Sunday, October 19, 2008

Stem Cell Research

For this class, we temporarily suspended the topic we had been studying (a Biblical defense of old earth creationism). Dr. Penny Girard suggested that we study another “Science and Christianity” issue, that of embryonic stem cell research. This is relevant to a Michigan ballot issue that people will be voting on next month, so it seemed good to interrupt our previous topic and study this topic now. Some web sites that are "pro" and "con" this proposal are given near the end of this summary (highlighted in red). There are also some “take home points” highlighted in light blue. This information may be compared and contrasted with some Scripture that relates to the nature of mankind, as given below. Note that these verses present a high view of the value of human life. There was much discussion of the issues in class, largely centering on the idea that using adult stem cells avoids most or all of the ethical issues and concerns that arise with "sacrificing" embryonic stem cells for medical research. This discussion will be continued on November 2.
Note that voting "yes" on the ballot issue means a vote in favor of embryonic stem cell research. Voting "no" means a vote against such research. While it is not the purpose of this class to tell people how to vote, it seemed that people would be interested in studying and discussing the scientific, ethical, and Biblical issues raised by this legislation. Having switched to this topic for the time being, we will also have a presentation on the related issue of various methods of birth control on November 2. This coming Sunday, October 26th, we will have a missionary speaker in our class as part of our annual missions conference.

26Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” Gen 1:26

6 “Whoever sheds the blood of man,
by man shall his blood be shed;
for in the image of God
has God made man. Gen 9


13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
16 your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be. Psalm 139


5It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking. 6But there is a place where someone has testified:
“What is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?
7 You made him a little lower than the angels;
you crowned him with glory and honor
8 and put everything under his feet.” Heb 2



Human Stem Cell Research


Proposal 2 is a proposal that will appear on the November 4, 2008 ballot in Michigan. This would amend the state constitution to allow embryonic stem cell research in Michigan. A “Yes” vote would allow embryonic stem cell research which proponents say is necessary for scientific advancement and disease treatment, whereas a “No” vote would prohibit embryonic stem cell research.

Some background on stem cell research:

What is a stem cell?
o A “master cell” that may become 210 different types of tissue in the human body.
o They have the ability to divide for an indefinite period of time.

Sources of stem cells
Embryo (from a fertilized ovum which is allowed to divide to a certain point, at which time the stem cells are harvested. This results in death of the embryo.)
Fetus (from tissues of an aborted fetus that would have become the ovaries or testes)
Umbilical cord (from blood remaining in the umbilical cord)
Placenta
Adult tissues

Embryonic Stem Cells (ESC)
Difficult to grow and it is hard to get “pure” cultures
The cells are unstable and the genetic material changes in culture (mutates).
The cells that have become more specialized (differentiated) often behave abnormally. For example, cells that appear to have changed into pancreas cells may still not secrete insulin.
There have been few successes with ESC in animals, and cancerous tumors have formed and resulted in death of some animals. This is a serious obstacle that will have to be overcome before ESC research could result in therapies applicable for humans.
ESC may be rejected by the body, just like transplanted organs.
o For this reason, some researchers have proposed cloning individual humans to get suitable cells.
o Cloning humans cells presents its own set of problems
§ Cloning humans is illegal in the U.S. and is considered ethically not acceptable.
§ It would be VERY COSTLY (estimated $ 200,000.00 per patient), so only the very wealthy could afford it.
§ It might not solve the problem of rejection.
§ There may be problems with the cloned cells.
§ There are also concerns regarding exploitation and health risks to women as a direct result of the large number of eggs which would be required for cloning.
THERE ARE NO CURRENT CLINICAL TREATMENTS BASED ON EMBRYONIC STEM CELLS. Some researchers estimate that it may be 10-20 years or more before the technology becomes applicable, if many difficult problems above can be solved.

Adult Stem Cells (ASC)
Multiple sources from adult humans, umbilical cord blood and the placenta
Stem cells found in one type of tissue can repair damage in other kinds of tissue (ex. heart attack damage)
Can be obtained from a patient, grown in culture and transplanted back into the same patient. This means they are compatible with a person’s genetic make up and will not be rejected.
Long life span
Work in many different ways to repair damaged tissue
Little manipulation is needed, so cost is much more reasonable. ASC seem to automatically migrate to the location of cellular damage
No ethical concerns since harvesting cells do not cause death of a genetically human organism.
Biosafe since there is no transfer of genetic, viral or other diseases
ALREADY PROVIDING CURES IN ANIMALS AND HUMAN CLINICAL TRIALS-there are more that over 80 successful therapies already in use which use adult stem cells. These include heart muscle damage, diabetes, brain injury from stroke, and others. This technology is used over 20,000 times per year. There are also 1,200 studies underway for new therapies utilizing adult stem cells.


Sources of Adult Stem Cells
Bone marrow Fat Brain
Skin Lung Liver
Pancreas Breast Tooth pulp
Blood Muscle Salivary
Cornea Tendon Cartilage
Thymus Synovium (joints) Umbilical cord
Placenta


Current successful therapies with Adult Stem Cells
See the attached list, or it may be viewed at www.corcell.com/expectant/diseases_treated.html#current
The University of Michigan has 40 researchers and unknown numbers of undergraduate and graduate students working in the area of stem cell research, and is considered one of the leaders in this area.

Problems with Proposal 2
There are no therapies utilizing embryonic stem cells despite at least nine years of research.
Promising research is already underway with adult stem cells.
In medicine, it is considered unethical to sacrifice one human being’s life to save another human being, much less to use them for experimental research. The following are secular codes of ethics that have been adopted to guide scientific research:
o Nuremburg Code: “No experiment should be conducted where there is a prior reason to believe that death or disabling injury will occur.” This code was adopted as a direct result of the atrocities of Nazi Germany.
o Council of Europe’s Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine, 1997-“Prohibits experiments that are not for the benefit of the patient and requires protection of the human embryo if it is experimented upon.”-This is a summary of a rather extensive document by Christian Medical and Dental Association (CMDA).
o American Medical Association’s ethical statement:
”Adequate safeguards must be provided for the welfare, safety and comfort of the subject. It is fundamental social policy that the advancement of scientific knowledge must always be secondary to primary concern for the individual.”
o Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
This is also problematic from a Christian frame of reference.
o The Bible states that humans are made in the image of God. (Genesis 1:26, Psalm 139:13-16, Hebrews 2:6,7)
o Man is not to take life unjustly. (Genesis 9:6, Deuteronomy 5:17)
o Many believe that life begins at conception.
o Many also believe that personhood is not based on one’s capacity or external factors, such as: implantation, brain development, pain sense, self-awareness, viability, or birth. In other words, at conception, the fertilized egg contains distinctly human genetic material—therefore, identifying it as “human.”
The embryos to be utilized for embryonic stem cell research would come from embryos created for in vitro fertilization (IVF). Currently, many of these embryos are frozen in “banks.”
Currently, there are 400,000 embryos in frozen storage.
Of these, 88% of parents plan to utilize their embryos for future pregnancies
This leaves the following:
9,200 embryos which parents plan to give for embryo adoption for infertile couples
8,800 embryos which will be destroyed. (Thus, a very small number would be “discarded.”)
18,000 which are “in limbo” because parents have not decided what to do with them
Therefore, NATIONWIDE, 11,200 embryos would be available for ESC research. This could result in 275 embryonic stem cell lines, approximately 5 per state. Some think improved techniques might result in 500 cell lines at best. This is FAR too few for research purposes.
Embryos not suitable for implantation probably have genetic problems that would prevent their use for embryonic stem cell research. In vitro centers now grade embryos to help increase the level of success, so embryos unsuitable for IVF are also unsuitable for ESC.
Informed consent? Some have raised the question of whether parents can give consent for the destruction of their offspring. Would this not be the “ultimate form” of child abuse?
Monetary “incentives” have occurred in other states. Although this, technically, is not allowed, parents have been compensated in other states for the entirety of their IVF expenses. Due to the thousands of dollars involved in IVF therapy, this could prove powerful incentives for parents to donate embryos for research.
There is a problem getting enough embryos in California
See the statistics on available embryos above.
California researchers are creating embryos for research.
Researchers are now trying to get women to donate eggs and are trying to get laws changed to allow them to pay thousands of dollars to women beyond their direct expenses as incentives for egg donation.
The last clause prevents any future law that would regulate or limit embryonic stem cell research in the future, in effect, resulting in UNRESTRICTED EMBRYONIC STEM CELL RESEARCH. Another constitutional amendment would have to be enacted to reverse this.
o It could prevent institutions from prohibiting embryonic stem cell research and could override rights of conscience protection laws.
o Provides nearly total immunity to embryonic stem cell researchers. They could create chimeras*, hybrids^ (“interspecies” organisms which combine human and nonhuman cells* or genetic material^) or other new entities created for embryonic stem cell purposes.
o Francis Collins, director of the Human Genome Project (former U of M geneticist): “It would be mistake to simply leave these decisions to the scientists….Their moral sense is, in general, no more or less well-developed than that of other groups, and they are unavoidably afflicted by potential conflict of interest that may cause them to resent boundaries set by nonscientists.”


TAKE HOME POINTS:

There are no current clinical treatments utilizing embryonic stem cells.
There are already over 80 successful therapies in use utilizing adult stem cells. Is embryonic stem cell research really necessary and practical?
Embryonic stem cell research violates accepted secular ethical standards (“moral codes”) of scientific research involving human subjects.
Embryonic stem cell research is problematic from a Christian point of view since Christians believe that humans are made in the image of God.
Proposal 2 could result in unrestricted embryonic stem cell research. History has shown that unregulated scientific endeavors can have detrimental ramifications (Nazi Germany, Tuskegee Institute syphilis experiments).




.
Websites:
www.msms.org Website of Michigan State Medical Society with sites supporting and opposing Proposal 2
www.cmda.org
To research the “Pro” side of the embryonic stem cell ballot proposal visit these websites:

www.curemichigan.com
www.stemcellresearchformichigan.com

To research the “Con” side of the embryonic stem cell ballot proposal, visit these websites:

www.micause.com
www.stemcellresearchcures.com


Petition Language:

INITIATIVE PETITION
AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION
A Proposal to Amend the Constitution of the State of Michigan by adding a new Article I, Section 27 as follows:
Article I, Section 27. (1) Nothing in this section shall alter Michigan’s current prohibition on human cloning.
(2) To ensure that Michigan citizens have access to stem cell therapies and cures, and to ensure that physicians and researchers can conduct the most promising forms of medical research in this state, and that all such research is conducted safely and ethically, any research permitted under federal law on human embryos may be conducted in Michigan, subject to the requirements of federal law and only the following additional limitations and requirements:
(a) No stem cells may be taken from a human embryo more than fourteen days after cell division begins; provided, however, that time during which an embryo is frozen does not count against this fourteen day limit.
(b) The human embryos were created for the purpose of fertility treatment and, with voluntary and informed consent, documented in writing, the person seeking fertility treatment chose to donate the embryos for research; and
(i) the embryos were in excess of the clinical need of the person seeking the fertility treatment and would otherwise be discarded unless they are used for research; or
(ii) the embryos were not suitable for implantation and would otherwise be discarded unless they are used for research
(c) No person may, for valuable consideration, purchase or sell human embryos for stem cell research or stem cell therapies and cures.

(d) All stem cell research and all stem cell therapies and cures must be conducted and provided in accordance with state and local laws of general applicability, including but not limited to laws concerning scientific and medical practices and patient safety and privacy, to the extent that any such laws do not:
(i) prevent, restrict, obstruct, or discourage any stem cell research or stem cell therapies and cures that are permitted by the provisions of this section; or

(ii) create disincentives for any person to engage in or otherwise associate with such research or therapies or cures.
(3) Any provision of this section held unconstitutional shall be severable from the remaining portions or this section.

Sunday, October 05, 2008

Biblical defense of old earth creationism

A Biblical defense of old earth creationism

 

1In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

3And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

6And God said, “Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water.” 7So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. 8God called the expanse “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.

9And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. 10God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.

11Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. 12The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.

14And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years,15and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. 16God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, 18to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.

 

In the usual young earth creationist position, each of the creation “days” is typically a literal, 24 hour day.  The phrase, “and there was evening and there was morning – the first day”, is taken to indicate that we are talking about a 24 hour day.  This is a concrete, simple, straightforward reading of the text, and therefore it has great appeal.  It is the interpretation that most evangelical Christians believe.  If one then adds up the years in the genealogies that follow, one gets a creation date of around 4000 B.C., or about 6000 years ago in round numbers.  While many young earth creationists think that God began creating things about 6000 years ago, some think that there are gaps in the genealogies, and that the universe may be older, perhaps up to around 300,000 years old.

 

There is a problem with this interpretation (and with most interpretations) that has been recognized since ancient times.  The Sun, Moon and stars do not appear in the creation story until the fourth day.

 

14And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years,15and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. 16God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth18to govern the day and the night, and toseparate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.  Gen 1

 

This being the case, how is it that “days”, and “evenings and mornings” occurred before then?  The Sun, Moon and stars were given to “separate” the day from the night, to “give light” on the earth, to “govern” the day and night.  What gave light for the first three days?  What was different about a day and an evening on those first three days?  Hugh Ross has an answer from an old earth perspective, but from ancient times, this has been an enigma.  Young earth creationists sometimes say that the light of the glory of God supplied light on the first three days.  Did His light only shine on one side of the Earth?  What is the Scriptural evidence for this?  How might we resolve this question?

 

In what follows, an interpretation of these verses of Genesis 1 will be given from an old earth creationist perspective.

 

Let us begin at the “beginning”:

 

1In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

 

1.      There was a beginning of all that was created. 

2.      God created (bara, to create, to bring into existence).

3.      God created everything – the heavens and the Earth. From an old earth creationist perspective, the “heavens” includes the sun, other stars, galaxies, the space that they exist in, and time itself.  Spiritual beings were also created.

4.      God is not part of what was created.

5.      This appears to be a point of view from high above the earth, where everything can be seen.

6.      From an old earth perspective, this is a good fit with the Big Bang theory.  Note that the Big Bang did not create anything – God did.

 

1In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.  Heb 1

 

            Note that God is a triune being.  The church has long understood “God” in Gen 1:1 to refer to God the Father.  This can be seen from the first line of the Apostle’s Creed, which says, “I believe in God, the Father Almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth…”  The Holy Spirit is spoken of as also being active in creation, as He is mentioned in Gen 1:2 below.  The Son of God was also involved in creation, as shown above (and similarly see also 1 Cor 8:6 and Heb 2:10).

 

2Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.  Gen 1

 

At this point, the earth was in a disordered state, dark, and covered with water and above that, dust and gas.  The sun already existed, but sunlight could not reach the water, being blocked by dense dust and gas.  The dust and gas included water vapor, water droplets (clouds), and/or tiny water/ice crystals (like tiny hail) depending on the altitude.  This is in agreement with conventional science.  Importantly, the point of view has shifted down to the surface of the waters.  That’s why it is now dark.  It was dark there before, but the point of view was from high above the earth in vs 1, so the heavens were “in view”. 

 

1Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm. He said:

“Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge?

Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me.

“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?

Tell me, if you understand.  5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!  Who stretched a measuring line across it?

On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone—

while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?

“Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness.  Job 38

 

This describes a very early stage of creation, similar to the state early on the first day.  The stars already existed at this time, in agreement with the interpretation above for the “heavens and earth”.  Clouds were like a “garment” over the sea, and caused “thick darkness” to cover the waters.  This implies that the sun already exists, since clouds caused the darkness.  The angels have been created.

 

3And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light4God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.  6And God said, “Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water.” 7So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. 8God called the expanse “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.  Gen 1

 

“Let … be” is haya  (to be, to become, to exist, to happen).

“Made” is asa, to fashion or make. 

 

These verses are not indicating the original creation of light, but that as dust and gas began to clear above the earth somewhat, some light from the Sun could penetrate to the surface of the ocean.  Imagine a very overcast day, when you can tell that it is daytime, but cannot see the Sun or tell where it is.  Thus, the sky changed from being opaque to being translucent (like several layers of waxed paper), but it is not yet transparent (like window glass or the sky today).  At this point, the atmosphere has cleared somewhat, and there is a separation of the expanse, or sky, from water below (the ocean) and water above (thick clouds).  Note that clouds consist of tiny droplets of water.  

 

An important issue is the meaning of the word day (yom).  There was some discussion in class about the two instances of “day” in vs 5, and the meaning of “night”.  I would suggest that both old and young earth creationists might say that the first instance of “day” and also the word “night” in vs 5 refer to approximately 12 hour periods.  However, from either a young or old earth perspective, the second use of “day” in vs 5 has a different meaning.  From a young earth perspective, it means a 24 hour period.  From an old earth perspective, it means a very long period of time.  Thus, from an old earth perspective, the evening and morning has a broad or poetic sense of an ending of the first period of time and the beginning of the next.

 

For those who are into more technical issues, an old earth perspective would recognize that, at a very early stage in the history of the earth, it was struck by a large object, similar in size to Mars.  This smashed the earth, and most of the debris settled back into the current planet earth, and other debris stayed in orbit around the earth, forming the moon.  The moon was very close to the earth at that time, and would have looked gigantic in the sky if the sky had not been full of debris.  The earth was spinning very rapidly after the collision, about every two hours.  It has been slowing down ever since as it transfers its “spin” (angular momentum) to the moon, making it orbit farther and farther out from the earth.  This outward motion of the moon can be measured today using laser beams reflecting from reflectors left at several places on the moon by the Apollo astronauts.  Intensive studies of lunar soil the astronauts brought back confirm this history, as well as other astronomical studies. Thus, at an early stage, one might say that the first instance of “day” and “night” in vs 5 actually refer to about one hour periods of time, both of which were slowly getting longer, and the second instance of “day” in vs 5 refers to a very long period of time.

 

9And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. 10God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good. 11Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. 12The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.

 

There are many issues to address.  For example, from an old earth perspective, bacteria existed in the sea and then on land for over a billion years before complex plants and animals existed.  There is some speculation that they may have been created in Gen 1:2, when the “Spirit of God was hovering over the waters”.  Or, perhaps Scripture simply does not tell us when bacteria were created.  In any event, complex plants came later.

 

Again from an old earth perspective, the earth was more highly radioactive at this time than it is today.  This caused heat to be generated deep in the earth which caused magma flows to develop, which in turn drove what geologists refer to as plate tectonics.  This pushes one plate against another, causing one to be pushed down, and the other to be pushed up on top of it, causing mountains to form.  Thus, large amounts of dry land appeared.  Over the past 4.6 billion years, most radioactive isotopes with half lives less than roughly 100 million years have basically disappeared from the earth.  The exceptions are those that continue to be created from the decay of other radioactive isotopes with very long half lives.  However, there is still enough radioactivity in the earth to drive plate tectonics.

 

14And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years,15and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. 16God made two great lights — the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars17God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, 18to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day. 

 

From an old earth creationist perspective, the sun, moon and stars appear because the sky has now mostly cleared of clouds, and these celestial objects can now be seen.  From ancient times, people have wondered what it meant for there to be “days”, and “evening and morning” during the first three days, when the sun appeared to be created on the fourth day.   I think that some young earth creationists have now adapted a somewhat similar explanation, while still maintaining that all of creation happened within a few 24 hour days.

 

What are some things that young and old earth creationists agree on?

The earth and universe was created by God.  God is not part of the creation.  The Big Bang did not create the universe.  God created space, time, matter and energy.  He also created spiritual entities (angels, our spirits…). 

Both sides believe that the Bible is the inerrant word of God.

Both sides (YEC and OEC) agree that the word “day” (yom) can have various meanings in the Bible, including a long period of time.

 

Having said that, very many old earth creationists believe in progressive creation.  That is, God created one species after another over a long period of time.  For example, they believe in the literal, special creation of Adam and Eve.  These old earth creationists believe that natural, or Darwinian evolution has been minor, despite billions of years.  Another category of old earth creationists believe that God used or guided evolution in some way.  Some of them also believe in the special creation of Adam and Eve.

 

There is more to the topic of a Biblical defense of old earth creationism, so this topic will be continued.