tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8194451.post115343614038262770..comments2023-08-19T08:24:55.745-07:00Comments on In the Belly of the Whale: On the Stem Cell Veto: Right Said, FredBob Ramseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01195107133942667536noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8194451.post-1153492759648101322006-07-21T07:39:00.000-07:002006-07-21T07:39:00.000-07:00hey bob,i'm a long time reader of your blog and a...hey bob,<BR/><BR/>i'm a long time reader of your blog and a huge galaxy fan. i came to your site from the RS boards and have been really impressed with your writing. as a non-christian i always enjoy reading rationale points of view from the christian community as it reminds me most christians are decent, intelligent people not the raving lunatics that seem to get all the press.<BR/><BR/>i have to say in general i find myself agreeing with you, but on stem cells i'm definitely on the other side of the fence.<BR/><BR/>in terms of life beginning at conception, my problem with this argument is it's highly selective. most of the time that the sanctity of life argument is used it refers very specifically to human life. which is awfully convenient for us, but not so good for my bacon and sausage omelet yesterday. if one were to truly believe that life were sacred we'd all be vegetarians and a significant number of our medical breakthroughs would not have happened.<BR/><BR/>taking a look at the problem from a buddhist point of view, who exemplify the above sentiment in that they are vegetarians for that very purpose. while in nepal however i found they do eat meat under rare circumstances. should an animal die of natural causes buddhists can eat the animal they just aren't allowed to kill it. as these stem cells already exist and as you say will be thrown away what's the greater sin, completely wasting what life you or i may believe they have or using their cells in research that may one day prevent scores of diseases. since we're already making distinctions on which kind of life is sacred if asked to choose between, a collection of living cells with no emotions, no ability to survive outside of very special circumstances, no guarantee of survival even then, weighed against healing a living breathing human being with family and friends well i choose the latter every single time.<BR/><BR/>finally, a fertilized egg is not a guarantee of life. there are many, many instances of a fertilized eggs failing to implant in the womb. we don't charge women with uterine fibroids or endometriosis with murder, or prevent them from having sex to avoid fertilized eggs failing to embed in the uterus. point being, i don't think you can make the argument that something with the potential to form a fetus is where life begins.<BR/><BR/>anyway just my tuppence keep up the blogging. it's great stuff.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com