What is the basis for Christian disapproval of creation of artificial life?
Upvote:9
There are a couple of issues here to consider; one is the concept of creating a life form artificially, and the other is how it's being done.
Regarding the concept, there may be a wide variety of viewpoints and several arguments that both support and oppose the concept. These include (not an exhaustive list):
Arguments against:
- When God created the world, and all living things in it, what he created was perfect. Therefore to add to that perfect creation would be a move away from perfection, and thus wrong.
- Creating life is God's job. By taking on this role we are setting ourselves up as gods, which is a direct violation of some of the key directions that God has given us - most famously, "No other gods, only me" from the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:3)
Arguments for:
- When God created mankind, he gave us all the knowledge and intellect that we have. (The one piece of knowledge he didn't give us, but we took for ourselves, is the knowledge of good and evil). Thus our ability to artificially create simple "life forms" is not inherently a bad thing. You could liken it to developing breeds of cattle or dogs, or cross-fertilizing plants to create new varieties, and argue it's just an extension of that kind of activity.
- God gave mankind dominion over all other life on the Earth, and told us to take charge of and be responsible for all living things. Therefore there's nothing immoral about our creating new forms of life from existing forms of life; God has granted us that right (and also told us to use it responsibly).
Speaking personally I know of very few Christians who object to the concept of creating a living thing artificially.
The practice may throw up some other considerations though, especially if the "raw materials" being used come from human embryos. I'm sure you're already aware of most of the arguments about embryo-related research so I won't repeat them here - particularly as the example you cited in the question doesn't go near human embryos, but is inserting a completely synthetic genome into a bacterium. It's worth noting that the critics in that article were "including some religious groups" - there's nothing to suggest that the views those critics expressed represented all, or even a majority, of Christians.
Some further reading that may be of interest:
- Christian Apologist Dissects Ethics Behind 'Artificial Life,' Cloning (Christian Post, 2007)
- Creating Life in the Lab - a book that specifically addresses the work of Craig Venter. (This link is to a review of that book).
- Artificial life: Ready or not, here it comes - a brief article by the author of the above book
- Creating artificial life from a Biblical perspective
More post
- 📝 How can you serve God when you can't see him?
- 📝 Are Catholics not supposed to pray the St. Michael Prayer?
- 📝 Mass readings about husbandly conduct
- 📝 Is the Holy Spirit the 'Seven Spirits' in Revelation 1:4?
- 📝 Did the kith and kin of Jesus anticipate a security threat for themselves?
- 📝 Are there any sects that prohibit the use of images in general?
- 📝 Is this statuette supposed to be St. Nicholas of Myra, or Father Christmas, or somebody else?
- 📝 According to Roman Catholicism, is it a sin to vote for pro-choice politicians?
- 📝 According to Catholicism, does the depositum fidei include the proper interpretation of scriptures about Jesus?
- 📝 What does it mean that the "The Evil One snatches away what was sown in them."
- 📝 Is God omniscient?
- 📝 What is the Biblical support for Purgatory?
- 📝 What influence does pietism have on modern-day Lutheranisms?
- 📝 Can Bishops give dispensations from certain marriage vows?
- 📝 According to Calvinists, how could Adam and Eve fall? How could Satan fall?
- 📝 How is a Christian supposed to fear God when "there is no fear in love" (1 John 4:18)?
- 📝 Why did the KJV translators translate יהוה on the extremely rare occasion as IEHOVAH rather than LORD?
- 📝 What does the Bible say about people with mental illness?
- 📝 How do those who support the perpetual virginity of Mary doctrine harmonize the Protevangelium of James with the Gospel of Matthew?
- 📝 Are there analogues to the Mormon/LDS high school seminary in other Christian denominations?
- 📝 According to the Catholic Church, does abortion need to be confessed, and is it a mortal or venial sin?
- 📝 What are some of the benefits of going to church?
- 📝 What happened to the apostle John after the Biblical account of his life ends?
- 📝 What's the biggest time gap between authorship of two books of the Bible?
- 📝 Why did God make it a sin to eat an apple?
- 📝 In Catholicism, after receiving absolution from mortal sin, how do we regain the effects of the sacraments of baptism & confirmation?
- 📝 Was the Trinity severed during the crucifixion?
- 📝 Did John Wesley plagiarize Matthew Henry...?
- 📝 According to Catholicism, why was Jesus angry with the money-changers at the Temple?
- 📝 Is the Catholic Church the oldest church?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 What is the basis for Christian disapproval of creation of artificial life?
- 📝 What is the Biblical and historical basis for Christian pacifism?
- 📝 What is the basis for the belief by some groups that a Christian can live a sinless life?
- 📝 What is the basis for the Catholic teaching that artificial birth control is wrong?
- 📝 What is the Biblical basis for the idea that creation will applaud the damnation of a sinner?
- 📝 What is the biblical basis for Christian denominations to believe in a visible appearance of Christ Jesus when he returns?
- 📝 What is the Biblical basis for accepting Feminist Christian Theology which says we should use female pronouns for God?
- 📝 What is the Biblical basis for the belief that life begins at conception?
- 📝 What is the Biblical basis for rejecting Feminist Christian Theology which says we should use female pronouns for God?
- 📝 What basis could there be for an 18th century Christian to say that "Gnostics were the Antinomians of their day"?
- 📝 According to believers in an eternal conscious torment/separation, what is the biblical basis for distinguishing between life and consciousness?
- 📝 What is the basis for the claim that Judaism is a Christian Heresy?
- 📝 What is the Biblical basis for the doctrine of the Trinity?
- 📝 What is the biblical basis for the claim that abortion is immoral?
- 📝 What is the basis for saying Christians and Muslims worship the same God?
- 📝 What is the Biblical basis for the concept that Jesus spent time in Hell?
- 📝 What is the biblical basis for Jesus being God incarnate?
- 📝 What is the Biblical basis for Total Depravity?
- 📝 What is the biblical basis for believing in the Book of Mormon?
- 📝 What is the Biblical basis for saying Lucifer is an angel?
- 📝 What is the scriptural basis for clerical celibacy?
- 📝 What is the Biblical basis for Universal salvation?
- 📝 What is the Biblical basis for disbelief in the doctrine of the Trinity?
- 📝 What is the basis for not believing sola scriptura?
- 📝 What is the biblical basis for the Immaculate Conception?
- 📝 What is the Biblical Basis for a Good person going to hell simply for not believing?
- 📝 What is the basis that some Protestants teach the non-necessity of baptism for salvation?
- 📝 What is the Biblical basis for Unconditional Election?
- 📝 What is the Biblical basis for Limited Atonement?
- 📝 What is the Biblical basis for unitarianism?