성경적 세계관과 의료윤리: 생식의 윤리를 중심으로

The theme of ‘Christianity and medical ethics’ can be studied from various perspectives. However, I will discuss it from a point of biblical world view, focusing on the reproductive ethics. According to the biblical world view, God created the world and the rest of His creatures in it, so the structure of the world is originally good. Creatures can be directed into two ways ; God or idols.

As Jesus cured many diseases, curing people using medicine is not contrary to God's will. Especially assisted reproductive technologies such as IVF enable sterile couples to be pregnant. But the Bible says that human life belongs to the sovereignty of God. Children are to be viewed as a divine gift not a narcissistic means of self-definition. From the biblical perspective, sexual differentiation and the place of childbearing within the matrix of monogamous heterosexual marriage is normative. So human cloning, artificial insemination of donor, surrogate mother and other reproductive technologies are regarded as playing God. Human beings are free. But man’s freedom is within God’s law. Assisted reproductive technologies are morally permissible unless they break the order of marriage, family and marital relation. IVF or artificial insemination, using the gametes of a husband and his wife, is morally permissible, for it does not violate this order.

But it brings out the problem of moral standing of pre-embryo. For many embryos are made just for one fertilized egg to succeed in becoming implanted on the uterus of woman. Rest of the spare embryos are usually destroyed or experimented for research purposes. From the biblical perspective, the existence of human being begins from the moment of fertilization. Human being itself is imago Dei. That is, a pre-embryo has sufficient moral standing. However, IVF or artificial insemination of a married couple is beneficient to infertile couples. Jesus commands us, "Love your neighbor". If we accept the principle of double effects, it is morally permissible for us as Christians to use assisted reproductive technologies such as IVF or artificial insemination only within the order of marriage and family. Finally, Christian ethics and pastoral caring, though intimately correlated, can be separated and should be so. Pastoral caring is grounded on the grace of God.