Thank you for this.  It is the first time I have been told that I am
worth more in God's eyes than the stuff the clinics toss in the trash.

Enjoy Fall!
Rick McGirr
Email: [log in to unmask]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Nina P. Brown" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, October 10, 2005 1:08 AM
Subject: Re: personhood


> With regard to the question of personhood, I would like to share
> with those who may not have seen
> it, a copy of the conclusion my husband, Joe, and I have come to
> after years of thought and study
> regarding the question.
> _____
>
>            THE GIFT OF EMBRYONIC STEM CELLS
>
> Two separate issues involved in the question of embryonic stem cell
> research beg for answers.
>
> The first is scientific - can it be done? Is there potential in the
> research? The second issue is
> moral, ethical or theological - should it be done?
>
> The same questions being asked today were raised with in vitro
> fertilization and have historically
> been raised with numerous scientific processes that are currently
> accepted as routine, such as organ
> transplantation.
>
> An overwhelming majority of mainstream scientists agree that the new
> frontier of embryonic stem cell
> research has great scientific potential for life enhancing medical
> treatments.
>
> This brings us to the moral, ethical and theological dilemma which
> begs the question: When does life
> begin?
>
> As the centuries have gone by, God has revealed more and more of His
> wonders to us as we have become
> ready to receive them. He has given us the ability, coupled with the
> responsibility, to recognize
> His gifts as He presents them.
>
> Scientists now recognize that, in the early stages of development of
> the embryo (which is not a
> fetus) there is a 10-14 day period before cells begin to
> differentiate into specific organs, such as
> brain, heart and neural tube. The embryonic stem cells that
> scientists use for research typically
> consist of 150-200 five-day-old microscopically small,
> undifferentiated (identical) cells in a Petri
> dish.  Until these cells differentiate, they have the potential to
> become one child, twins or
> triplets.
> The common belief is that each of us has our own unique soul.  We
> assume twins don't share the same
> soul.  Although a single cell can divide and eventually become twins
> at this undifferentiated stage,
> at no stage would a soul divide.
>
> Therefore, these five-day-old undifferentiated cells, so small that
> they fit inside the eye of a
> needle, are not human beings, but human cells that are God's gift
> for improving the quality of our
> lives.
>
> Throughout the history of mankind God has continued to reveal
> ever-increasing life-enhancing
> knowledge, from herbs to the microscope, surgery, pharmaceuticals
> and nuclear medicine. Our belief
> is that now God has chosen to reveal His gift of undifferentiated
> cells as a brief window of
> opportunity to provide a means to sustain and prolong life and has
> given us the gift of
> differentiating cells to create life.  For both gifts, we thank God.
>
>
>
> Nina
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Parkinson's Information Exchange Network
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
> rayilynlee
> Sent: Monday, October 03, 2005 12:09 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: personhood
>
> Paula, if you believe personhood begins at implantation you should
> have not
> have any  trouble with nuclear transfer or embryonic stem cell
> research.
> Your position would be like that of Mormon Sen. Orrin Hatch. The
> cells and
> research we are talking about takes place in a petri dish, not a
> womb.
> Ray
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Paula Nixon" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Sunday, October 02, 2005 11:52 PM
> Subject: Re: CA lawsuit for embryo Mary Scott Doe
>
>
>> Amanda,
>> Isn't a person that is unconscious, perhaps under anesthesia a
>> living
>> being?  How about a 6 month fetus, that could live if it were born.
>> The
>> prenatal age of viability keeps getting pushed back farther and
>> farther.
>> Maybe it will be 5 months.  Isn't it still a person? If it is born
>> full
>> term, it requires constant attention to keep it alive.  Isn't it
>> still a
>> person?  That frozen lump, it's not a dog or a monkey, it's human.
>> Given
>> food and oxygen it will be a person.  I personally think person
>> hood
>> begins at implantation, but this does give room for ethical
>> studies. It's
>> not cut and dried and not necessarily the way we want it to be.
>> Paula
>>
>> Amanda Phillips <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> hang on - person = conscious individual = living being, which not =
>> small
>> frozen lump with no functions indicating the above ?
>>
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