One of the major themes of the film was; what exactly makes us, us? Without giving away too much of the plot, the film follows the story of a guy who, after receiving a heart transplant goes on a journey of discovery to find out who he now is. He finds himself being drawn more and more into the life of the previous owner of his new heart.
So this made me think, what does make us who we are? For many a dark year people believed that we were the sum of our parts. If you lose an arm, a leg, maybe a finger then that made us less of a person; or at least a different person. Of course we know this not to be true.
But what about the inside? People are often described as having a good heart if they are nice person. Would a transplant of the physical heart really change our personality; would it change who we are?
Possibly the biggest general suggestion now is that our mind; our thought processes, are what make us who we are. So if brain transplants become possible, which is probably not light years away from being science fact, then would having a new brain change who we were?
I realise that this is a little philosophical but as Christians surely we believe that we are greater the sum of our parts. We have a soul, a spirit, not sure what you want to call it, but something that lives on beyond our physical death (I wonder if it weighs, 21 grams *smile*). Is this the true us or could such medical procedures; science fiction or fact, have an effect?
I doubt if there are any medical philosophers who read threedays but you thoughts are valued all the same.
What about our actions and deeds? Do these play a part in making us who we are? This is not just about our thoughts and beliefs but how we act as a result of them.
, what was it that made him him?
Looking at Jesus as an example, a good one to use
Obviously He is slightly different (being God) but still what made Jesus the person he was?
If he has just thought about the parables he told, or the encouraging words he spoke or the dying on the cross then would he still have been Jesus?
You are right, our actions do need to reflect our beliefs. Often they don’t, which I guess begs the question. Do we really belive the stuff we say?
” if brain transplants become possible, which is probably not light years away from being science fact, then would having a new brain change who we were?”
I believe this would affect our personality, after listening to the podcast Ed R linked to on the phathouse recently, he showed a link between damage caused to brains by impact etc (sports) and our enviorment i.e noxious chemicals in the work place…
the point of it is this, if parts of our brain are not functioning fully this can affect our release of hormones which in turn can affect our moods, so if we were to inherit the physiological pathways of someone else then we may find that this would lead to a change of personality/behaviour…
we are all essentially the same, all created in an image, yet our minds and characteristics can be so different, God has made us truly unique
Interesting…
So are you saying that should we change brains we would become different people?
Still in the realms of bizarre philosophy here but would God still expect the same things from us after the transplant or would His expectations be based on the previous owner of the brain?
Well, i have a further question, what is God’s thoughts on brain transplanting? Does He agree with it? What about organ transplanting in general does the Bible say anything about this subject?
John, interesting question and one that I actually looked at a couple of years ago. Bear with me as I work from memory. Hopefully I will be able to communicate the jist of what I found.
From what I remember there are no explicate references to organ transplant in the Bible (including Brain transplant; somebody please correct me if I�m wrong). The JW�s don�t allow it based on a Levitical passage(the ref escapes me, sorry) which forbids the consumption of blood. I would say that this is a tenuous application of the law at best but wont go into that now.
However, there are two extreme camps that based their views on morality that they interpret from the Bible. The first says that we MUST become donors. They base their ideas on the fact that we are asked to love our neighbour etc and to withhold our organs when we no longer need them is actually a selfish and even spiteful act. The second group say it�s morally wrong to give or receive organ donation. There are four main reasons for this.
First, some believe that for us to receive our resurrection bodies we must finish our time in this life with a complete earthly body. Without being too rude this just shows a lack of understanding of what the Bible refers to as our resurrection body and they clearly do not have a clue what 1 Corinthians 15 is all about.
Secondly, some see this as mutilation of the body which, as we are stewards of God�s creation, including our own bodies, and our bodies also being temples of the Holy Spirit, I would agree is not a good idea. Others argue that Jesus justifies self mutilation if it benefits the whole person (cut your eye out if it causes you to sin Matt 5 etc). In my opinion Jesus is not condoning or encouraging self mutilation but simply illustrating how serious sin is and how hard we should try to avoid it. Personally I don�t see how organ transplant (amputations?) can be seen as mutilation in Biblical terms.
There are a third group who maintain that it is wrong to prolong life. They say we all have a day which is ordained for us to go (as it were). Personally I don�t buy the predestination theory but that really is not for discussion in this comment *smile*. Also, Jesus healed people, brought them back to life etc, both to prolong life or simply to improve it. It�s worth noting that this was to glorify the father and not for the sake of prolonging life but it certainly had the same effect. The moral question here is probably the reason why we might donate an organ (or perform the procedure if we are medically inclined).
Finally there is the suggestion that it breaks the natural order and is therefore immoral. Basically that organ transplant is unnatural. Well, in short, I believe that as, during creation, we where given dominion over the natural world and told bring it under subjection. We have been asked by God to get involved with the natural order. This, of course, is about being a good steward and not about exploitation. As God cannot ask us to do something immoral I think that this throws this argument out.
So there you go. I haven�t done them all justice but I hope you get the idea. I wouldn�t say that you have to donate your organs and I also wouldn�t say that have you to refuse donated organs. Just remember, that God loves you, He wants the best for you and He wants you to love others. Also remember that God is all in favour of the advances of science that make these things possible. He, after all, invented science. We just need to use it for his glory, not our own.