OT: Superman and Stemcells

[NTJedi]

Arryn said:

Further proof of just how stupid smoking is.

I agree smoking is stupid...
People start smoking because of peer pressure and/or trying to rebel which is sad... then they keep smoking because they can't break their addiction despite the obvious bad health results and expenses for keeping the habit.



[/quote] ...a fetus isn't a live human until its brain starts working.

[/quote]

The real question is when does the soul arrive... yet mankind doesn't know. Destroying the temple(body/organism) for where a soul may reside is definitely wrong.

[Arryn]

Hi, NT. I was starting to wonder how long you could stay away from a discussion on religion and politics.

People start smoking, and fail to stop, because they are weak-willed (as well as being stupid).

With regards to souls, and playing Devil's Advocate {nods to Murph}, it hasn't been proved that they exist. Isn't it sort of hard to demonstrate when something that may not even exist arrives? Oh, and if destroying the container for a soul is wrong, then what is your position on capital punishment? Self-defense? Or if we really want to have fun, how about the rulings of Sharia courts in Nigeria that two women are to be stoned to death for having unmarried sex? (BTW, the men these women admitted to having sex with, one of the women being *pregnant* by her companion, were acquitted due to "lack of evidence". Barbaric, simply barbaric.)

[Evil Dave]

NTJedi said:

The real question is when does the soul arrive... yet mankind doesn't know. Destroying the temple(body/organism) for where a soul may reside is definitely wrong.

O great Jedi Master,

Do bugs have souls? Do rocks and trees have souls?

Beats the hell out of me. Worrying about the possibility leads only to paralysis. Like all societies, we want laws and norms. We can't wait for some future revelation. So we try to make something up and try to stick with it. In this discussion, we're (sorta) trying to decide what we wanna do and why we wanna stick with it.

[Gandalf Parker]

NTJedi said:
The real question is when does the soul arrive... yet mankind doesn't know. Destroying the temple(body/organism) for where a soul may reside is definitely wrong.

Which leads to the catholic banning of male masturbation? Which carried to its extreme led to monks disease?
The banning of all procedures or surgeries which might affect the birthing process at all? birth control? Vasectomy? removing even partially a womb even if it would save the life of the mother?
Also the banning of all surgeries to seperate twins? Even if done to save one?

Logical arguments are fine but if you try to say that something "crosses a line" then you need to be willing to consider where the line should be. Im not ready to say that all eggs must be fertilized and all carried to full term and all eggs must be buried properly.