Posted on 08/29/2009 12:07:45 PM PDT by Free ThinkerNY
Life begins at the point of conception, according to the Catholic Church, IIRC, and most others. Not me, but that’s for another discussion.
I’m asking if human-animal hybrids have souls or not, because you seem quite confident that artificially induced twins and triplets are “filled” with souls after the intervention.
It matters because if you declare something that cannot be viable, for now, due to limits of biology and technology that will likely be overcome in time, as non-living, then the entire argument that life “begins” at conception will need alterations. That will open a whole new can of worms.
You cannot assume it will ever be viable. For instance, does a molar pregnancy have a soul? I doubt it, since it is generally just a clump of tissues. So, unless and until your scenario can be shown to work (half human, half horse) it’s a moot point, since it may never ever be a viable being.
The post-fertilisation mechanism in a human-animal hybrid works until the blastocyst stage, after which the chromosome pairing errors begin to kill the hybrid. If this can be circumvented by genetic engineering, then the hybrid will indeed survive. But the point is, the hybrid survives until the blastocyst stage, which is long after fertilisation.
It would have a soul, if God placed one there.
At what stage of development does a soul enter a body?
The child in this story said he “chose” his parents while they were on Vacation in Hawaii, 5 weeks before he was conceived.
Or, like I said at the very beginning, there is no such thing as a soul.
Before you were born, the egg that is you was in your mother.
It was formed in her body when she was still in the womb.
That’s how old you really are.
Same thing for your mother herself. The egg that made her was in your grandmother.
So it’s in a way untrue to say “life begins at conception...” or things like that, because the egg that we all “are” was certainly alive and well way, way before our births.
Yes, that is why I said that I don’t believe life begins at conception.
In fact, there is no traceable “beginning”.
But it doesn't live because it is not viable. If God wants the Horse-Human hybrid to survive, he will allow us to find a way to do it. So far, He doesn't seem to show much interest in interspecies mixing.
Life begins at conception can only refer to a viable life form, by default.
So, are you okay with human embryos frozen just before the blastocyst stage, for scientific research? Or individual human gametes which are not “viable”, having parts of their genetics altered so as they can be fertilised, but remain incapable of being “viable”, being used for experiments?
By the way, hybrids DO live, but upto the blastocyst stage.
They are alive until then. Why does your god allow this?
A few, like me, "route out" following the proper procedures and having each box on the routing form properly checked off and signed.
What is impossible is to get off the mailing list...
So? I don’t see the connection between that and having a soul. It’s a moot point. If we can take a dead body and reanimate it in some way, does it have a soul? Is it the same person it was before? None of this matters of course, because we can’t do it.
You believe that. The real question I have is, why do you want to change someone else’s mind on the subject?
There’s a world of a difference between raising the dead, and between the natural lifespan of a hybrid.
LOL yeah, but most mailing lists are like that.
I believe in helping others shed their ignorance. Consider it my primary goal in life.
No. I don't think we should use human embryos for research, no matter how small, and I don't think people should be trying to mix horses and humans.
By the way, hybrids DO live, but upto the blastocyst stage.
They are alive until then. Why does your god allow this?
My God?
If there is 'God', who made us, then he made all of us. (Yes, even Ted Kennedy). If there is no God, then life is random.
Either way, life is what it is. Dangerous, and dirty, and some times scary. I wish I could change the world for you, but I can't.
So, it is your religion? BTW whenever someone thinks they are going to help others be less ignorant, a big red flag goes off in my head. I think arrogance is probably a worse burden to bear than ignorance.
Demons can imitate things such as this. The purpose here is clear, to undermine this guy and his family’s faith. It’s what it always is, whatever particular weakenesses a person may have to be exploited.
It’s basically the primary reason NOT to ever get involved with anything that claims to talk to spirits, or spirits of the dead. There is no guarantee anyone can give you that it isn’t a demon imitating that person. That’s even why I would avoid those pet healers who claim they can talk to your pet and learn about what physical problems they have. While they can find things that are problems what they are talking to cannot be guaranteed to be the animal. They all ASSUME it’s the animal.
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