Torch, Spring/Summer 2007

Worldviews Under the Microscope 4 Make the Most of the Opportunity 24 How we view the value and dignity of human life determines how far we go in accepting the possibilities of biotechnology. She had no grand pro-life agenda, and she certainly had no intention of making a social comment. All she wanted to do was to love her baby. Making Sense of the Stem Cell Controversy 6 The new debate over human life pits the rights of the tiniest of humans against those of researchers seeking medical cures. Coping with Tough Choices at the End of Life 10 Difficult questions surround the dying process. How can we know the “just right thing to do”? Editor David Ormsbee Managing Editor Janice Supplee Associate Editor Kara DeMusz Proofreaders Sarah Borich Wendy Orchard Senior Designer Michael Bieniek Photography Scott Huck Cedarville TORCH Vol. 28, No. 1, Spring/Summer 2007 Published by Cedarville University Dr. Bill Brown, President Subscriptions are free of charge to addresses in the United States. To subscribe, send comments, change your address information, or request extra copies, contact: Cedarville TORCH 251 N. Main St. Cedarville, OH 45314 937-766-7808 torch@cedarville.edu www.cedarville.edu 1-800-CEDARVILLE ISSN 1093-4618 What Makes A Body Somebody? 14 The image of God conveys wonderful value upon us as human beings and equips us for enormous responsibility. Spring-Summer 2007 3 Bioinformatics in the 21 st Century 18 Genetic information is simply that — information. It is a valuable, God-given resource with life-giving potential, but it must be used wisely. Christians and Creation Care 20 A theology of redemption that omits God’s full scope of reconciliation has created a Christian culture mired in materialism and its social consequences. Cedarville University is a Christ-centered learning community equipping students for lifelong leadership and service through an education marked by excellence and grounded in biblical truth. “For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well. … All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are Your thoughts, O God. How vast is the sum of them!” from Psalm 139:13-17