Yes, I heard about cloning a sheep and now also a cow. 
I have no doubt that the experiment may be successfully 
extended to human beings in the near future. 
     By the way, you may have heard that it is now also possible 
to freeze baboons and reanimate them. In like manner, we may 
extrapolate that it will soon be possible to do this for humans 
too. Of course, then all kinds of legal and ethical questions 
will be raised. But in general, it should be extremely helpful 
for saving lives and healing people who are at the edge of death. 
     Ethical questions have been raised at the beginning of every 
new technology, for example, flying, traveling faster than the 
speed of sound, doing heart transplants, lie detector tests, etc. 
But, in general, these problems are solved and the technology 
fits into the life of our modern society. 

     Now, for cloning: 
     I do believe that a cloned human being (as a body) will also 
receive a spirit, given by God, enabling it to be fully alive in 
every sense as an independent human being. 
     Identical twins are naturally cloned human beings, yet they 
have unique spirits, as we already know. A number have even 
joined our Movement. And in some cases, one joins but the other 
partner does not. They have free will, an independent spirit, 
independent thinking, independent responsibility.... 
     The problem is if we view a cloned person as not being fully 
a human being. That's where abuses are most likely to come from. 
Each human being, however produced, whether a test tube baby, 
or through artificial insemination, or thawed out from deep 
freeze, has all the human rights and responsibilities. A person 
must not exploit a cloned "self" for the use of its organs. That 
would certainly be a crime. 
     On the other hand, this cloning may be practiced in a 
different sense, that of tissue culture, to produce a healthy 
functioning liver, for example, which could be transplanted into 
the original self, the person who needs it to survive. But this 
must not mean killing another human soul. 
     There arise sticky questions, such as for example the "alter 
ego" was raised in a womb in order to produce the needed organs, 
but then "harvested" without ever having been born. That, then, 
amounts to abortion, which most Christians regard as a crime and 
sin. 
     I think there would be no question if, say, a kidney, was 
raised from a tissue culture, grown in a mechanical and chemical 
medium, but not as part of a whole human body. Then it is obvious 
that there would be no spirit, no human being, involved. 
     Already it is accepted medical practice to accept organs 
donated from a living or deceased next of kin. For example, skin 
grafts, kidney transplants, bone marrow transplants, etc. That is 
with the voluntary and legal cooperation of the donor party, and 
although it puts their life in somewhat greater risk, they are 
willing to do so out of love. 
     That kind of thing. 

     So, in summary, a cloned human being is fully human, and 
has mind and heart and spirit just like all of us. It is born in 
exactly the same way as all of us, except its original embryo was 
created in a slightly different way. So, you see how flexible is 
life, and how much the human spirit longs to live, and how much 
life God has to give? 


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