitting to a Sovereign God is unthinkable for a rebellious heart.