LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2004, Page 398

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398 THEOLOGICAL DOCUMENTS—-COMMISSION ON THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS

our bodies. Each sperm and egg draws upon the father’s or
mother’s double set of genes in ways that make each sperm and
egg genetically different from the others despite their coming from
the same parent. When sperm and egg fuse in conception a new
and unique double set of genes is formed from the single contribu-
tion of each.

We turn now to a survey of more recent technologies involved
in the conception of new human persons.

Artificial insemination is a relatively simple technique that i in-
troduces sperm into the woman’s body by some means other than
sexual intercourse. Sperm often comes from the woman’s husband,
but donor sperm from outside a marriage is also used. This tech-
nique changes the way that sperm is made available, but it does not
change the basic genetic fact that the embryo conceived has a new
double set of genetic instructions that combines a set of genes from
the egg and a set from the sperm.

Modern day surrogacy is the practice of having a woman who
is not intended to be the social mother of the child provide the
womb in which the child develops until he or she is able to be born.
Embryos can be conceived in the surrogate’s womb by natural in-
tercourse or more likely by artificial insemination. In this case the
surTogate’s egg contributes half of the genetic instructions for the
child. Jn vitro fertilization and the technology of cloning (see
below) make it possible to introduce into the womb an embryo that
is in no way genetically related to the surrogate. In the usual prac-
tice of in vitro fertilization the child will have a new double set of
genetic instructions combining genes from whatever egg and sperm
were brought together to form the embryo. As we will see, cloning
changes the way the double set of genetic instructions comes into
the new life.

In vitro fertilization refers to a variety of highly sophisticated
techniques whereby an embryo is brought about outside a woman’s
body. Several different methods are used for transferring the em-
bryo into the woman’s womb. The usual practice of in vitro fertil-
ization changes the place and the way that sperm and egg come to-
gether, but this practice does not change the basic genetic fact that
the embryo has a new double set of genetic instructions resulting
from the fusion of sperm and egg. Jn vitro techniques often use
sperm and eggs from a married couple, but the technology, of
course, can use any source of eggs and sperm.

Cloning marks a significantly different approach to a child’s
origin. In cloning the double set of genetic instructions that directs
the embryo’s physical development derives not from the combina-
tion of genes from two parents but from a double set of genetic in-
structions identical to that of the single “parent” from which the
clone is generated. The word “clone” comes from the Greek kl“on
(KA@V), meaning sprout or twig. Merriam Webster’s Collegiate
Dictionary (Tenth Edition) defines a clone as “an individual grown
vom a single somatic cell of its parent and genetically identical to

” (“Somatic” means a body cell that has a complete double set
of paired genes, rather than a sex cell that has only half of the dou-
ble set of paired genes.) The use of the word “clone” as a noun in
the English language dates from the beginning of the 20th century.
The word became a verb in the middle of the 20th century.

Cloning is not a new feature in the world of biology. In the plant
and insect world there are many examples of reproduction occur-
ring by an identical offshoot coming from the parent stock. Indeed,
our own human development from embryo to adult human involves
the cloning of the original single cell produced at the moment of
our conception. All the cells currently in our body are clones of
that original cell.

The phenomenon of identical twins is also an example related to
cloning. Identical twins occur when, very soon after the moment
of conception, the embryo splits into two distinct entities. Both en-
tities have identical sets of genetic instructions, but each grows in-
dependently. In the earliest stages of embryonic development all

2004 Convention Workbook

the genes in the instruction set are equally at work or dormant in
each cell alike, so that when the embryo splits, full development of
both new entities is possible. Not long into the development, how-
ever, cells in the embryo begin to differentiate. Some begin to form
heart muscle, others other organs, etc. Once the cells begin to dif-
ferentiate, the possibility of natural identical twinning is past.
Genetic science is now pursuing the possibility of taking a dif-
ferentiated cell from an adult human, returning it to a state where it
can direct the entire development of an embryo, introducing it into
an egg that has been emptied of its own genetic instructions, and
then inducing the cell to use the nutrients in the egg cell to begin to
develop into a new individual. The new individual will thus be
what some have called a “time-delayed identical twin” of the indi-
vidual who has supplied the cell from which the cloned individual
has developed. In this technology we have the possibility of a very
different relationship of parent to child. No one previously has ever
been in a position to produce a child that was one’s own time-de-
layed identical twin. The question before us, then, is this: What
shall we think and say about this way of producing new humans?

What Child Is This?

What shall we think and say about the moral and spiritual sig-
nificance of humans in relation to the circumstances that produced
them? In this report we will use the words “person” and “person-
hood” when we are speaking of the moral and spiritual significance
of a human being. On what basis can we determine what the per-
sonhood of any child might be, whether born in the time-honored
way, in some different way, or by cloning?

God’s Word introduces, a fundamental distinction into our un-
derstanding of the personhood of any and all human beings. The
Gospel of John can guide us here. In John 1 we read of Jesus, the
Word, that “to all who received him, who believed in his name, he
gave power to become children of God; who were born, not of
blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of
God” (12-13). Jesus himself teaches this in his words to Nicode-
mus in John 3: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of
water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That
which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the
Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born
anew’” (5-7).

These words teach us that every child of humanity is a child
conceived of the flesh. In biblical language this means that every
human individual is now conceived into a natural situation in which
the trajectory of life is limited by the cycles of birth and death.
More than that, God’s Word teaches that all human life—indeed
all of nature—is in a bondage brought about by sinful rebellion
against, and separation from, God. The Gospel of John reminds us
of the wonderful humility and love the sinless Son of God showed
when he assumed our flesh and dwelt among us to redeem us
(1:14).

Psalm 90 is a reliable guide here concerning human life born of
the flesh. The psalmist begins with the material cycle of nature:

Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the
mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and
the world, from everlasting to everlasting thou art God. Thou turnest
man back to the dust, and sayest, “Turn back, O children of men!” For
a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a
watch in the night. Thou dost sweep men away; they are like a dream,
like grass which is renewed in the morning: in the morning it flourishes
and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers (1-6).

But then the psalm moves on to a much more challenging per-
spective:

For we are consumed by thy anger; by thy wrath we are overwhelmed.

Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secrel sins in the light of

thy countenance. For all our days pass away under thy wrath, our years

come to an.end like a sigh. The years of our life are threescore and ten,

or even by reason of strength fourscore; yet their span is but toil and