Why shouldn’t Christians promote and participate in studies that may help cure terminal diseases and paralyzing injuries?

Click on the order button below to download this Christianity Today Bible Study as a PDF file. Includes a Bible-based guide and two Christianity Today articles.

Overview

For embryonic stem cell research to move forward and have any life-saving impact, stem cells will need to be harvested from existing or created embryos, a step guaranteeing their destruction. However well-intentioned this approach to medicine, it begs the all-important questions: What is a human embryo? Does it have inherent dignity and worth, or is it just a clump of cells, to be manipulated and consumed for our benefit? And who gets to decide these matters? Scripture doesn’t address the embryo directly, but it provides clear principles that help us sort through this issue.

Table of Contents

SCRIPTURE: Genesis 1:26-28; 4:8-16; 9:1-7. Acts 15:1-35. Matthew 5:45b; 6:33; 7:12; 18:14; 22:37-40

LEADER'S GUIDE

    • Identify the Current Issue

    • Discover the Eternal Principles

—Teaching point one: All life is created by God. Humans are created in the image of God, thereby reflecting their Creator.

—Teaching point two: God is not just the creator of human life; he also wills to protect the human life he has created.

—Teaching point three: God makes provision for human livelihood—both plant and animal life—but taking the life of a human being created in God’s image is prohibited.

—Teaching point four: The Bible doesn’t have an answer for every human dilemma, but with the aid of the Spirit in the community of faith, it points us in the right direction.