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Latest comment: 4 months ago by Ficaia in topic Tangential/belong elsewhere

Opening line: Humans are apes is a POV

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Latest comment: 1 year ago1 comment1 person in discussion

In the view of many, that is merely a belief promoted by the blind who lead the blind. Just saying. 70.57.88.207 17:16, 23 February 2023 (UTC)Reply

"Statement on the Biblical View of Unborn Life and its Implications for Abortion" (18 Oct 2019) (*former entry)

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Adventist.org, "Statement on the Biblical View of Unborn Life and its Implications for Abortion". (18 Oct 2019)

  • Furthermore, the importance of human life is made clear by the fact that, after the Fall (Genesis 3), God “gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). While God could have abandoned and terminated sinful humanity, He opted for life. Consequently, Christ’s followers will be raised from the dead and will live in face-to-face communion with God (John 11:25-26; 1 Thessalonians 4:15-16; Revelation 21:3). Thus, human life is of inestimable value. This is true for all stages of human life: the unborn, children of various ages, adolescents, adults, and seniors—independent of physical, mental, and emotional capacities. It is also true for all humans regardless of sex, ethnicity, social status, religion, and whatever else may distinguish them. Such an understanding of the sanctity of life gives inviolable and equal value to each and every human life and requires it to be treated with the utmost respect and care.
    • p.2
  • “God considers the unborn child as human life”. Prenatal life is precious in God’s sight, and the Bible describes God’s knowledge of people before they were conceived. “Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them” (Psalm 139:16). In certain cases, God directly guided prenatal life. Samson was to “be a Nazirite to God from the womb” (Judges 2013:5). The servant of God is “called from the womb” (Isaiah 49:1, 5). Jeremiah was already chosen as a prophet before his birth (Jeremiah 1:5), as was Paul (Galatians 1:15), and John the Baptist was to “be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb” (Luke 1:15). Of Jesus the angel Gabriel explained to Mary: “therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). In His Incarnation Jesus Himself experienced the human prenatal period and was recognized as the Messiah and Son of God soon after His conception (Luke 1:40-2645). The Bible already attributes to the unborn child joy (Luke 1:44) and even rivalry (Genesis 25:21-23). Those not-yet-born have a firm place with God (Job 10:8-12; 31:13-15). Biblical law shows a strong regard for protecting human life and considers harm to or the loss of a baby or mother as a result of a violent act a serious issue (Exodus 21:22-23).
    • p.2
  • 3. ”The will of God regarding human life is expressed in the Ten Commandments and explained by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount.” The Decalogue was given to God’s covenant people and the world to guide their lives and protect them. Its commandments are unchanging truths which should be cherished, respected, and obeyed. The Psalmist praises God’s law (e.g., Psalm 119), and Paul calls it holy, righteous, and good (Romans 7:12). The sixth commandment states: “You shall not kill” (Exodus 20:13), which calls for the preservation of human life. The principle to preserve life enshrined in the sixth commandment places abortion within its scope. Jesus reinforced the commandment not to kill in Matthew 5:21-22. Life is protected by God. It is not measured by individuals’ abilities or their usefulness, but by the value that God’s creation and sacrificial love has placed on it. Personhood, human value, and salvation are not earned or merited but graciously granted by God.
    • p.2
  • 4. “God is the Owner of life, and human beings are His stewards. Scripture teaches that God owns everything (Psalm 50:10-12)”. God has a dual claim on humans. They are His because He is their Creator and therefore He owns them (Psalm 139:13-16). They are also His because He is their Redeemer and has bought them with the highest possible price—His own life (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). This means that all human beings are stewards of whatever God has entrusted to them, including their own lives, the lives of their children, and the unborn.
    The stewardship of life also includes carrying responsibilities which in some ways limit their choices (1 Corinthians 9:19-22). Since God is the Giver and Owner of life, human beings do not have ultimate control over themselves and should seek to preserve life wherever possible. The principle of the stewardship of life obligates the community of believers to guide, support, care for, and love those facing decisions about pregnancies.
    • p.3
  • ”5. The Bible teaches care for the weak and the vulnerable”. God Himself cares for those who are disadvantaged and oppressed and protects them. He “shows no partiality nor takes a bribe. He administers justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing” (Deuteronomy 10:17-18, cf. Psalm 82:3-4; James 1:27). He does not hold children accountable for the sins of their fathers (Ezekiel 18:20). God expects the same of His children. They are called to help vulnerable people and ease their lot (Psalm 41:1; 82:3-4; Acts 20:35). Jesus speaks of the least of His brothers (Matthew 25:40), for whom His followers are responsible, and of the little ones who should not be despised or lost (Matthew 18:10-14). The very youngest, namely the unborn, should be counted among them. God’s grace promotes life in a world marred by sin and death. It is God’s nature to protect, preserve, and sustain life. In addition to the providence of God over His creation (Psalm 103:19; Colossians 1:17; Hebrews 1:3), the Bible acknowledges the wide-ranging, devastating, and degrading effects of sin on the creation, including on human bodies. In Romans 8:20-24 Paul describes the impact of the Fall as subjecting the creation to futility. Consequently, in rare and extreme cases, human conception may produce pregnancies with fatal prospects and/or acute, life-threatening birth anomalies that present individuals and couples with exceptional dilemmas. Decisions in such cases may be left to the conscience of the individuals involved and their families. These decisions should be well-informed and guided by the Holy Spirit and the biblical view of life outlined above. God’s grace promotes and protects life. Individuals in these challenging situations may come to Him in sincerity and find direction, comfort, and peace in the Lord.
    • p.3

Biohistorian15 (talk) 11:01, 7 April 2024 (UTC)Reply

“Encyclical Evangelium vitae" (March 25, 1995) (*former entry)

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John Paul II, “Encyclical Evangelium vitae", 99, (March 25, 1995) Archived October 27, 2014, at the Wayback Machine

  • The Second Vatican Council, in a passage which retains all its relevance today, forcefully condemned a number of crimes and attacks against human life. Thirty years later, taking up the words of the Council and with the same forcefulness I repeat that condemnation in the name of the whole Church, certain that I am interpreting the genuine sentiment of every upright conscience: "Whatever is opposed to life itself, such as any type of murder, genocide, abortion, euthanasia, or wilful self-destruction, whatever violates the integrity of the human person, such as mutilation, torments inflicted on body or mind, attempts to coerce the will itself; whatever insults human dignity, such as subhuman living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution, the selling of women and children; as well as disgraceful working conditions, where people are treated as mere instruments of gain rather than as free and responsible persons; all these things and others like them are infamies indeed. They poison human society, and they do more harm to those who practise them than to those who suffer from the injury. Moreover, they are a supreme dishonour to the Creator".
    • n.3
  • Unfortunately, this disturbing state of affairs, far from decreasing, is expanding: with the new prospects opened up by scientific and technological progress there arise new forms of attacks on the dignity of the human being. At the same time a new cultural climate is developing and taking hold, which gives crimes against life a new and-if possible-even more sinister character, giving rise to further grave concern: broad sectors of public opinion justify certain crimes against life in the name of the rights of individual freedom, and on this basis they claim not only exemption from punishment but even authorization by the State, so that these things can be done with total freedom and indeed with the free assistance of health-care systems.
    All this is causing a profound change in the way in which life and relationships between people are considered. The fact that legislation in many countries, perhaps even departing from basic principles of their Constitutions, has determined not to punish these practices against life, and even to make them altogether legal, is both a disturbing symptom and a significant cause of grave moral decline. Choices once unanimously considered criminal and rejected by the common moral sense are gradually becoming socially acceptable. Even certain sectors of the medical profession, which by its calling is directed to the defence and care of human life, are increasingly willing to carry out these acts against the person. In this way the very nature of the medical profession is distorted and contradicted, and the dignity of those who practise it is degraded. In such a cultural and legislative situation, the serious demographic, social and family problems which weigh upon many of the world's peoples and which require responsible and effective attention from national and international bodies, are left open to false and deceptive solutions, opposed to the truth and the good of persons and nations.
    The end result of this is tragic: not only is the fact of the destruction of so many human lives still to be born or in their final stage extremely grave and disturbing, but no less grave and disturbing is the fact that conscience itself, darkened as it were by such widespread conditioning, is finding it increasingly difficult to distinguish between good and evil in what concerns the basic value of human life.
    • n.4
  • The life which the Son of God came to give to human beings cannot be reduced to mere existence in time. The life which was always "in him" and which is the "light of men" (Jn 1:4) consists in being begotten of God and sharing in the fullness of his love: "To all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God; who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God" (Jn 1:12-13).
    Sometimes Jesus refers to this life which he came to give simply as "life", and he presents being born of God as a necessary condition if man is to attain the end for which God has created him: "Unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (Jn 3:3). To give this life is the real object of Jesus' mission: he is the one who "comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world" (Jn 6:33). Thus can he truly say: "He who follows me ... will have the light of life" (Jn 8:12).
    At other times, Jesus speaks of "eternal life". Here the adjective does more than merely evoke a perspective which is beyond time. The life which Jesus promises and gives is "eternal" because it is a full participation in the life of the "Eternal One". Whoever believes in Jesus and enters into communion with him has eternal life (cf. Jn 3:15; 6:40) because he hears from Jesus the only words which reveal and communicate to his existence the fullness of life. These are the "words of eternal life" which Peter acknowledges in his confession of faith: "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life; and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God" (Jn 6:68-69). Jesus himself, addressing the Father in the great priestly prayer, declares what eternal life consists in: "This is eternal life, that they may know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent" (Jn 17:3). To know God and his Son is to accept the mystery of the loving communion of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit into one's own life, which even now is open to eternal life because it shares in the life of God.
    • n.37
  • In the light of this truth Saint Irenaeus qualifies and completes his praise of man: "the glory of God" is indeed, "man, living man", but "the life of man consists in the vision of God".
    • n.37
  • Some people try to justify abortion by claiming that the result of conception, at least up to a certain number of days, cannot yet be considered a personal human life. But in fact, "from the time that the ovum is fertilized, a life is begun which is neither that of the father nor the mother; it is rather the life of a new human being with his own growth. It would never be made human if it were not human already. This has always been clear, and ... modern genetic science offers clear confirmation. It has demonstrated that from the first instant there is established the programme of what this living being will be: a person, this individual person with his characteristic aspects already well determined. Right from fertilization the adventure of a human life begins, and each of its capacities requires time-a rather lengthy time-to find its place and to be in a position to act".57 Even if the presence of a spiritual soul cannot be ascertained by empirical data, the results themselves of scientific research on the human embryo provide "a valuable indication for discerning by the use of reason a personal presence at the moment of the first appearance of a human life: how could a human individual not be a human person?".
    • n.60
  • Human life is sacred and inviolable at every moment of existence, including the initial phase which precedes birth. All human beings, from their mothers' womb, belong to God who searches them and knows them, who forms them and knits them together with his own hands, who gazes on them when they are tiny shapeless embryos and already sees in them the adults of tomorrow whose days are numbered and whose vocation is even now written in the "book of life" (cf. Ps 139: 1, 13-16). There too, when they are still in their mothers' womb-as many passages of the Bible bear witness60-they are the personal objects of God's loving and fatherly providence.
    • n.61

Biohistorian15 (talk) 11:02, 7 April 2024 (UTC)Reply

Dialogue (*former entry)

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Latest comment: 7 months ago1 comment1 person in discussion
Vereena: Are you a monster because you are different?
Cirilla: Monsters do bad things to people.
Vereena: Humans do bad things to everybody.
Rose: What is that? What's happening?
The Doctor: That was murder.
Harriet: That was defence. It's adapted from alien technology. A ship that fell to Earth ten years ago.
The Doctor: But they were leaving.
Harriet: You said yourself, Doctor, they'd go back to the stars and tell others about the Earth. I'm sorry, Doctor, but you're not here all the time. You come and go. It happened today. Mister Llewellyn and the Major, they were murdered. They died right in front of me while you were sleeping. In which case we have to defend ourselves.
The Doctor: Britain's Golden Age.
Harriet: It comes with a price.
The Doctor: I gave them the wrong warning. I should've told them to run as fast as they can, run and hide because the monsters are coming. The human race.
Jean-Luc Picard: 'Grievously savage' could mean anything. I will answer only specific charges.
Q: Are you certain you want a full disclosure of human ugliness? So be it, fool.

Biohistorian15 (talk) 11:04, 7 April 2024 (UTC)Reply

Unsourced

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  • If a man be without the virtues proper to humanity, what has he to do with the rites of propriety? If a man be without the virtues proper to humanity, what has he to do with music?
    • Confucius, The Chinese Classics/Volume 1/Confucian Analects/III, Chapter III, Book III. PA YIH.

Tangential/belong elsewhere

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Latest comment: 4 months ago5 comments1 person in discussion
It is He who decides him to die, then puts him to a grave, and when He will, He resurrects him. Nay! has man fulfilled the mission entrusted to him? ~ Quran
They found me in the wreckage, dying. A lump of flesh. They rebuilt me. Everything works. But they had never seen a human. They had no guide for putting me back together. ~ Gene Roddenberry
  • You are the descendant of a tiny cell of primordial protoplasm washed up on an empty beach three and a half billion years ago. You are the blind and arbitrary product of time, chance, and natural forces. You are a mere grab-bag of atomic particles, a conglomeration of genetic substance. You exist on a tiny planet in a minute solar system in an empty corner of a universe. You are a purely biological entity, different only in degree but not in kind from a microbe, virus, or amoeba. You have no essence beyond your body, and at death you will cease to exist entirely. In short you come from nothing and are going to nowhere.
  • You are the special creation of a good and all-powerful God. You are created in His image; with capacities to think, feel, and worship that set you above all other life forms. You differ from the animals not simply in degree but in kind. Not only is your kind unique, but you are unique among you kind. Your Creator loves you so much and so intensely desires you companionship and affection that he has a perfect plan for you life. In addition God gave the life of His only son that you might spend eternity with Him. If you are willing to accept his gift of salvation, you can become a child of God.
    • Randy Alcorn, quoted in Dinesh D'Souza, What's so Great About Christianity (Regnery, 2007), pp. 15-16
  • It is clear that so far human beings are not managing their world very well.... They have been placed upon a planet which continues to roll unerringly upon its appointed path. The seasons follow each other with faithful regularity... Human beings have... amazing bodies, whose natural state is that of joyful health and energy. They have... mental powers whose possibilities are immeasurable, and creative ability which is allowing them to master all the substances and forces of nature one by one. They have been provided throughout their history with a succession of leaders and teachers who have bequeathed to them doctrines and laws which, although quite simple, would ensure an ideal social life... The picture before us of human quality and human achievement is kaleidoscopic, showing closely intermingling facets of beauty, of worth, of genius, of bestiality, of idiocy and of crime. ...Capable of creating beauty, he yet seems content to dwell mostly in conditions of hopeless ugliness. Of his magnificent body he makes on the whole a travesty. His mind, as an actual potent instrument, he usually ignores altogether. He sets self-preservation as his goal, yet bends all his efforts and his wits to the production of conditions which result in wars, disease, and other methods of self-destruction.... It is the mentality of the public—made up of the mentalities of you and of myself—which rules the issue. We, and only we, are in the last analysis responsible.
  • No system indeed by its own force can bring about the change that humanity really needs; for that can only come by its growth into the firmly realised possibilities of its own higher nature, and this growth depends on an inner and not an outer change. But outer changes may at least prepare favourable conditions for that more real amelioration,... or on the contrary they may lead to such conditions that the sword of Kalki can alone purify the earth from the burden of an obstinately Asuric humanity. The choice lies with the race itself; for as it sows, so shall it reap the fruit of its Karma.
    • Sri Aurobindo, 1920, quoted from Sri Aurobindo, ., Nahar, S., Aurobindo, ., & Institut de recherches évolutives (Paris). India's rebirth: A selection from Sri Aurobindo's writing, talks and speeches. Paris: Institut de Recherches Evolutives. 3rd Edition (2000). [1]
  • The world is one world, and its sufferings are one; humanity is in truth a unity, but many are still unaware of this, and the whole trend of the present teaching is directed to the awakening of humanity to this, while there is yet time to avert still more serious conditions. The sins of humanity are also one. Its goal is one, and it is as one great human family that we must emerge into the future. I would emphasise this thought: it is as one humanity, chastened, disciplined but illumined and fused, that we must emerge into the future. Those who do not grasp this important fact, whether they are what is called belligerents or neutrals, will suffer deeply as a result of their non-participation in the fate of the whole.... Identification with all, and participation in world conditions - voluntarily and not from force - is the way out today for all peoples. Ponder on this. p. 65
  • The peoples of the world... are divided into four groups... This is of course a wide generalization... First, the ignorant masses... They can be easily... swept into a collective activity by leaders of any school of thought which is clever enough, and emotional enough, to appeal to material desires, to love of country... They can be controlled by fear, and thus aroused to action by emotional appeal... Their conditions must be bettered, but not through bloodshed and exploitation. Secondly, the middle classes... the bulk of the nations, the bourgeoisie - intelligent, diligent, enquiring, narrow-minded... They are...without exception, the most powerful element in any nation... the most fruitful field from which the new leaders and organizers are being drawn... they are the determining factor in world affairs... Because of their intelligence... they provide the most powerful group in the world in each nation... Thirdly, the thinkers...the intelligent and highly educated men and women, who sense ideas and formulate them into ideals. These people speak the words, write the articles and books, and utilise all the known methods to reach and educate the general public... sometimes for good, and sometimes for selfish ends. They play upon the human mind, as a musician plays upon his instrument... Some few, more perhaps than might appear, are working selflessly under the inspiration of the new era... dedicated to the amelioration of human conditions, and the betterment of world affairs along certain lines... They are found in every government, party, society, and organisation, and in every Church and religious grouping. p.174-175
  • Humans are proud of themselves. The guiding principle of the modern age is "Man is the measure of all things." And our bodies have excited physiologists and philosophers to a profound awe of the basic mammalian design. But the history of the dinosaurs should teach us some humility... If our fundamental mammalian mode of adaptation was superior to the dinosaurs', then history should record the meteoric rise of the mammals and the eclipse of the dinosaurs. Our own Class Mammalia did not seize the dominant position in life on land. Instead, the mammal clan was but one of many separate evolutionary families that succeeded as species only by taking refuge in small body size during the Age of Dinosaurs. As long as there were dinosaurs, a full 130 million years, remember, the warm-blooded league of furry mammals produced no species bigger than a cat.
    • Robert T. Bakker (1986), The Dinosaur Heresies: A Revolutionary View of Dinosaurs, Longman Scientific & Technical, p. 17
  • Our species is prone to a flattering view of itself. Humans have regarded themselves as the pinnacle of creation, formed by and in the image of an omnibenevolent, omniscient, and omnipotent God, and inhabiting a planet at the center of the universe—a planet around which all others revolve. Science has done much to debunk some of these ideas. We now know that our planet is not at the center of the universe: the earth revolves around the sun rather than vice versa. And we know—or at least some of us do—that we are Johnny-come-lately products of a long, blind evolutionary process.
  • Then God said, "Let us make man in our likeness, and let there be a creature not only the product of earth, but also gifted with heavenly, spiritual elements, which will bestow on him reason, intellect, and understanding." Truth then appeared, falling before God's throne, and in all humility exclaimed: "Deign, O God, to refrain from calling into being a creature who is beset with the vice of lying, who will tread truth under his feet." Peace came forth to support this petition. "Wherefore, O lord, shall this creature appear on earth, a creature so full of strife and contention, to disturb the peace and harmony of thy creation? He will carry the flame of quarrel and ill-will in his trail; he will bring about war and destruction in his eagerness for gain and conquest." Whilst they were pleading against the creation of man, there was heard, arising from another part of the heavens, the soft voice of Charity: "Sovereign of the universe." the voice exclaimed, in all its mildness, "vouchsafe thou to create a being in thy, likeness, for it will be a noble creature striving to imitate thy attributes by its actions. I see man now in Spirit, that being with God's breath in his nostrils, seeking to perform his great mission, to do his noble work. I see him now in spirit, approaching the humble hut, seeking out those who are distressed and wretched to comfort them, drying the tears of the afflicted and despondent, raising up them that are bowed down in spirit, reaching his helping hand to those who are in need of help, speaking peace to the heart of the widow, and giving shelter to the fatherless. Such a creature can not fail to be a glory to his Maker." The Creator approved of the pleadings of Charity, called man into being, and cast Truth down to the earth to flourish there; as the Psalmist says (Ps. lxxxv. 12): "Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven to abide with man"; and he dignified Truth by making her his own seal.
    • Bereshith: Genesis Rabba Midrash
  • The problem _ of Man’s origin, of his evolution, of his destiny, is one of inexhaustible interest. Whence came he, this glorious Intelligence, on this globe, at least, the crown of visible beings? How has he evolved to his present position? Has he suddenly descended from above, a radiant angel, to become the temporary tenant of a house of clay, or has he climbed upwards through long dim ages, tracing his humble ancestry from primeval slime, through fish, reptile, mammal, up to the human kingdom? And what is his future destiny? Is he evolving onwards, climbing higher and higher, only to descend the long slope of degeneration till he falls over the precipice of death, leaving behind him a freezing planet, the sepulchre of myriad civilisations? or is his present climbing but the schooling of an immortal spiritual Power, destined in his maturity to wield the sceptre of a world, a system, a congeries of systems, a veritable God in the making?
  • Much of reproductive ethics is concerned, both within the Catholic tradition and without, with issues surrounding abortion. Within the Catholic bioethics tradition, much attention has also been given to issues of contraception and the use of new reproductive technologies or assisted reproduction. Often, but not always, these discussions concern the taking of human life. The problem of abortion, the incidental effects of assisted reproduction vis-à-vis the disposal of “spare” embryos, and more recent questions about the creation or use of young embryos to extract stem cells have all been addressed by the Church in recent years in terms of the taking of human life.
  • John Paul II, continuing the constant teaching of the Church, has reiterated many times that those who are directly involved in lawmaking bodies have a grave and clear obligation to oppose any law that attacks human life. For them, as for every Catholic, it is impossible to promote such laws or to vote for them. … In this context, it must be noted also that a well-formed Christian conscience does not permit one to vote for a political program or an individual law which contradicts the fundamental contents of faith and morals.
    • Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, “Doctrinal Note on Some Questions Regarding the Participation of Catholics in Political Life”, no.4, (January 16, 2003)
  • The dignity of a person must be recognized in every human being from conception to natural death. This fundamental principle expresses a great "yes" to human life and must be at the center of ethical reflection on biomedical research, which has an ever greater importance in today's world.
  • By taking the interrelationship of these two dimensions, the human and the divine, as the starting point, one understands better why it is that man has unassailable value: he possesses an eternal vocation and is called to share in the trinitarian love of the living God.
    This value belongs to all without distinction. By virtue of the simple fact of existing, every human being must be fully respected. The introduction of discrimination with regard to human dignity based on biological, psychological, or educational development, or based on health-related criteria, must be excluded. At every stage of his existence, man, created in the image and likeness of God, reflects "the face of his Only-begotten Son... This boundless and almost incomprehensible love of God for the human being reveals the degree to which the human person deserves to be loved in himself, independently of any other consideration – intelligence, beauty, health, youth, integrity, and so forth. In short, human life is always a good, for it 'is a manifestation of God in the world, a sign of his presence, a trace of his glory' (Evangelium vitae, 34)".
  • What it really means is pro-human-life. Abortion clinic bombers are not known for their veganism, nor do Roman Catholics show any particular reluctance to have their suffering pets 'put to sleep'. In the minds of many confused people, a single-celled human zygote, which has no nerves and cannot suffer, is infinitely sacred, simply because it is 'human'. No other cells enjoy this exalted status. But such 'essentialism' is deeply un-evolutionary. If there were a heaven in which all the animals who ever lived could frolic, we would find an interbreeding continuum between every species and every other. For example I could interbreed with a female who could interbreed with a male who could ... fill in a few gaps, probably not very many in this case ... who could interbreed with a chimpanzee. We could construct longer, but still unbroken chains of interbreeding individuals to connect a human with a warthog, a kangaroo, a catfish.
  • If one denies human life its absolute, transcendental character, the human person loses his inalienable worthiness and his inviolable rights. Then society determines what rights are to be bestowed on a person, and the State becomes absolute lord and master. As in all totalitarian regimes, the ethical function of defining good and evil does not depend on religion or conscience, but on political power. And this power is increasingly shared with medical doctors and scientists. Dr. Simon puts it this way: "Although society does not cease to influence the medical profession, the medical profession increasingly forms the face and the purpose of modern society. It becomes more and more difficult to escape the political involvement of medical doctors, because they no longer have as their only purpose the health of the people but involve themselves in changing their goal and thus in changing morals. And they participate more and more in political power, just as do other scientists."
  • In summary, Saints Thomas and Jerome were postulating a theory based upon the best medical knowledge of their time, which had been set forth by Aristotle centuries before. Aristotle taught that the unborn did not become human until forty days after conception. This notion was only discarded in 1621, based upon the work of Paulo Zacchia in his Quaestiones Medico-Legales, question 9.1.
    • Donovan, Colin B, [www.ewtn.com/expert/answers/abortio2.htm "Abortion - Exocommunication"], “Saints Thomas and Jerome.”, Eternal Word Television Network, Retrieved 2007-06-24.
  • What they [the Cactus Bristle gang] discovered is that people were not influenced by principles, such as the difference between democracy and communism, Judaism versus Islam, or even rich versus poor. They found people did not generally comprehend or like abstract principles. All people wanted was a place they called their own, a good job, and the ability to make life decisions with ample access to television.
  • I've helped him into an act of humanity. Anyone else like the sound of that: act of humanity?
  • It is easier to love humanity as a whole than to love one's neighbor. … Some of the worst tyrannies of our day genuinely are "vowed" to the service of mankind, yet can function only by pitting neighbor against neighbor. The all-seeing eye of a totalitarian regime is usually the watchful eye of the next-door neighbor. In a Communist state love of neighbor may be classed as counter-revolutionary.
  • In this unexpected scenario, the UFO occupants -- despite their obvious technological superiority -- are desperate for both human genetic material and the ability to feel human emotions -- particularly maternal emotions. Unlikely though it may seem, it is possible that the very survival of these extraterrestrials depends upon their success in absorbing chemical and psychological properties received from human abductees.
    • Budd Hopkins, in Intruders: The Incredible Visitations at Copley Woods, p. 190
  • I have tried to express that to apply the category “human race” to what it means to be a human being, especially as a term for the highest, is a misunderstanding and paganism, because the human race, humankind, is different from an “animalkind” not only by the advantage of race but by this humanness, that every individual in the human race (not just an outstanding individual, but every individual) is more than the race. This has its basis in the God-relationship (and this is Christianity, whose category the single individual is so strangely laughed to scorn by an esteemed Christian age), because to relate oneself to God is far superior to relating oneself to the race or through the race to God. This I have striven to express.
    • The Point of View On My Work As An Author by Soren Kierkegaard (finished 1848) published by Peter Christian Kierkegaard 1859 translated by Howard and Edna Hong 1998 Princeton University Press Note p. 87-88
  • I think the noblest part of man is the fact that he could transcend himself if he really tried. I mean, man is a very pliable object. It's been proven that you can put a man in 120 degrees of heat, hold him there for a certain amount of time and this guy - he's not going to walk out chipper, but he's going to walk out. Man has been subjected to what they might call 'killing stress' and he's walked out of that. In fact, I underate stress. Man can do something we might consider a super-act. Man can bend steel, and under stress he might be able to bend some even more intractable object. Man with training can perform super-acts. In other words, man can transcend himself in many ways.
  • All humans, male and female, are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27) and, therefore, have intrinsic dignity that should be respected and honored. Indeed, the breath of life in all human beings is a gift from God (Genesis 2:7) and thus inherently holy. The National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) has pledged to protect the sanctity of human life and to safeguard its nature. In light of our respect for the precious gift of life, the NAE continues to speak on the sensitive subject of abortion.
  • A minority current of medieval theology put a value on multiplying the number of human souls. Its most prominent exponent was Duns Scotus. Putting forward the thesis that “to want to procreate children” is good or bad depending on the circumstances, Scotus constructs an argument that would seem to favor limitless procreation: “through the procreation of offspring the city of supernatural citizens is restored in human nature; and to this end, human nature, as multiplied, is per se ordained; for to this end the All Highest has disposed it according to faith, in order to repair thef all of the angels” (‘’On the Sentences [Paris Report] 4.28’’). Taken literally, this proposition would seem to be, the more offspring, the bigger the population of heaven. The theme appears in some preaching: procreation is “to repair the fall of Lucifer in heaven.” St. Bernardine speaks of marriage as divinely ordained “to fill paradise” (The Christian Religion 48.1.1).
    This view of the purpose of marriage received its strongest official approval in a papal bull promulgated b Eugene IV at the Council of Florence, November 22, 1439, celebrating the reunion with the schismatic Armenians. The bull, ‘’Exultate Deo’’, enumerated and briefly described the sacraments. It said, “Through order the Church is indeed governed and multiplied spiritually; through matrimony it is corporally increased” (Mansi 31:1054). The contrast with holy orders was obviously of a neat, schematic kind. The bull is the medieval high-water mark of the theory of population increase as a value.
    The majority of theologians did not accept this view. Typical is St. Thomas, who spoke of “the multiplication of offspring to be educated to the service of God” as a purpose for marriage only for the polygamous patriarchs of the Old Testament ( On ‘’the Sentences’’ 4.33.1.2). Even among the minority, the emphasis on population was not made a direct objection to contraception. Nor did they press their view to the logical extreme of maintaining that the optimal endeavor would be to conceive as many children as possible provided that their baptism was assured. Against this logical extension stood the valuations put on virginity and on the welfare of the child. These factors, which checked even those theologians in favor of increasing the population of heaven, operated with still greater impact on the majority who remained unimpressed with this reason for procreation. Indeed, the stress laid on virginity and on the welfare of the child made is impossible for most thoughtful authors to urge that population as such was a value. An examination of the commitment to these counter values will show the strength of the forces working against the appeal to numbers for their own or heaven’s sake.
  • Human beings come from several million years of development, which is quite wonderful. I have a lot of regard for what human beings have become. It took us a million years to learn how to speak to each other, and we did it. It took us another million years to work with each other, and we did it. I think the human race is remarkable…Until we live in a world where we stop abusing each other and the other creatures, we will not have reached our perfection.
  • But the Church firmly believes that human life, even if weak and suffering, is always a splendid gift of God's goodness. Against the pessimism and selfishness which cast a shadow over the world, the Church stands for life: In each human life she sees the splendor of that 'Yes', that 'Amen', who is Christ himself. To the 'no' which assails and afflicts the world, she replies with this living 'Yes', thus defending the human person and the world from all who plot against and harm life.
    • John Paul II, Apost. Exhort. Familiaris Consortio, Nov. 22, 1981, n. 30).
  • In begetting human life biology demands that it goes beyond itself. This cannot fail to have implications on the ethical level too: what concerns the begetting of human life cannot be treated as if it were a mere biological event subject to any sort of manipulation.
  • Man and woman cease to be humans
    once they get lost into crowds.
  • Think not that God doth not heed the deeds of those who do mischief. He but giveth them respite against a Day when the eyes will fixedly stare in horror: They running forward with necks outstretched, their heads uplifted, their gaze returning not towards them, and their hearts a (gaping) void! So warn mankind of the Day when the Wrath will reach them: then will the wrongdoers say: "Our Lord! respite us (if only) for a short term: we will answer Thy call, and follow the apostles!" "What! were ye not wont to swear aforetime that ye should suffer no decline? "And ye dwelt in the dwellings of men who wronged their own souls; ye were clearly shown how We dealt with them; and We put forth (many) parables in your behoof!" Mighty indeed were the plots which they made, but their plots were (well) within the sight of God, even though they were such as to shake the hills!
  • It seems that every life form on this planet strives toward its maximum potential...except human beings. A tree does not row to half its potential size and then say, “l guess that will do.” A tree will drive its roots as deep as possible. It will soak up as much nourishment as it can, stretch as high and as wide as nature will allow, and then look down as if to remind us of how much each of us could become if we would only do all that we can.
    • Jim Rohn, Five Major Pieces To the Life Puzzle (1991).
  • One of the primary contributions of evolutionary approaches in anthropology has been to remind us that Homo sapiens today still live in Paleolithic bodies adapted for the stressors faced by the first little pig. Current diet, lifestyle and reproductive patterns are drastically different from those that produced the selective pressure under which humans and human childbirth evolved. This mismatch in genes and culture promotes, accelerates, and fosters certain ]]diseases]], especially those associated with changes in diet, reduced exercise levels and excessively interventive and mechanistic approaches to childbirth (Cheyney 2003, 2005; Trevathan et al. 1999, 2008). The notion that discontinuities between the conditions under which humans evolved and the conditions we live in today produce disease is called the “discordance hypothesis”, and it forms the foundation for a relatively new subfield of Medical Anthropology called Evolutionary or Darwinian Medicine. This approach examines health conditions generated by the discordance between evolved biology and current culture and attempts to propose evolutionarily sound solutions or treatments (Stearns et al. 2008; Trevathan et al. 1999, 2008; Williams and Nesse 1991).
  • WHEREAS, God created each living species to reproduce according to its kind (Genesis 1:12), prohibiting human-animal reproductive species confusion (Leviticus 18:23); and
    WHEREAS, The Creator has ordained that humans exercise morally responsible dominion stewardship over the earth and all its creatures (Genesis 1:26) and calls us to love our neighbor (Leviticus 19:18; Mark 12:31); and
    WHEREAS, Medical science is a legitimate and beneficial exercise of dominion stewardship, and Southern Baptists strongly favor work in biotechnology that respects moral boundaries and leads to cures for diseases and disabilities; and
    WHEREAS, Southern Baptists are on record for their unflagging defense of the sanctity of every human life, including opposition to the experimental sacrifice of human embryos for the potential benefit of others; and
    WHEREAS, In 2003, Chinese scientists at the Shanghai Second Medical University fused human cells with rabbit eggs, creating animal-human hybrids and Kentucky scientist Panos Zavos created approximately 200 cow-human hybrid embryos; and
    WHEREAS, In 2004, researchers at Stanford University introduced human brain cells into mouse fetuses, creating mice with human neural cells; and
    WHEREAS, In 2005, the National Academy of Sciences sanctioned the creation of animals in which human embryonic stem cells have been introduced to produce human-animal embryos; and
    WHEREAS, In 2006, Ian Wilmut, the cloner of Dolly the sheep, announced that his group at the Roslin Clinic plans to create human-animal hybrids for embryo-destructive research; and
    WHEREAS, In his 2006 State of the Union address, President George W. Bush called on Congress "to prohibit the most egregious abuses of medical research," including "creating human-animal hybrids"; and
    WHEREAS, The creation of human-animal hybrids confuses human-animal species boundaries; and
    WHEREAS, Human germline genetic modification (as opposed to somatic cell genetic modification) aims to alter human reproductive cells, therefore altering future generations; and
    WHEREAS, Modification of the human germline affects offspring who cannot consent to the alterations, thereby risking harm to innocent human beings without their knowledge or consent; and
    WHEREAS, Any technologically-inflicted errors passed from one generation to another could be irreversible and risk producing a generation of malformed human beings, who would pass the genetic defect to the next generation; and
    WHEREAS, Many pro-life Christians have already affirmed "The Sanctity of Life in a Brave New World: A Manifesto on Biotechnology and Human Dignity," which calls for a comprehensive ban "on all human cloning and inheritable genetic modification"; and
    WHEREAS, Eighteen countries have ratified and thirteen more have signed the Council of Europes "Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and the Dignity of the Human Being With Regard to the Application of Biology and Medicine: Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine" (Art. 13), which affirms that "An intervention seeking to modify the human genome may only be undertaken for preventive, diagnostic or therapeutic purposes and only if its aim is not to introduce any modification in the genome of any descendants"; now, therefore, be it
    RESOLVED, That the messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Greensboro, North Carolina, June 13-14, 2006, repudiate in strongest possible terms human species-altering technologies; and be it further
    RESOLVED, That we oppose efforts at human-animal hybridization, specifically any attempts to mix human and animal gametes (sperm and egg) or implanting human embryos in animal wombs and vice versa; and be it further
    RESOLVED, That while we support attempts at human somatic cell gene therapy for serious genetic illnesses if proper regard is given to informed consent, safety, efficacy, and the just allocation of available resources, we oppose any biotechnology that results in blurring the human-animal species barrier, such as the implantation of human brain cells into mice; and be it further
    RESOLVED, That while we support the use of simple gene transfer from humans to animals for drug production (e.g., human insulin, human growth hormone, clotting factor VIII) and therapeutic human-animal technologies such as the use of pig heart valves in humans, we oppose any human germline genetic modification that results in the destruction of human embryos or their equivalent (e.g., totipotential cells); and be it further
    RESOLVED, That we cannot endorse any use of human germline modification at this time, no matter how well-intentioned, due to the unpredictability of the process and the possible introduction of irreversible destructive errors into the human gene pool; and be it finally
    RESOLVED, That we urge the members of both Houses of the United States Congress to pass as soon as possible a comprehensive ban on all human species-altering technologies, including the creation of animal-human hybrids and human germline genetic modification, given the current state of the unpredictability of the process and the possibility of the introduction of irreversible destructive errors into the human gene pool.
    • Resolution #7: On Human Species-Altering Technologies, adopted at the SBC convention, June 2006; as qtd. in “The Johnston Archive”, SBC Resolutions. (Last updated 7 November 2010).
  • Not only did the lord make the world appear in its correct form, the lord who never changes the destinies which he determines – Enlil – who will make the human seed of the Land come forth from the earth – and not only did he hasten to separate heaven from earth, and hasten to separate earth from heaven, but, in order to make it possible for humans to grow in "where flesh came forth" [the name of a cosmic location], he first raised the axis of the world at Dur-an-ki. He did this with the help of the hoe -- and so daylight broke forth. By distributing the shares of duty he established daily tasks, and for the hoe and the carrying-basket wages were even established. ... Here, in 'Where Flesh Came Forth', he set this very hoe to work; he had it place the first model of mankind in the brick mould. His Land started to break through the soil towards Enlil. He looked with favour at his black-headed people. Now the Anuna gods stepped forward to him, and did obeisance to him. They calmed Enlil with a prayer, for they wanted to demand the black-headed people from him. Ninmena, the lady who had given birth to the ruler, who had given birth to the king, now set human reproduction going.
  • Humans are a dangerously insane and very sick species. That's not a judgment. It's a fact. It is also a fact that the sanity is there underneath the madness. Healing and redemption are available right now.
    See if you can catch yourself complaining, in either speech or thought, about a situation you find yourself in, what other people do or say, your surroundings, your life situation, even the weather... When you complain, you make yourself into a victim. When you speak out, you are in your power. So change the situation by taking action or by speaking out if necessary or possible; leave the situation or accept it. All else is madness. p.56
  • On the level of the body, humans are very close to animals. All the basic bodily functions - pleasure, pain, breathing, eating, drinking, defecating, sleeping, the drive to find a mate and procreate, and of course birth and death - we share with the animals. A long time after their fall from a state of grace and oneness into illusion, humans suddenly woke up in what seemed to be an animal body - and they found this very disturbing. "Don't fool yourself. You are no more than an animal." This seemed to be the truth that was staring them in the face. But it was too disturbing a truth to tolerate. Adam and Eve saw that they were naked, and they became afraid. Unconscious denial of their animal nature set in very quickly. The threat that they might be taken over by powerful instinctual drives and revert back to complete unconsciousness was indeed a very real one. Shame and taboos appeared around certain parts of the body and bodily functions, especially sexuality. The light of their consciousness was not yet strong enough to make friends with their animal nature, to allow it to be and even enjoy that aspect of themselves - let alone to go deeply into it to find the divine hidden within it, the reality within the illusion.
  • As the egoic mode of consciousness and all the social, political, and economic structures that it created enter the final stage of collapse, the relationships between men and women reflect the deep state of crisis in which humanity now finds itself. As humans have become increasingly identified with their mind, most relationships are not rooted in Being and so turn into a source of pain and become dominated by problems and conflict.
  • Until very recently, the transformation of human consciousness – also pointed to by the ancient teachers – was no more than a possibility, realized by a few rare individuals here and there, irrespective of cultural or religious background. A widespread flowering of human consciousness did not happen because it was not yet imperative. A significant portion of the earth’s population will soon recognize, if they haven’t already done so, that humanity is now faced with a stark choice: Evolve or die. A still relatively small but rapidly growing percentage of humanity is already experiencing within themselves the breakup of the old egoic mind patterns and the emergence of a new dimension of consciousness.
    • Eckhart Tolle in A New Earth:Awakening to Your Life's Purpose, (2005)
  • The spouses are to be strengthened in their view of the inestimable value and preciousness of human life, and aided so that they may commit themselves to making their own family a sanctuary of life: "God himself is present in human fatherhood and motherhood quite differently than he is present in all other instances of begetting 'on earth'".
  • Clearly and without any doubt, once biological conception is completed we have a living entity and one that has the genotype of the human species. As Grobstein nicely phrases it, “conception (fertilization) is the beginning of a new generation in the genetic sense.” This zygote is capable of further divisions and is clearly the precursor to all that follows. But can we say with “Donum Vitae,” quoting the “Declaration on Procured Abortion,” “From the time that the ovum is fertilized, a new life is begun which is neither that of the father nor the mother; it is rather the life of a new human begin with his own growth.”
    Now are we to understand this phraseology in the light of the biology of development? For, while it is correct to say that the ife that is present in the newly fertilized egg is distinct from the father and mother and is in fact usually genetically unique, it is not the case that this particular zygote is fully formed and it is not a single individual, an “ontological individual,” as Ford suggests. Because of the possibility of twinning, recombination, and the potency of any cell up to gastrulation to become a complete entity, this particular zygote cannot necessarily be said to become a complete entity, this particular zygote cannot necessarily be said to be the beginning of a specific, genetically unique individual human being. While the zygote is the beginning of genetically distinct life, it is neither an ontological individual nor necessarily the immediate precursor of one.
    Second, the zygote gives rise to further divisions “resulting in an aggregate of cells, each of which remains equivalent to a zygote in a sense that it can become all or any part of an embryo and its extra-embryonic structure.” Such cells at this stage are totipotent:
    Within the fertilized ovum lies the capability to form an entire organism. In many vertebrates the individual cells resulting from the first few divisions after fertilization retain this capability. In the jargon of embryology, such cells are described as totipotent. As development continues, the cells gradually lose the ability to form all the types of cells that are found in the adult body.. It is as if they were funneled into progressively narrower channels. The reduction of the developmental options permitted to a cell is called restriction. Very little is known about the mechanisms that bring about restriction, and the sequence of restriction vary considerably from one species to another.
    Such a process of restriction is completed when the cells have become “committed to a single developmental fate….Thus determination represents the final step in the process of restriction.” Such determination begins during gastrulation, three weeks into embryonic development.
    Genetic uniqueness and singleness coincide on one level only after the process of implantation has been completed and on another after the restriction process is completed. Thus, if we take implantation as the marker of both conception and human singleness, this does not occur until about a week after the initiation of fertilization. If we use determination and restriction, because of their signaling of the loss of totipotency of the cells as the markers of human singleness, then individuality does not occur until about three weeks after fertilization. Of critical importance is Ford’s observation, “Thee teleological system of the blastocyst should not be identified with the ontological unity of the human individual that will develop from it.”
    There is, then, a partial answer to the very interesting question “Donum Vitae” asks, “How could a human individual not be a human person?” A Catholic philosopher might well object or reply that this certainly a very
  • Mankind. That word should have new meaning for all of us today. We can't be consumed by our petty differences anymore. We will be united in our common interests. Perhaps it's fate that today is the Fourth of July, and you will once again be fighting for our freedom. Not from tyranny, oppression, or persecutio... but from annihilation. We're fighting for our right to live. To exist. And should we win the day, the Fourth of July will no longer be known as an American holiday, but as the day when the world declared in one voice: We will not go quietly into the night! We will not vanish without a fight! We're going to live on! We're going to survive! Today we celebrate our Independence Day!
  • Thomas: My mistakes are my own, but over the ages humans have proven to be violent, short sighted and hostile. Is this really something I can do anything about?
  • [W]e need not resolve the difficult question of when life begins. When those trained in the respective disciplines of medicine, philosophy, and theology are unable to arrive at any consensus, the judiciary, at this point in the development of man's knowledge, is not in a position to speculate as to the answer.
    • United States Supreme Court, “Roe v. Wade”, (January 22, 1973)
  • Humans have caused extinctions since leaving Africa 60,000+ years ago; in the last twelve millennia post-foraging societies have systematically increased their exploitation and control of the Earth. Humans groups rearrange the natural world in their own image, taking the homes and food of other species for their own.

Dialogue

[edit]
Vereena: Are you a monster because you are different?
Cirilla: Monsters do bad things to people.
Vereena: Humans do bad things to everybody.
Rose: What is that? What's happening?
The Doctor: That was murder.
Harriet: That was defence. It's adapted from alien technology. A ship that fell to Earth ten years ago.
The Doctor: But they were leaving.
Harriet: You said yourself, Doctor, they'd go back to the stars and tell others about the Earth. I'm sorry, Doctor, but you're not here all the time. You come and go. It happened today. Mister Llewellyn and the Major, they were murdered. They died right in front of me while you were sleeping. In which case we have to defend ourselves.
The Doctor: Britain's Golden Age.
Harriet: It comes with a price.
The Doctor: I gave them the wrong warning. I should've told them to run as fast as they can, run and hide because the monsters are coming. The human race.
Jean-Luc Picard: 'Grievously savage' could mean anything. I will answer only specific charges.
Q: Are you certain you want a full disclosure of human ugliness? So be it, fool.
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