With reports of success in cloning the first human embryo, many people are asking this question. The issue of human cloning is answered only by understanding human dignity.

The embryo that would be created by human cloning is a human being endowed with the right to life, a free will, a purpose and a destiny.  Human dignity is at stake whether the purpose of cloning is to create a human organism solely to destroy it for medical research, or to create a new form of human reproduction.

Don’t be fooled into thinking that man is taking God’s place as creator. Man is impressed by the ability to manipulate genetic codes, but this is a far cry from breathing life into dust (Genesis 2:7). Jeremiah 1:4-5 says, “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.”

God has given us the ability to reproduce after our own kind (Genesis 1:28). He created us in His image as three-part beings. The three parts of a human are the spirit, soul and body (1 Thessalonians 5:23; Hebrews 4:12). The spirit is a person’s innermost being, the part that gives him life. The soul is his decision-making, thinking and feeling faculty. The body is the physical house in which he lives. A human needs all three parts to function properly on this earth.

God did not create human beings to be used as scientific experiments. We are created in the image of God to have fellowship with Him and to carry out His will on the earth. God does not desire that any of His children be treated as an experiment. He doesn’t want us to forge the future of a child by predetermining his or her genetic makeup. God created man with the ability to make choices. He did this because He desired to have a true, loving relationship with man. God could control us, but He refuses to take away our freedom (Deuteronomy 30:19).