Modern medicine and "playing God"?

Question

There are ethical issues with stem cell research and cloning. But where do we draw the line with "playing God?"
Engineering babies like in the movie 'Gattaca' could be considered "playing God" by some, but what about modern medicine that prolongs someone's life? Is that playing God as well?
I'm preparing a discussion on this topic, and I'd like to see what you all think.
Thanks.

Answer 1

Theoretically anything that's not natural is playing God. Using antibiotics is playing God. Chemistry is playing God. There shouldn't be a line drawn because that's not a legitimate objection to anything, especially with the supposed separation of church and state.

Answer 2

Humans have been "playing God" since the dawn of civilization. Any intervention that human technology gives humans over the natural scheme is to a real extent God-like. The differences are in degree. Herbalists in ancient Egypt 5000 years ago had similar goals (curing disease and prolonging life) to modern physicians; intent-will is the same, only the methods and their efficacy are different, and certainly are not yet perfect by any means.

We stepped over the line when we invented agriculture and animal husbandry, and maybe even as far back as stone tools. The rest has been a slippery slope.

Answer 3

I'll be honest, in some ways my heart and head are divided with this. My stand is this: If you can see, regardless what the wishes of the person in question might have been, that prolonging their life only leaves them in a vegetative state (ie: they are clinically brain dead--GOD just hasn't stopped their breath), pull the plug or let them die without making it look like you did (ie: you can't stop feeding them or caring for them in whatever way necessary).If the issue of reccessitation comes up, regardless if the person in question specified that they wanted reccessitation at all costs, don't. That's not "playing God" to me.

Answer 4

I believe that all medical research should stop. that their should be no Doctors at all .people can learn about useing herbs.close all hospitals.and such and then nature will kill off the vast amount of humans. were as parasites on mother earths skin.were killing off the many species that God in his wisdom put here, were committing a sin and should die for our sins against earth.
I pray for a virus that will cull the massive herd of humans.

Answer 5

"Equipped with his five senses, man explores the Universe and calls the adventure Science." What we chose to DO with what we see and learn about in Nature, such as playing "God" and making fire, or, playing "God" and helping a premature baby live, or, playing "God" and moving energy around in streams called electricity, or, playing "God" and isolating X-Rays from the electromagnetic sprectum in order to see a broken bone and better repair it, or, playing "God" and doing CPR on a child who has fallen into a swimming pool, or playing "God" and cutting wood with a man-made saw forged from minerals in foundries, or, playing "God" and melting sand to make lenses for a microscope to see bacteria in human waste and learn from that not to foul our water systems with such disease, is all about the caliber of the Human Conscience. But, no matter what, mankind's exploration of the world around him will go on. That cannot and should not be stopped. To finally see the "operations manual" or DNA human genome, is absolutely one of the most beautiful moments in human history. It is a magnificent achievement for us. It is a pity, though, that the cultural institutions supposedly in the business of nurturing our souls and teaching wisdom . . . our religions and philosophies . . . have not done their jobs as well as the explorers have done. We are not ethically ready or wise enough, in my opinion, no thanks to subjective backward magical-thinking religious paradigms sustained for not the instilling of wisdom but for the animal husbandry and control of humanity. But, ready or not, Nature has revealed itself to us and these enormous bioethical decisions are upon us. It is foolish to try to stop our human quest for understanding of the world around us. It would be wiser to promote effective approaches for more people to attain wisdom and reason so that they will use these new discoveries for something good.

Answer 6

If God did not want us to figure out how to practice medicine he would not have given us the brains to figure it out.