Superman and Stem Cell Research
"LET NOTHING BE DONE THROUGH STRIFE OR VAINGLORY: BUT IN LOWLINESS OF MIND LET EACH ESTEEM OTHER BETTER THAN THEMSELVES" (PHILIPPIANS 2:3For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.
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In February 2002 American actor Christopher Reeve (famous for playing Superman in several movies) made headlines for publicly supporting the United Kingdom's granting permission for scientists to try to clone humans and to "set up the world's first embryo cell bank." So-called "stem-cell research" is one of the latest tactics in the battle to legitimatize abortion and cloning - but not on the basis of any scientific evidence. For more than a century evolutionary science has been spouting "maybe's" and "perhaps's" and "possibly's" as "evidence" for evolution; now it cites the same "reasons" to justify "stem-cell research."
In a 28 February 2002 news item posted on the website for CNN, Reeve justified his support with the excuse that "Therapeutic cloning and embryonic stem-cell research MAY represent the best hope" for "hundreds of millions worldwide" who suffer ailments such as his. The Bishop of Oxford joined in with an excuse that "no avenue of research should be blocked off at this stage," while Professor Chris Huggins (of the House of Lords) couldn't come up with a better excuse than "Stem cells offer enormous potential." Professor Sir George Radda of "the Medical Research Council" said that scientists should be allowed "to explore the enormous potential."
Reeve's support of such shenanigans isn't surprising. Back in the late 1970s, when told that his illegitimate child and "live-in" partner were not in keeping with the kind of role model Superman should be, Reeve responded that he wasn't Superman and that he would live his life any way he wanted to. So in his second Superman film the hero commits fornication - and Reeve quickly agreed to portray a sodomite on film for no other reason than "shock value." He is nothing more than a self-centered rebel, and his selfishness is still as evident now as it was 20+ years ago.
Since 1995 Reeve has been paralyzed from the neck down - and he wants to be "cured" so badly that he'd gladly sacrifice the lives of countless babies on the off chance that such slaughter would generate a cure for him. After all, what are the lives of millions of unborn babies compared to his? Why should he sacrifice himself for others when he can demand that others be sacrificed for him? He reminds me of the paraplegic who addressed the U.S. Congress in 2001 and flatly demanded that she wanted to walk again and that Congress should do anything necessary to help her (not others) to do so.
Don't follow the way of this world. Sacrifice self to Christ instead of exalting self above all measure. Esteem others as better than self and not as tools to serve self.
Reprinted From Soldiers in Training, Summer, 2002