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| Q: | We seem to be coming to a new age in man's discoveries. Cloning of animals (may have) been discovered and done. Now men boast humans are next. Through my Bible reading I do not believe this is possible, but is another lie of Satan the deceiver. Does it not take God to install our souls in us? Would it therefore be impossible to clone a complete man with an exact soul? If this cloning process does result in an imposter of man, would God be bound to give it a soul? I do not believe he would. Is there any biblical insight on this seemingly new matter? or would it be all speculation? To me this is very disturbing I believe this cloning of man may be a result of man's sinful nature or worse, the desire of Satan to make man in his image with out a conscience and either a soul from Satan or soulless. Am I being too fanatical about this matter or too much in speculation? | ||||||
| A: | Exactly how God creates the soul of each new human being is a mystery that has long been debated. Some believe that God directly creates the souls which he places in each new human. This belief is called "creationism." This does not seem to be correct, since God rested from his work of direct creation at the end of the six days. He now creates new lives through the processes he set in motion during the original creation. It also is very difficult to understand how the soul could come into the world corrupted by sin if it was a direct creation of God. For this reason most Lutheran theologians believe that the soul of the newly conceived child is somehow derived from that of the parents. This belief is called traducianism. We can't say with certainty what would happen if an attempt were made to clone a human (which is one reason why it shouldn't be done). Perhaps it cannot be done at all. Perhaps only some sort of monstrous being would result that was not truly human. Perhaps a real person would be the result. A clone is basically a being derived from only one parent. The only example we have of this is Christ, who was a true human being, with body and soul derived from one parent, Mary. His was a unique case involving the intervention of the Holy Spirit and does not give any assurance that other human beings could be derived from one parent. On the other hand, it cautions us not to proclaim too certainly that this is impossible. There are a number of things we can say. 1) Any being without a soul is not human. 2) Satan cannot create a soul or any being, for that matter. 3) If it is possible for cloning to produce a real human, that person would be subject to the same principles of sin and grace as any other human. | ||||||
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