"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." (Genesis 1:26)

"Human beings are themselves part of nature, creatures within creation. Human discovery and invention can be thought of as resulting from the exercise of God-given powers of mind and reason." (Church of England Board)
 

    Should mankind agree with quotes such as those above? Is GE only an extension of God's will? Is it justified? These are all interesting notions and this final section shall explore these questions.

    If you do not believe in God than this section may have no meaning for you, but for others it is useful. If God created all mankind and life on Earth than should Man tamper with the power of an almighty God and create life? I do not think so. By creating life with GE, we are going against God's will, and indeed, breaking the rules of life and death. Philosophy dictates that God has put the ideas into our minds. Thus biologists are justified to use the technology of GE. But lessons have taught us that GE and creating life may not be the answer to the horrors of death.

    First, we have not been able to clone a human yet. Perhaps God will never allow us to do this because it is against his will for us to clone a human being and for us to "Play God." Also if we examine literature and specifically Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, the lesson in this work is that we should not interfere with nature and the work of God. In this classical work of literature, Dr. Victor Frankenstein becomes obsessed with creating a human being and eventually succeeds in creating a creature. But because the creature's appearance is horrible, he abandons it. The creature, now alone, learns to speak and think for himself. But he is cursed by all people who see him because he is grotesque. Thus because of this, the creature seeks Frankenstein to create a bride for him so he can live in peace. But Frankenstein refuses to create another human being, and vows to strike back on his wedding night. Then after Frankenstein gets married, the wedding night arrives and the creature kills everyone in the doctor's family including his father and new wife. Frankenstein then follows the creature hoping to kill him and eventually dies with the creature. Thus this classic book symbolizes a major con of GE. Mankind should not threaten or mess with God, for it will ultimately destroy you.

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Created as part of a term project for SCEN103 at the University of Delaware Comments, suggestions, or requests to jeffmay@udel.edu "http://www.udel.edu/physics/scen103/CGZ/god.html" Last updated May 2, 2000. Copyright Jen Franchino, Vinnie Verruto, Allison Zuckerbrow,  Jeff May, Univ. of Delaware, 2000