Fifty Republicans in the House yesterday defied their president to pass a bill that would lift current funding restrictions on destroying human embryos in pursuit of hypothetical but unproven medical cures for diseases such as M.S. and Alzheimers. Lawmakers want researchers to gain access to the 400,000 frozen embryos created by in-vitro fertilization and currently in cold storage.
One Republican renegade is self-described pro-lifer Jo Ann Emerson, R-Mo., whose mother-in-law had died the night before of Alzheimer’s. “I must follow my heart on this and cast a vote in favor,” Emerson said later.
That’s the problem with this unseemly rush to turn human flesh into raw material for medical experimentation. People are letting their emotions cloud their judgment. They seemingly are willing to kill the human they can’t see (the embryo) to help the human they can see (their mother-in-law, for example). Following your heart is fine–as long as this doesn’t mean cutting off the heart of someone else.
About Stan Guthrie
Stan Guthrie is an editor at large for Christianity Today magazine and for the Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview. His latest book is God's Story in 66 Verses. He also is author of All that Jesus Asks: How His Questions Can Teach and Transform Us, Missions in the Third Millennium: 21 Key Trends for the 21st Century, and A Concise Guide to Bible Prophecy. He is co-author of The Sacrament of Evangelism. Besides authoring, writing, and editing books, Stan is a literary agent, bringing together good authors, good books, and good publishers.
Stan writes the monthly Priorities colum for BreakPoint.org. He has appeared on National Public Radio's Tell Me More, WGN's Milt Rosenberg program, and many Christian shows, including The Eric Metaxas Show and Moody Radio's New Day Florida. A licensed minister and an inspirational speaker, he served as moderator for the Christian Book Expo panel discussion, Does the God of Christianity Exist, and What Difference Does It Make?
