GM Foods

Icystwolf said:

What is the Christian stance for Genetically Modified Food products?

I'm aware Jesus spoke us about food making a person unclean. But I'm interested in other issues....

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Seems clear to me that the modification of an organism's God-given (through evolution) genes is wrong.

It is arrogant to think that we can somehow improve on nature.

Personally, I don't think the GM species will last long if they have not arisen through the testing process of natural selection.

I also think Christians should support Organic Farming but that is a different issue ...

Icystwolf said:

What is the Christian stance for Genetically Modified Food products?

I'm aware Jesus spoke us about food making a person unclean. But I'm interested in other issues....

Click to expand...

I think that may be wrong way round, Jesus spoke about food NOT making you unclean. It is what comes From the heart that is unclean.

Mt 15:10 Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen and understand.
Mt 15:11 What goes into a man’s mouth does not make him ‘unclean,’ but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him ‘unclean.’ "
Mt 15:12 Then the disciples came to him and asked, "Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?"
Mt 15:13 He replied, "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots.
Mt 15:14 Leave them; they are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit."
Mt 15:15 Peter said, "Explain the parable to us."
Mt 15:16 "Are you still so dull?" Jesus asked them.
Mt 15:17 "Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body?
Mt 15:18 But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man ‘unclean.’
Mt 15:19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.
Mt 15:20 These are what make a man ‘unclean’; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him ‘unclean.’ "

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There is no commandment "Thou shalt not genetically modify organisms". The question has to come under the "Love yuor neighbour as yourself" Commandment. In other words we have to weigh up the potential harm that GMO's may cause to the environment and whether the risk outwieghs the benefits or not. This is a complex issue and there is unlikely to be a Christian concensus.

IMO there is not much risk from eating the stuff as they are said to be chemically identical to non GMO foods. I'm more concerned about potential environmental harm if the genes escape or production of seeds is concentradtrated into and control by a few mega corporations.

The Midge said:

I think that may be wrong way round, Jesus spoke about food NOT making you unclean. It is what comes From the heart that is unclean.

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amen!

IMO there is not much risk from eating the stuff as they are said to be chemically identical to non GMO foods. I'm more concerned about potential environmental harm if the genes escape or production of seeds is concentradtrated into and control by a few mega corporations.

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that is a big concern. I remember watching a documentary on how a company ruined a family who refused to use their GM seeds. Just like most things.. it can tilt one way or the other.

The Midge said:

I think that may be wrong way round, Jesus spoke about food NOT making you unclean. It is what comes From the heart that is unclean.



There is no commandment "Thou shalt not genetically modify organisms". The question has to come under the "Love yuor neighbour as yourself" Commandment. In other words we have to weigh up the potential harm that GMO's may cause to the environment and whether the risk outwieghs the benefits or not. This is a complex issue and there is unlikely to be a Christian concensus.

IMO there is not much risk from eating the stuff as they are said to be chemically identical to non GMO foods. I'm more concerned about potential environmental harm if the genes escape or production of seeds is concentradtrated into and control by a few mega corporations.

Click to expand...

Don't know if I'm allowed to post here ... but it seems like a difficult issue because the Bible wasn't written in a time when this sort of thing was possoble ...

Genetically modified organisms, from which genetically modified foods come, are food plants which have been modified by the additional of beneficial genes, such as the ability to resist plant diseases or the ability to produce vitamins essential to human health. GMO's are not weird mutal animals kept in secret farms run by the CIA for the purpose of making developing nations weak, no matter what you have read in the National Inquirer.

That being said, you probably already eat GMO and don't realize it. If you eat soy products at all, even soy oil or soy sauce, 90% of the soy beans raised in the whole world are GMO's that are resistent to Roundup, a brand of weedkiller. This means that farmers can grow more beans on less land and feed much more of the world's hungry people for less money. It's a good thing, not a bad thing.

About 40% of the world's corn is GMO, and about 55% of the world's rice.

One kind of GMO rice is rich in vitamin A. The lack of this vitamin is the leading cause of blindness in children. When kids eat the GMO "golden rice" they get vitamin A, which not only prevents blindness, but makes their bones stronger and helps them fight off fatal infections.

Some GMO's are of questionable value, but others are changing the health and wellbeing of the whole world.

Don't judge GMO's solely by what's reported in Organic Gardening or The Weekly World News. Go to the effort of finding out the whole truth.