Bioethics and the Scientific Challenge of the Third Millennium: To Defend Life, Obey God and His Natural Laws
Bioethic ists commonlybut erroneouslyregard matter as existing prior to its fo rm unit ing and be ing united. In other words, bioeth ic ists c la im that the body ex ists first and the li fe/soul is subsequently infused in to it. Aristotle even went so far as to c la im that matte r is eternal , but as St. Thomas Aquinas affirm s, matter cannot ex ist w ithout fo rm . Thus, " fo rmless matter" re fers to a potentia lnot ac tua lstate. Words are often used w ithout regard to the ir de finiti onfo r example, "creation." To "create" is to bring something in to ex istence from nothing. The power to create is God ' s exc lu sive ly and while man can change, modi fy , or manipulate that whi ch has been created by God, he rema in s the creature and God a lone is the C rea tor. When words are divorced from their meaning, they become weapons of psycho logica l warfa re w ie lded aga inst truth-in particular, aga inst God, Who is Truth . Regrettably, the arsena l of secular and even bioethic ists c lai ming re lig ious a ffil iations are all too often replete w ith such weapons, which is why Nat Hentoff has decried bioethics as "a priesthood of death ." Authentic ethics must be in accord w ith the Law of Natureand of nature ' s God. As we are reminded by our Holy Father Pope John Paul II in Donum Vitae: