Animal-human embryo research is approved

Experiments to create Britain’s first embryos that combine human and animal material will begin within months after a government watchdog gave its approval yesterday to two research teams to carry out the controversial work. Scientists at King’s College London, and the University of Newcastle will inject human DNA into empty eggs from cows to create embryos known as cytoplasmic hybrids, which are 99.9 per cent human in genetic terms.

We are prohibited in scripture from mingling the DNA of our cattle with other kinds of cattle, and the seeds of our crops with other kinds of seeds in Leviticus 19:19. Mixing the DNA of humans and cattle is an abomination to God.

Leviticus 19:19 Ye shall keep my statutes. Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind: thou shalt not sow thy field with mingled seed: neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woollen come upon thee.

The experiments are intended to provide insights into diseases such as Parkinson’s and spinal muscular atrophy by producing stem cells containing genetic defects that contribute to these conditions. These will be used as cell models for investigating new approaches to treatment, and to improve the understanding of how embryonic stem cells develop. They will not be used in therapy, and it is illegal to implant them into the womb. The decision, taken by the by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), to grant one-year licences to both teams ends more than a year of uncertainty for the researchers, who first applied for permission in the autumn of 2006.

Last January the authority deferred its decision and began a consultation on the issue, which reported in September that the public was broadly supportive. In late November, it again delayed ruling because of concerns about procedures for obtaining consent from the donors of the human DNA to be used.

The Bible tells us that God designed procreation so that plants, animals, and humans always reproduce after their own kind.

While the HFEA was deliberating, the Government proposed a ban on the creation of human-animal embryos, also known as “cybrids”, but retreated after a revolt by scientists.

God tells us seven times!!:

Genesis 1:11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his KIND, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.

Genesis 1:21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their KIND, and every winged fowl after his KIND: and God saw that it was good.

Genesis 1:24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his KIND, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his KIND: and it was so.

Genesis 1:25 And God made the beast of the earth after his KIND, and cattle after their KIND, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his KIND: and God saw that it was good.

The next two verses were commands to Noah from God concerning animals on the ark.

Genesis 6:20 Of fowls after their KIND, and of cattle after their KIND, of every creeping thing of the earth after his KIND, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive.

Genesis 7:14 They, and every beast after his KIND, and all the cattle after their KIND, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his KIND, and every fowl after his KIND, every bird of every sort.

The last verse shows that none of the animals on the ark were genetically modified.

Genesis 8:19 Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their KINDs, went forth out of the ark.

The creation of human-animal embryos will be explicitly permitted by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill currently passing through Parliament, subject to HFEA licensing. An amendment that would have blocked such research was defeated in the House of Lords on Monday by a majority of 172. Stephen Minger, who leads the King’s team, said yesterday he was delighted that he would be able to start the experiments. “I am pleased that the HFEA has finally after a year and a half realised the importance that the work that we and the group from Newcastle have been licensed for,” he said.

The complete fusion of human and animal genomes via the union of sperm and egg from these different species runs counter to the sacredness of human life as created in the image of God. Biblically, bestiality (sex between humans and animals) is forbidden and punishable by death. Some might assume that the severity of this penalty was due to the defilement of the physical body or the “heart,” rather than to a concern about the creation of viable offspring with the genes of two species. The distinction between physical copulation and the creation of offspring becomes important in transgenic technology involving animals and humans because there no physical copulation occurs; however, the resulting offspring does have genetic material from these different species.

Deuteronomy 27:21 Cursed be he that lieth with any manner of beast. And all the people shall say, Amen.

Closer examination of the Bible suggests that Scripture is concerned with more than just the physical defilement associated with sex between a human and an animal. Leviticus 18:23 ends with the phrase “it is confusion.” The word confusion (tebel) means “in violation of nature or divine order.” This word is used in only two contexts: when a woman lies with a beast and when a man lies with his daughter-in-law. The second example could, of course, result in viable offspring. Additionally, the word raba-translated in these passages as ‘mate, gender or lie down’-has the inherent meaning of “copulation” or “breeding.” Breeding, too, suggests the potential for offspring. The Bible leaves us, then, with the suggestion that by divine order all things should reproduce only after their own kind, and that interspecies mating-especially that of humans with animals-is prohibited.

Leviticus 18:23 Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion.
Leviticus 18:24 Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you:
Leviticus 18:25 And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants.
Leviticus 18:26 Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations; neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth among you:
Leviticus 18:27 (For all these abominations have the men of the land done, which were before you, and the land is defiled;)
Leviticus 18:28 That the land spue not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spued out the nations that were before you.
Leviticus 18:29 For whosoever shall commit any of these abominations, even the souls that commit them shall be cut off from among their people.
Leviticus 18:30 Therefore shall ye keep mine ordinance, that ye commit not any one of these abominable customs, which were committed before you, and that ye defile not yourselves therein: I am the LORD your God.

Lyle Armstrong, who leads the Newcastle group, said: “Finding better ways to make human embryonic stem cells is the long-term objective of our work and understanding reprogramming is central to this. Cow eggs seem to be every bit as good at doing this job as human eggs so it makes sense to use them since they are much more readily available, but it is important to stress that we will only use them as a scientific tool and we need not worry about cells derived from them ever being used to treat human diseases.”

When we fear death so bad that we are willing to break every one of God’s laws in order to prolong life, what happens when death flees from us? What line will be crossed in order to get to the point in Revelation 9:6 when men will want to die but can’t? Read the entire chapter of Revelation chapter 9, and ask yourself how eager people are these days to run to their government for safety instead of God.

Revelation 9:5 And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.
Revelation 9:6 And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.

Some critics of cybrid embryos have argued that their use is no longer necessary, given the recent development of a reprogramming technique that can turn back the clock on adult tissue to make “induced pluripotent” stem cells with embryo-like properties, but the HFEA licence committee rejected this.

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