"Who are you to play God"?

[Inverse Icarus]

i never really understood this phrase entirely, and it was recently brought out in a debate about cloning / eugenics, by my friend.

why is this phrase only used by religious people (of varying degrees) only on things they consider bad?

isn't inventing medicine to keep people alive "playing god"?

:drunk:

[GePap]

Yes it is. As is breeding animals to get new forms for our own use, as we have done with domesticated animals.

Don't let the obvious hypocrasy bother you too much.

[Cruddy]

Hmm.... I think it's supposed to be used when other people making decisions about other people without consultation or even thought. Deciding fate, that sort of thing.

You're right, it is often used as an excuse as an argument... but then again, inventing medicine isn't these days isn't so much about keeping people alive as making money for shareholders in international drugs companies.

[Dis]

I played god all the time when I was a kid

[geeslaka]

I am me. Therefore I am entitled to control your life because you are not me.

[Urban Ranger]

I played Populous

[Clear Skies]

I remember a famous quote on euthanasia:
"If I cannot give consent to my own death, whose body is this? Who owns my life?"
Interesting...presumably people who use the 'playing god' argument would argue that everyone's bodies belong to God...others might argue that they belong to their 'inhabitants'.

[Az]

Originally posted by GePap
Yes it is. As is breeding animals to get new forms for our own use, as we have done with domesticated animals.

Don't let the obvious hypocrasy bother you too much.

I must do that Genetic engineering thread again, some time.

[Loif]

Originally posted by Clear Skies
I remember a famous quote on euthanasia:
"If I cannot give consent to my own death, whose body is this? Who owns my life?"
Interesting...presumably people who use the 'playing god' argument would argue that everyone's bodies belong to God...others might argue that they belong to their 'inhabitants'.

I don't pretend to play God. I couldn't live up to his standards. I do, however, believe that we are all put here on this earth for a reason by GOD.

On the other hand, if I had an incurable disease and was suffering horrendously, would I consider euthenasia? Probably.

**sitting on the fence on this one**

[Sava]

"Who are you to play God"?

uhhh I'm God... stupid...

[Cruddy]

Ancient Chinese proverb:-

"Man who sit on fence get splinters up backside."

[Alinestra Covelia]

I find it strange that certain finite acts are unacceptable for an infinite being.

If actions such as cloning and eugenics are offensive to God because they are outside of His plan, then why are such things as flight, electricity, and breeding dogs acceptable? Why does a human being getting out of a bed in the morning become acceptable?

The high school reverend laughed condescendingly and mentioned something abstract about free will.

Theology evidently doesn't mix well with my brand of logic.

[Sava]

Alinestra Covelia: Perhaps because religion is written by man and is not evidence of the existence of any higher power.

[Boris Godunov]

"Are you a god?"

[Sava]

Maybe not THE god, but definitely A god