Top 10 Ways Man Try To Play God

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Has man gotten beside himself? Or has he gotten ahead of himself? Some would say that there are some things in life and in the world that man has no business having his hand in. Over the years, strides have been made in areas of science and technology that will make one wonder if that is indeed  true.

Where was man supposed to draw the line? It seems that many of the things that man is attempting to achieve, or is acutally doing, are unethical. For instance, who gave man the right to determine if someone should live or die? Who gave man the authority to decide who should be born and who shouldn’t? Here is a list of 10 ways that man tries to play the role of God:

10. Predicting Armageddon

The Bible says that only the creator knows when the end of the world will take place. However, man insists on trying to induce worldwide chaos with constant predictions of when they believe the world is going to end. Most of the predictions are usually based on some form of science or archeological find. There have been predictions by lost civilizations and numerologists.

Many people with foundations in religion find it easy to ignore the maniacal rants of those who swear they know when the world is ending. However, there are also those who feel the need to have underground bunkers and stashes of food and other goods, in an effort to be prepared. What they are preparing for is unknown.  The end of the world isn’t something that can be predicted. It’s something that is just going to happen…

9. Life Support System

No one likes to be faced with the loss of a loved one. However, what happens when you know there is no chance of them coming back. Life support systems were designed to keep people alive; who would surely die without them. Basically, it’s sustaining something that is already gone.

There have been instances where someone was on a life support system for years and recovered. There are also the instances where a family has waited prolonged amounts of time, only to have to decide to turn the machines off. Of course, by not using the system, you never know if they would have come back or not. Yet, isn’t it God who decides when someone is born and when someone dies.

The use of life support systems is another example of man stepping in to God’s shoes. By artificially sustaining a life that God has already taken back, man is attempting to override the decision as a creator of life.

8. Slavery

Slavery isn’t used in terms of just the enslavement of African American people for approximately 400 hundred years. African Americans weren’t the first people to be enslaved. There were slaves in the Bible. Native Americans were enslaved. Jewish people were enslaved. There are still nations across the world that believes another race of people was meant to be enslaved.

Slavery has been justified by oppressors, in so many ways. Many use their religious books as a means of proving that slavery isn’t wrong. This was especially so in the instance of the enslavement of African American in the Americas. White Christians used the Bible to try to persuade others to believe that God said these people of dark skin were nothing but animals; uncivilized, they were meant to serve.

Who is to determine master from slave? Who is to determine civilized from uncivilized? Who is to determine which race of man is to oppress another race of man?

7. Genocide

Genocide is the purposeful annihilation of an ethnic group or nation. There are other methods used to commit genocide; like taking away the capability to reproduce. Any step taken to rid the planet of a particular group is considered genocide.

What makes it right for any one person or group to decide that an entire race of people aren’t deserving of life. Unfortunately, this scenario has replayed itself throughout the world’s history. The largest example of genocide is present in the Holocaust. Hitler caused the death of millions of people; the majority of them were Jewish. African militant leader, Idi Amin, wiped out more hundreds of thousands of people; based on their ethnic groups.

If God made these people, should anyone have the right to say they are worthless? The killing of any man based on ethnicity is wrong. Think of it this way… if God decided that only animals were worthy of living on Earth and allowed man to know. How would it feel knowing that you were about to die because you were human?

6. Genetic Engineering

Also referred to as genetic modification, genetic engineering is man’s manipulation of an organism’s genetic content through the use of technology. It is centered on the introducing DNA that isn’t natural to the genome or artificial genes into the organism. Once a host gene has been isolated, new DNA material is inserted to it. This type of technology is used in research, for industrial purposes and for agriculture.

The problem that genetic engineering poses is that it alters the natural state of an organism. It has been argued that through this technology, people can pick and choose the types of physical characteristics they want their children to have. For example, they can now choose the color of their child’s eyes and the color of their hair. Instead of being happy with what God has blessed them with, parents can now create the child of their dreams. Research has proven that with the use of genetic engineering, man can control the genetic make-up of any organism. Science may be headed in a direction that may offer some benefits but may also bring about something that they lose control over.

At the time of conception, biology makes decisions. Is it alright for man to make changes in what has naturally occurred?

5. Stem Cell Harvesting

The stem cell controversy is the moral debate that addresses the conception, conduct and annihilation of human embryos in order to conduct research involving embryonic stem cells. There are other forms of stem cell research that don’t include any of the aforementioned steps. For instance, stem cells that are taken from adults, amniotic fluid or induced pluripotent stem cells have nothing to do with the use of human embryos at all.

The position taken in regards to stem cell harvesting is that technology requires the destruction of human embryos in order to obtain the stem cells. This causes an issue for pro-life activists who believe that at the moment of fertilization, an embryo becomes a life. In their eyes, stem cell harvesting is the same as committing murder. Creating a life only to destroy it is considered inhumane.

If research being conducted through the use of harvested stem cells can help man find cured for deadly diseases or prevent deformities, should it be allowed? If a person can be saved through the creation and destruction of another living organism, should it not be done? Or, are those the decisions that should be left to God.

 

4. Artificial Insemination

Often referred to as AI, Artificial insemination is the unnatural process of introducing sperm into the reproductive system of a woman to induce pregnancy by means other than the natural act of sex. For human beings, this process is completed using the sperm of a woman’s male partner or the sperm of a male donor. It is commonly used by couples who cannot reproduce on their own or by women who want children but are not interested in becoming impregnated the natural way. Ironically, artificial insemination was a technique that was widely used on animals such as dairy cattle and pigs and modified to be used by humans.

Many in society feel as though this is an example of man playing a role in a part of life in which he has no business. There are those who believe that all lives that are intended to be in existence will be; if it’s the will of God. It is also argued that artificial insemination is used by parents who want to make choices in reference to their child’s physical characteristics.

Is it right to prevent a woman or couple from giving birth, simply because she cannot conceive naturally? Was it not God’s intention for women to bring forth life? Yet, if he created a particular woman without the ability to do so, is it man’s place to change the life that God had intended for her?

3. Human Cloning

Science truly overstepped its boundaries with this one. The biological technique that is used to create like populations of genetically duplicated persons that naturally occurs when natural bacteria, florae or bugs are duplicates asexually is called cloning. There are two familiar types of human cloning, therapeutic and reproductive. Therapeutic cloning uses adult cells for medicine and research. Reproductive cloning is the process of replicating human beings.

There is another type of cloning that is possible. It would be a combination of the other two. Replacement cloning would be used to replace damaged body parts and to conduct whole or partial brain transplants.

All human cloning is controversial and demands to put a stop to it are widespread. Believe it or not, there are even scientific organizations that are against human cloning. Some believe that there are issues with safety, while others feel as though it’s a violation of ethics.

What happens in the instance that identical cells are needed in an effort to save another life? Is it then okay to reproduce an exact replica of the organism that is already in existence? Or should man make the decision to just let nature takes its course?

2. Capital Punishment

Also known as the death penalty, capital punishment is the sentence of death that is handed down to a person as a penalty for a criminal act; these criminal acts are usually referred to as capital crimes. The word capital is derived from the Latin term, “capitalis”. Ironically, it translates to ‘regarding the head”. Before the invention of the electric chair and prior to lethal injection, capital crimes were punished by the severing of the head.

Only 58 nations practice the death penalty and it has been outlawed in 96 countries. Countries that still have it on their books haven’t used it in decades and preserve it for special circumstances; like wartime.

The stance that is taken in regards to the death penalty is the same as any other that has to do with  man deciding who is worthy of living and who isn’t. Many feel that the government oversteps its boundaries when it begins ending lives, for whatever reason it may be done. Those who take a religious stance say that it’s murder. However, some say that the Bible also says an “eye for an eye”.

So, which stance is the right stance? If a man kills a man, does the judicial system have the right to take the murders life? Is it right to spare his life, if he took another life in order to save his own. Murder is murder, right? When is it justified?

1. Abortion

An abortion is a medical process by which a pregnancy is intentionally terminated via the removal or expulsion of the fetus or embryo before it can survive on its own. Spontaneous abortions, which occur naturally, are called a miscarriage. When the term abortion is used, it’s usually in reference to a miscarriage that has been induced on purpose.

From the time of its legalization, induced abortion has been the center of controversy, debate and activism. Many times the position that one takes on the topic is based on a moral or ethical viewpoint. It can even be political when it comes to women’s rights groups. Religiously, abortion is man playing God, once again.

There are many arguments made when it comes to this. Some will say a woman knows that one of the risks of having unprotected sex is pregnancy. If God deemed her ready to be a mother, who is she to change that. Many stand firm on the belief that all life is ordered by God. God decides who is born and when; he also decided who dies and when. If you look at it that way, with man making decisions about when to terminate a life, they are essentially messing with what God has willed to be.

As you can see, many of the things on this list deal directly with human life. Whether it should be spared…whether it should be terminated….whether it should be destroyed for advancement in science. When and where did man lose sight of the fact that there is a creator of all things; and that the creator of them should decide what happens to them?

With the direction that man is headed at the present time, this same list will have a few different things on it in approximately five years. Man doesn’t seem to understand that there are times when nature should be left alone to do what it’s intended to do naturally. Is man setting himself up for disaster?