All Articles For Moral Aspects of Medical Technology

Herman C. Hanko is professor of Church History and New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. Genetic Engineering In our last article we began to call attention to some of the truths of Scripture which have to be considered as we approach this whole question from a Biblical point of view. We mentioned three items: 1) That just because science is able to do something, this does not mean that per se what science does is morally permissible. Man must rule science, not science man. 2) That the whole theory lying behind genetic experimentation and engineering is evolutionistic and humanistic. 3) That...

Herman C. Hanko is professor of Church History and New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. In Vitro Fertilization In our last article on this subject we introduced the subject of in vitro fertilization (IVF). This is the process by which conception takes place outside the womb of the mother in a test tube or petri dish. It is a technique used for married couples who have exhausted every medical means of having children and remain childless. By this method ova are taken from the wife, sperm from the husband, and the ova of the wife are fertilized in the laboratory. When...

Herman C. Hanko is professor of Church History and New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. [Note. This is a continuation of the subject under discussion at the conclusion of Installment #9, in which Prof. Hanko was quoting from Bibliotheca Sacra.] — Even more revolting is another technique which results from IVF to which Bibliotheca Sacra refers in the same article. Almost daily, new advances in artificial reproduction further erode the biblical categories of marriage, procreation, and family. For example researchers have developed a technique in animals that will soon allow lesbian couples to have children. Already lesbians have used artificial insemination...

Herman C. Hanko is professor of Church History and New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. In our last article in which we discussed in vitrofertilization (IVF) we made passing reference to the fact that it was possible that many children conceived in a test tube were being used for experimental purposes. We did not want to say too much about this because little is known concerning this; those who engage in such practices do so in great secrecy, and instances are hard to document. Recently, however, I received an article from aStandard Bearer reader in England which speaks of this very...

Herman C. Hanko is professor of Church History and New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. In our discussions of the moral aspects of medical technology we have come to the point in which we must judge in Scripture’s light the various ways in which medical science has made it possible for childless couples to have children. Many different techniques have been developed, techniques which we described in our last article. We shall briefly mention them once again to bring them before the minds of our readers. Artificial insemination of the wife is one such technique. Sometimes the semen of...

Herman Hanko is professor in the Church History and New Testament departments at the Protestant Reformed Seminary. John Jefferson Davis, in his book, Evangelical Ethics, begins Chapter 1 with a story, which goes this way: “In some of this research,” noted Dr. Robert Foote of Cornell, “I am reminded of a story where the pilot came on and said, “This is your captain speaking. We are flying at an altitude of 35,000 feet and the speed of 700 miles an hour. We have some good news and some bad news. The bad news is that we are lost. The good news...

Herman C. Hanko is professor of Church History and New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. In our last article we were discussing what others have to say about artificial insemination by husbands (AIH) and artificial insemination by donors (AID). We consider it important to quote extensively from other writers to demonstrate: 1) that the problem is so acute as to require elaborate treatment by many ethicists; 2) that, while there is some disagreement of opinion on these issues, evangelical scholars who condemn such practices are in the majority. Some additional arguments have been raised which we can briefly mention....

Herman C. Hanko is professor of Church History and New Testament departments at the Protestant Reformed Seminary. In our last article we introduced the general subject of medical technology, and gave some idea of the broad range of problems which arise because of the advances which science and medicine have made in the areas of biology and bio-medicine. While it is our purpose to discuss the moral dimensions of these problems in future articles and deal with each problem individually, we want, in this article, to lay down a few more basic and fundamental principles which underlie, in our judgment,...

Herman C. Hanko is professor of Church History and New Testament departments at the Protestant Reformed Seminary. In our last article we discussed some general principles of importance for our treatment of the moral aspects of different forms of medical technology. With this article, we want to begin our discussion proper of this subject. It is probably best to follow a sort of chronological order in dealing with various aspects of this issue: i.e., first of all to treat the moral aspects of medical technology which have affected the conception of a child and its development before birth; and then...

Herman C. Hanko is professor of Church History and New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. As we noticed in our last article on this subject, abortion has become a national crime of unparalleled proportions. The Supreme Court of our country has legalized abortion completely so that it can be performed legally in this country at any time during pregnancy. In a recent mailing by a pro-life group, the following is stated: Is abortion legal throughout nine months of pregnancy? Yes it is. Contrary to popular belief, the 1973 Supreme Court decisions, (Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton), ruled...