www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Obama ends stem cell funding ban

He told us he would do it if elected...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7929690.stm

This being said, what can we make of science today? Creating embryos for implantation, and leaving many in stasis--potential lives (now being slated for destruction in the name of scientific research)...we live in an age of scientific horror with unethical acts being masked as good and righteous acts for the benefit of others and mankind. As for in vitro fertilization this is something I thought worth sharing because....

Here is an option I have NEVER heard anywhere:

I was once discussing the subject of invitro fertilization with a young married priest in Greece... He said the best thing he ever heard was one woman who insisted to her doctor that he create only ONE embryo to implant...and that she would pray and let God have a part (rather than it be totally scientific) in whether she would become pregnant or not. The priest and I both thought that was an awesome thought and option for a Christian having difficulty conceiving--allowing God to have His say in response to the couple praying to Him.

Alice

ALICE:

Christ is in our midst!! He is and always will be!!

I don't know what to say. And I'm rarely speechless. This just took my breath away. Can anyone say "fear and trembling"? "Well, see here, God, I'm going to allow You to . . ."

When the great Day comes and the mountains melt like wax before the Lord, when Christ comes in the clouds, and when the angels rout out all those who think they can hide, can anyone say "Well, I'll just allow You . . ."? (By the way, there won't be a place to hide because the mountains will be made low and the valleys filled up so in all that flat space . . .)

I hope I get those five minutes of the tears of true and perfect final repentance I've been begging for before I have to step out and answer for myself. Allowing God--I'm still reeling over that combination of words.

BOB

As far as stem cell research goes and in vitro fertilization and all the other wonders of our science, what happens when we all meet Christ and He asks, "How dare you stick you hands into this sacred area and think you can deal Me out?"

We may be able to do all kinds of things. The question is whether we should be doing so.

BOB

It's stupid: embryonic stem cell research. There are stem cells from other sources that can be used.

Superficially, they are doing this for convenience as well as to "justify" abortion.

But I suspect the real reason is the money. You can patent a specific kind of living creature that you've developed for medical research, after all . . .

-- John

One more jaded thought before bed:

The Brave New World isn't going to persecute the visible, only the invisible. It will take care of you if you're a kid, because you're spending someone else's money, and you might make money in the future. If you are an adult or a retiree, they will take care of you too: because you're making money. But when you are not-yet-born; or when you become sick, crippled, or infirm: then you will be a "useless eater" (as the Nazis called such people), and you will not be taken care of . . .

-- John

Dear Bob,

Christ is in our midst!

I am sorry for that. Maybe my translation wasn't accurate...though the idea is basically the same...The priest liked that *this* couple thought of God and HIS will, and that rather than create many embryos as is the norm, in the hope that scientifically the odds will be in favor that one will 'take',their Christian ethics thought of telling the doctor to fertilize only one embryo to be implanted, letting God have His say in His will for their conception...

Does that sound better? Perhaps I did not translate or convey our conversation well. The priest, a very, very sweet man with a heavenly countenance, was happy to hear a modern city couple speak like this--using science responsibly, ethically and with faith in God...and in their case, there was no 'out of ethical and moral bounds' of sin involved as far as the Church is concerned.

Alice

There so many thoughts that run through my mind about what this president and his party are doing to our nation, to her people, and against God. Most of them I cannot talk about. Let's pray for each other that we not be found guilty of inaction or of actions that would bring offense to God and shame to his Church.

CDL

From now on our people, and I mean both Orthodox and Catholic can not sit on the sidelines. I know the republican party is not perfect. Heck, they are flawed and corrupt, but we can not, can not let the democratic party have power.

They already have it.

It used to be said, "Just because we can do it, doesn't mean we should do it."

Now, according to the Obama administration, "Just because we can do it, we should do it!"

The fact is that advances in stem cell research have been made using stem cells NOT from fetuses, yet the liberal, Godless campaign presses onward to institute what they argue is absolutely necessary.

Keep praying and insisting with our legislators that this stop.
nun Alexandra

Dear Mother Alexandra,

Evloyeite! Yes, I know this. How sad that the Godless want to justify 'good' from destroying these unfortunate created lives. Science (or should I say 'playing God') just takes us from one confusing and destructive scenario to another...always with the deception of being 'good' for humans.

(I pray that I am not sounding uncharitable or judgemental to those women who innocently start this circle of scientific deception by wanting desperately to conceive a child, thus resorting to invitro fertilization....there is nothing more desperate or painful than a married couple not being able to conceive...and but for the grace of God go I, or anyone I love...what hard choices there are when we know that we can turn to unethical science for the answers...that is why the woman who insisted on only one embryo to be created and implanted was so utterly awesome)

In Christ,
Alice

ALICE:

Christ is in our midst!! He is and always will be!!

But is this not the very point--the point we try to make during Great Lent. It is in accepting the Lord's Will for us that we find happiness. It is precisely because we feel that we must have our own way regardless of what God may be telling us through our biology. It seems to me that we must listen for His Voice in everything that comes along in our lives. And sometimes this means that we suffer in silence when things seem to be opposite to what we want. Soemtimes we suffer with tears in our eyes because that's all that we can do.

That whole thread about suffering being our path to glory isn't just pious stuff. It's something that we need to knead into our spirits. Or in the word's of Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow "I worship in silence Thy Holy Will and Thine inscrutible ways."

I've wanted many different things to happen in my life. They haven't. Some were beyond my reach. Others were frustrated deliberately by family for one reason or another. But in all things God has been with me. I am absolutely convinced of that.

I worship in silence His Holy Will and His inscrutible ways.

BOB

Dear BOB,

Christ is among us!

As always, I love and honour your post and your holy and inspiring thoughts and if you read my thoughts in context, you will see that we are *not* in disagreement!

I feel that perhaps we may be talking past each other?

(I was just trying to make a point that I understand the reason behind married couples seeking out scientific/medical solutions such as invitro fertilization ...I said this because we Christians are often accused of not being charitable, compassionate and/or understanding, and I have found that is definitely not the case with the wonderful Orthodox priests and elders I am blessed to know.)

In any case, thank God for your enlightening and excellent post. You are a very good and holy man; may God bless you, my friend and brother in the Lord.

In Christ,
Alice

Actually, it's all about the almighty dollar.

Federal money going to research agencies, universities and profit off of the human "by-products" of abortion.

What to do with all those "Lebensunwertes Leben"...lives unworthy of living...

FrDD

PS: For an amazing, but scary, read try this:

The Nazi Doctors by Robert Jay Lifton

The Nazi Doctors - Amazon [amazon.com]

The Nazi Doctors - Google Books [books.google.com]