Where are the limits of the biomedicine?

Science presentation with Christian background

(06.06.2014) The presentation „Biotechnology and the thoughts of our church“given on Friday afternoon was assigned to an exciting but complex theme. Martin Wabitsch, Children- and Youth-physician and scientist at University Ulm, first gave an overview of possible procedures in the biomedicine of today, to the participants in the Olympia Hall. Due to ongoing medicine research, many things are possible but what is acceptable in the ethical and Christian sense? As a member of the workgroup “Medicine of the New Apostolic Church International” Martin Wabitsch discusses with experts this area of conflicts of the biotechnology.

The key-question is: When does human life begin and when exactly does human ensoulment take place? The bible does not present a definite answer, so a clear statement can’t be given, the audience learned. To best shelter the human being as Gods Image, the New Apostolic Church formulated a guideline: Human beings start with the fusion of a sperm cell with an egg cell and also in this moment the ensoulment takes place. Therefore the church refuses to kill this life or stop the development of it, because unrestricted human dignity needs to be taken into account. On the other hand it can’t be concluded, that with every death of a zygote a soul leaves for the beyond, because the time of the ensoulment is unknown.

Upon this basis Martin Wabitsch evaluated the biotechnological procedures, like prenatal and pre-implantation diagnostics, predictive genetic diagnostics, stem cell therapy and cloning. These clearly and differentiated statements of the New Apostolic Church are available as a download. In his closing words he emphasized: The biomedicine research and its usage at human life has ethic limits and limits based on the faith. The New Apostolic Church gives recommendations, which provides orientation for a founded, but self-reliant decision of the believers. The church accepts the decision of the believers and takes pastoral care of them.