The Goderich Signal-Star, 1969-07-17, Page 31
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THE *LUE THUMB
BY G. MacLEQD ROSS
;l'he great and accelerating
a d v an,lq,ts in scientific
understanding are presenting us
with more and more difficult
questions to which we must find
Answers, a requirement
aggravated by the lack of
understanding of man himself.
Theye is the nuclear missile with
its potential 'to destroy the
earth. Contraception offers a
choice 'between fertility and
infertility. Heart transplants
raise the question: When is
Death? and now we' have the
Cambridge scientists who have
developed an egg outside a
woman's body. "Test Tube
Babies" may be a long way off,
for an embryo has not yet been
developed, yet it too, may be
only a ' matter of time. It is
discoveriessuch as this last
which pose the questions: When
is .man? and What is ,man? On
such contentious matters the
autho'lities argue pro and con.
Norman St. John-Stevas has
given us some thoughts on the
Cambridge experiment, which
has been branded as "possibly
constituting murder" by a,
bishop, and as "absolutely
illicit" by another Source. Thus'
Stevas goes on to ask: "What
guidance" can Christian ethics
give us in thisperplexing
g
P P
situation? Perhaps the error is to
think that Christian theology
can give an answer to b the
question: When is man?, which
it is not wholly equipped to
give."
"Theologians are agreed "on
the existence of an immortal
soul, but have differed for
centuries as to the precise
moment. when that soul comes
into .existence. The question
theology. is entitled to answer,
and which is relevant to all
experiments on human life, is-
not:
snot: When is man?, but What is
man? The answer given is, that
man is a union of the body and
soul, intended for eternal life,
endowed with freedom to fulfil,
or .frustrate • his destiny by
moving either towards or away
from God. This freedom gives
man the right to experiment;
indeed the duty to do so. He
should not submit absolutely,to
physical and psychological facts,
for by so doing he' denies his
freedom. Ignorance and
obscurantism are not Christian
virtuis, and a cultural pessimism
that sees the world as facing an
inevitable moral collapse, and
man as self -destroying, while
reasonably tenable; does not
seem. to owe much to the "good
news" of the Christian message.
At the same time theology tells
man -that he is a contingent and
finite, but not a necessary and
infinite, being. He is the created
and not . the . Creator.
Accordingly he is not entitled to
flout everything which is
ut• chosen;- . sincenth ic___ dp11 kis
human finitude and
creaturehood, as -well as denying
the Providence of God. Man thus
• finds himself in a ,state of
tension between the natural
conditions in whieh he moves
and the freedom which he
enjo'js to transcend them.
"This analysis, while
throwing some light on the
•--e°thital speet e tt e•t ar Irridge—
experiment, doesnot yield a
simple solution. To answer the
question whether it is morally
legitimate, one must first ask:
What is it intended to do? The
intention of the scientists is ,
understood to he humanitarian
and the .knowledge which will
flow from the experiment will
be helpful to the human race. It
will assist married couples to
'overcome childlessness, which is
surely good in itself, The
problems of infertility are much
more intractable than those
raised by fertility and cause
much more anguish to the
individual than a contraceptive
age allows. Again the knowledge
gained may enable man' to
prevent the tragedy of the birth
of deformed, spastic and
mongoloid children by revealing
why .these mutations occur and
enable remedial action to be
taken In time. This would be a
further unqualified' gain. It does
not seem ethicaj, or even
sensible to deny mankind this
knowledge on the' basis of a
doubtful hypothesis that an
immortal soul is present in a
fertilized egg.
"The situation would become
entirely different if it did
become possible to develop an
embryo to recognizable human
form in a test tube. From, a
Christian point ' of view -this
would .be wrong, because it
constitutes, not. an effort to .
co-operate with the work of
creation, but one to supplant' it
altogether. It would be a total
rejection of the conditions
providedby
God for the
development of man. The
Christian view that man is not
absolute master of his own fate,
places limits on man's
'independence by stressing • that
he is the user, but not the
proprietor of his life." " Thus
wrote St. John-Stevas in his
article entitled: "Man in a Test
Tube," in the Sunday Times.
' But can scientific conscience
alone be relied upon to do as
much? If the knowledge is there
to be discovered, why should it.
not • - be extracted? For what
other purpose ' were we given
incentive? Reflecting on the
Cambridge experiment, it is
concluded that the only' true
humanism is Chfistian
humanism, which both affirms
and preserves the nature of men.
Butdoes the Divinity preserve
man's humanity by erecting
barriers beyond which
technology cannot pass?
Stevas argument above
propounds that science has a
duty to experiment, but that its
humanism -must stop short -of
U
T
st4ube baby
creating both a body and a soul.
It is still problematical whether
science could in fact, produce a
soul. It might for example
produce some lower fain of life;
an animal. Is this the riddle
which science is never to. solve,
because it is against the Divine
will that it should, and because
scie'ice would then rank with
-the Creator?
Thus it is' that we 'are
immediately presented with the
vital question:, Has- the'• Creator
placed any limit on what man
may wilfully perforrrt� Or is he
unfettered, save by conscience,
to reap earthly destruction?
Applied to an . individual
conscience we can gather a grain.-
of hope. But what when the
verdict lies in the collective lap
of a nation, or worse, .in the lap
of an avaricioys paranoid
dictator?
For example rho- are we to
reconcile the "element of tragic
destiny" inherent in the
missile' -borne nuclear bomb?
Science has become possessed of
a weapon which we are assured,
could destroy all `human life.on
this earth. Accepting this
assurance,, we are the captives of
the exact opposite of the
Cambridge experiment. Thegbody
former might create oand
couldY
soul; the latter destroy, In
this latter case, arguing from our
half -knowledge, God does not
appear to have interposed any
impassable barrier to prevent
human insanity from•destroying
mankind. For the moment, the
best we can hope is that men of
all nations, possessing the power
to destroy, will be deterred by
the realization that nothingis to
be gained and everything lost to
total humanity, should the
major possessors' of this weapon
decide to deploy it' against one
another, for we know that it
would be' 'deployed l
simultaneously and therefore
fai'ar
' Taking a practical 'view of, the
' threat to humanity of the—
missile,
he
missile, there is the possibility,
based on experience, that
eventually defence 'will:
neutralize -the offence. From this
we can expect that as more
research is concluded, a
deterrent, will be found which
neutralizes this ghastly threat of
_this twentieth century:
Meanwhile, since we are free to
exercise our intelligence _ and
talents, we can do no less than
oppose .threat with threat, for
.. There .remains one other
major scientific adventure which
bears on our dilemma. It is the
journey to the Moon. The
exploration of its surface could,
thinkably, turn up evidence that
the Moon was once inhabited,
and its present revolting scene of
desolation could well stand as a
warning to humanity, that
should it seek" to challenge the
Creator, man's body would
become expendable.
As a, result, olf . their
courageous exploration, the
astronauts have provided us with
a vision Of hope, when they tell
us of the impression which the
great vault of the heavens made
upon them; a glimpse of infinite
infinity beyond mortal belie!'.
For those few who proclaim:
There is no God!, this is not easy
to explain away, but for the
great majority irr, this querulous
world it should provide comfort
and the belief that the Way is
Infinite; that humanity will
never reach .the end of its
discoveries. ,
But is this enough to provide
thee
p ace ofd mind required, as
welough our short hortl lone o
P g.
U furrow
of life on earth? Agonizing as: is
the thought of world
•
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destruction, there remains the
transcendant faith in .what is the
sole non-negotiable promise,
that the soul is not destructable
by earthly means. foolish, may
insane, as we, or our' earthly
governors, may prove, we are
still assured of a, continuance of
the soul after death.
What succinct conclusions do
we draw from the foregoing'
arguments'? Obviously each- one
of us has to form his own credo•
after himself. To one, however,
these things seem clear;
1. 'God will provide no
absolute barriers tO deter our
actions, though he may provide
some warnings.,
2. God has provided each of
us with an alter ego,
conscience, communion Wit
which can resolve our doubts,
bat we are on oUr unfettered
honour to act responsibly.
3. The only certainty in life is
the death of our earthly body.
'I'he uncertainty, when that will
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4, Our lifelong companion
and, comforter is our faith in the
indestructability of the soul, and
hence,* its continuance into
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