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Organ Donation

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Submitted By mpicardi
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Position Paper #1
Michael Picardi
Liberty University
July 30, 2013

In this modern era of rapidly advancing medical technology, ethical and moral boundaries are continually being pushed, particularly from a Christian viewpoint. Christian health professionals are being challenged daily with issues that arise from the clash between modern medicine and Christian ethics. On the surface, this practice seems to be unselfish and kind-hearted, with the idea of sacrificing oneself to help another. To that point, 90% of Americans support organ donation. ("Statistics," 2013) When viewed from a Christian perspective, however, many complex issues arise. The following paper will describe these issues and where their complexity lies, what Scripture has to say on the issue, and how a Christian health professional should deal with them.
Two major issues with this seemingly virtuous practice is the difficulty in differentiating between replaceable tissues and solid organs. Replaceable tissues, such as blood and bone marrow, can easily be given by a live donor, while organs can only be harvested once the donor is deceased, which brings about the debate about the criteria for determining death. Another major issue involves the question of who should give consent, and how to fairly allocate where these organs go. From a Christian perspective, however, a multitude of more critical Biblical issues are present. The first of these has to do with the Principle of Totality, which is to say that each part of the human body has a function and should not be removed. This principle does allow for transplantation, however, provided that the donation of the organ would preserve the life of another person. This issue is not directly addressed in Scripture, but certain Biblical principles must be applied to come to a conclusion. On one front, 1 Corinthians 6:19 (ESV) says, “Or do you not know

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