Thinking to Believe

Japanese researchers have successfully taken adult mice skin cells, reverted them to stem cells, and then turned those skin cells into an egg.  That alone would be a huge technological achievement, but they didn’t stop there.  They fertilized and implanted those eggs, resulting in 11 live births (which reflects less than 1% of all attempts, so while the process was inefficient, it is a proof-of-concept).

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Wesley J. Smith reports that the Dutch government is drafting a law that would legalize euthanasia for the perfectly healthy who feel that they have “completed life” and want to die.  This is not surprising given the logic of the pro-suicide position.  The two prongs on which it hangs are self-autonomy and ending suffering.

I’ve long thought that these two rationales would be decoupled, such that justifiable suicide would no longer require that both requirements be met.  In this case, self-autonomy alone is the justification for suicide.  A perfectly medically and mentally healthy person just wants to die.  No more justification is needed.

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The prophet Isaiah records YHWH as saying:

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. ⁹ For as the heavens are higher than the earth,  so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Is 55:8-9)

This verse is quoted to make a variety of points.  Some quote it to make the point that God is unknowable.  Others use it to argue that we can’t understand God’s will and way of thinking.  My favorite use of this verse, however, is in a debate when someone’s position is being challenged and they don’t know how to respond.  When all else fails, just claim that your point of view is too lofty to understand because it comes directly from God!

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