The Mermaid and the Soul

The Mermaid and the Soul

Genesis 1:27 “So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female he created them.”

In the midst of our genuine concern over the faltering economy and the peculiar ideas in government to stimulate the same, Christians should not forget that a new president means a new set of official policies on the value of human life.
President Obama is expected to soon set aside bans on using federal money to create (and destroy) human embryos for stem cell research. He has also allowed by executive order, U.S. money to flow to international groups that promote abortion. These are not surprising actions, they are exactly what he promised, during campaign that he would do as soon as he took office.
It is important to consider, in light of these events, that human beings are made in the Image of God. Classical, orthodox Christianity has understood this to mean, in part, that humans have a soul; a transcendent, non-material essence that is more than the body that we see. That persons possess an immortal soul is just one reason why I feel that destroying unborn life is a grave evil.
Bioethicist Daniel Dennett doesn’t see life this way. He supports less restrictions on stem cell research and abortion, has mocked the idea of a human soul, saying that it is a quaint holdover from mere superstitious times; like a belief in mermaids.
Interesting. Great scientists of the previous centuries never did much believe in mermaids, but nearly all of them felt that it was reasonable to believe that human beings have souls. The evidence for your soul is clear. We act and feel and at the same time observe ourselves acting and feeling. This experience of being one with and yet more than ourselves is common to everybody and is the universal proof of the soul. It cannot even be an illusion, for if so, who can we say is being fooled?
I need only here to note that if biotechnology is practiced without reference to moral limits based on respect for the image of God in human life, it will easily within the next century create the mermaid, the minotaur, the batboy and a score of other carnival sideshows. But it will never be able to create a soul.
Be informed, speak out, and be Pro-Life!

Yours in Jesus
Pastor Harley