Cloning Humans

[LilyLamb]

I saw a TV news special about couples who are being selected for human cloning.

If this topic has already been discussed, I apologize ...

My question is ... do these children have souls??

 

 

 

[LewisWildermuth]

Do twins have souls? I see nothing in the bible saying any human alive is without a soul.

Souless people are a modern science fiction/horror story invention and not supportable biblicaly.

 

[Jerry Smith]

What would they walk on?

 

[Late_Cretaceous]

"Do twins have souls?"

Actually No. At least not with identical twins. Upon conception a soul is imparted to the zygote. IF the zygote spits to create identical twins, one gets the sould. This is why whenever there are twins, one is always the evil twin (at least according to Hollywood movies).

HOw about chimeras? This is where 2 or more zygotes (fertilized eggs) fuse to form one individual. I have only seen this in rodents, but it is conceivable that it could occur in humans as well. These people, if they do indeed exist, would have multiple souls.

 

[LiveFreeOrDie]

Originally posted by LilyLamb
My question is ... do these children have souls??

Do you? How do you know?

 

[seebs]

Originally posted by Late_Cretaceous
"Do twins have souls?"

Actually No. At least not with identical twins. Upon conception a soul is imparted to the zygote. IF the zygote spits to create identical twins, one gets the sould. This is why whenever there are twins, one is always the evil twin (at least according to Hollywood movies).

I sincerely hope you're joking.

I don't see any reason to assume that anything that looks human lacks a soul.

 

[Duane Morse]

So the good twin has a soul, and the evil twin has no soul?

Did Cain have a soul? Cain and Able could very well have been twins.
Does any evil person have a soul?

We are all by definition, evil. We have all committed sin. Even Jesus said the only one that was good was God in heaven.

So, do any of us evil doers have a soul?


That statement makes no sense whatsoever. If the zygote was imparted with a soul at conception then split, then a soul should be imparted to the other as well.
Or else we would have a lot of soulless evil twins running around. And most of the evil that has been done on this planet has been done by non-twins.

 

[blader]

I think this is a great explanation for every single "evil twin" story line ever conceived.

 

[chickenman]

if you believe identical twins both have souls then so would clones. As to whether there should be any reproductive human cloning in the first place, my answer is no.

 

[Late_Cretaceous]

Cloning invloves taking a fertilized egg, destroying the nucleus and then inplanting the nucleus from the cell of another individal (preferably an undiferentiated cell like from the lining of the stomach).
Destroying the nucleus does not kill the original fertilized egg cell - which had it's soul imparted at conception. Therefore the clone would still get the soul, just that he would have DNA from someone else.

SO, clones do indeed have a soul! That fact cannot be refuted

BTW, since conception happens only once, and incorporation of the soul happens once. A soul cannot be spit in two, so if the zygote spits in two there is only one soul to go around. I suppose with identical triplets, two would be soulless.

So in the case of identical twins or triplets, only one has a soul! That is irrefutable.

 

[LilyLamb]

Setting the question of the soul aside ... what bothers you the most about cloning?

that people are playing God?
that clones are being used as a solution when there are other answers
(i.e. can't have children, adopt a child in need of a home)
that clones could be used to provide a backup part for an already existing human

or other reason ....

 

[seebs]

Originally posted by Late_Cretaceous

BTW, since conception happens only once, and incorporation of the soul happens once. A soul cannot be spit in two, so if the zygote spits in two there is only one soul to go around. I suppose with identical triplets, two would be soulless.

So in the case of identical twins or triplets, only one has a soul! That is irrefutable.

I don't see this at all. God could easily create the souls, and then attach one to each zygote. He's flexible.

I find it unreasonable to imagine special circumstances under which some people don't get souls.

 

[seebs]

Originally posted by LilyLamb
Setting the question of the soul aside ... what bothers you the most about cloning?

that people are playing God?
that clones are being used as a solution when there are other answers
(i.e. can't have children, adopt a child in need of a home)
that clones could be used to provide a backup part for an already existing human

or other reason ....

I see the idea of using a "complete" clone as a source of spare parts as moderately repugnant; that's essentially murder.

Apart from that, none of it bugs me. People aren't "playing God" any more than we were when we started breeding crop plants to yield more food, thousands of years ago. As to "when there are other answers", I don't see a clone as any worse than any other way of producing more people. If there's too many children in need of families, and we need more people to adopt, then maybe more people should be using birth control.

I do see it as probably unsafe until they crack the aging problem with clones, but apart from that, I don't see any particular reason to object to cloning. I object to scare-mongering.

 

[Finrod]

Originally posted by Late_Cretaceous
Cloning invloves taking a fertilized egg, destroying the nucleus and then inplanting the nucleus from the cell of another individal (preferably an undiferentiated cell like from the lining of the stomach).
Destroying the nucleus does not kill the original fertilized egg cell - which had it's soul imparted at conception. Therefore the clone would still get the soul, just that he would have DNA from someone else.

SO, clones do indeed have a soul! That fact cannot be refuted

BTW, since conception happens only once, and incorporation of the soul happens once. A soul cannot be spit in two, so if the zygote spits in two there is only one soul to go around. I suppose with identical triplets, two would be soulless.

So in the case of identical twins or triplets, only one has a soul! That is irrefutable.

 

Any scriptual references to back this up? Or are you just making it up as you go along?