CHAPTER 1
NEWS 153
CLONING, CLOWNING,
THERAPY AND APOSTASY*1
The beauty shown is of what
falls in its accustomed path, providing material for joy and use;
but we do not make the mountains
themselves! or the earth... or ourselves! (Psalm 100).
SEE ALSO NEWS 166, and Sparkling Life ... Ch. 6.
CLONING, the reproduction of a descendant or descendants asexually from a single cell in an organism, indicates Webster's dictionary.
As it is turning out, the concept seems to have moved in practical emphasis, from an egg cell in a sheep, with the DNA removed by delicate pipette suction, and a donor DNA inserted, leading to the famous Dolly, now equipped with offspring. The intention then moves, through what has been described as making the donor cell dormant, then placing this DNA in the "empty egg 'shell' ''. This avoided paternal and maternal sexual components in the reproduction action. The intention, we read in Reader's Digest, April 2001, is later simply to take a few skin cells, and then to convert the resultant action into the desired organ "directly".
If
technical capacity were available to do that, it would remove to fundamental
obstacles to this form of therapy (and what else it might be, can be discussed
later).
DIRECT ORGANS ?
What then would be the case if DIRECT organs could be manipulated into existence, using the divine created technology to achieve this ?
It would mean:
1) that no embryo was created, in which human life was resident, thus avoiding murder as the method of helping in therapy, certainly of a radical kind, those in need of replacement organs in order to live. In this were however the case, and such action were to be taken, then the moral declivity would be this, that you create murder in order to save life. It would be a considerable, even reckless advance on the current practice of killing embryos, exceedingly difficult to differentiate from simple murder when the entire nervous system is present, or its substance, in abortion, so well exposed by Drs Francis Schaeffer and Koop, the later once Surgeon-General in the USA, in their book, Whatever Happened to the Human Race ?
In this, they detail the salty death crinkling of the poisoned child, or the dismemberment by internalised slashing and so on. It is not pretty. When this is done for convenience or mere desire, it does raise the interesting question, WHERE is the human race ? WHAT is it coming to, and HOW can millions of such abominations occur without outcries of heart ? or is conscience sedated! Is it then not to be any more the HUMANE race, and is 'human' to become a sort of salty and crumpled, crinkled parallel to the aborted child (in the salt method) ?
To take it further and actually HAVE a living child, and then murder it, dismember it, use it while it lives and so on, would be murder or worse, so much worse it is perhaps unnecessary at this stage to recount what it would be. However this could be done! The techniques for asexual production, by manipulating divine procedures provided, may become available.
What else however, would it mean if direct organ production could be asexually achieved in this sort of way ? The second improvement would be this:
2) that man thus avoided the concept of using the mechanisms, the contrivances, the technical facilities which God made for reproduction, to achieve new beings. It would avoid the case where, with man's limited knowledge and without permission, he tried to make from this automated structuring which along with our minds God created, some altered variant, if not in result perhaps, then in fundamental procedure. He would avoid the contemptuous concept of seeking simply to further procreation asexually.
That is, if one uses again Webster on the term procreate, 'to beget or generate': then this is not a simple contradiction in terms, but a qualification. This 'pro' creation, or creation on behalf of God, in such a style that it is by His provision of means that the engendering occurs, becomes an asexual one, a generating not with the expressly made sexually reproductive organs, but with the organ, the mind, to cause some of the levers to be pulled, some of the procedures to be activated which we have never made and which we understand but partly.
With
direct organ creation, if this were achieved and achievable, then such a folly
might be avoided. But perhaps this cannot be achieved ? or some would like to
short-circuit it, or not wait for it ? What if it were the case that the whole
structure of a human were asexually made by manipulation of the divine
structure by cloning ? Suppose it done, what then ?
BUT MORE THAN THIS ?
That it would be interference with His provisions is undeniable. That there is nothing in the Bible to authorise it, is similarly the case. What would happen if you took dad's car when 14 and drove it ?
It would depend on the circumstances you met, the law, its officers, your ignorances and the challenges coming. It would not be wise...
It COULD lead to a life in
irons, not necessarily punitive, but medical. It could embarrass the family
reputation. It could cause great grief to the parents, and to the wrong-doer.
It does represent reckless abuse of authority, by its entire absence, and in
terms of property, contravention.
In the actual case, there is no authority so to treat what man did not make, does not make, and in view of his not making it, is intervening in God's processes as presented, to make. It is BECAUSE he cannot do it, that he is - to use an old Army term - commandeering it, or 'scrounging' it. There is no warrant, no guarantee; but there is presumption.
What would
happen to that normally inseparably annexed spirit*1A
in man, which comes into its full functioning as the equipment enables it, the
body and brain ? (cf. SMR pp. 348ff.,
18ff., 316Dff., Ch.
4 and Little Things Ch. 5, The
Other News 5). It is IMPOSSIBLE to tell,
for the simple reason that this depends ENTIRELY on the good graces and will of
God. If you tell God you are in need, and are covenantally related through His
only begotten Son, the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, then there are promises
which apply, there is an invitation so to act, and there are purposes in the
proceeding (as in II Peter 1, John 14:13). It is to be done in His name SO THAT
the Father may be glorified in the Son, and there are detailed provisions for
character growth in relatedness to Christ, and as in I Corinthians
When however without warrant, without a basis in Christ, without the word of God, but with respect to HIS CREATION, you presume to act so that an asexually procreated product is presented by putting your hands into the works He has made for a clearly defined purpose by an equally clearly defined program: then that is a form of theft, of waywardness, of presumption, intrusion and abuse of someone else's property. IF your INTENTION is to make organs, for the sick, then your LIMIT without such presumption is to make them directly; for the moment you make some sort of another parallel to the programmed sexual reproduction, in some product, then HIS OWNERSHIP of the property He created, is violated by UNAUTHORISED action contrary to OBVIOUS specifications.
It would be immoral and in one sense blasphemous: that is, it would put in the place of God's authority, relative to His property, not merely your own, but yours in parallel with His*2, so that the joint product would be like a partnership except for this, that only ONE partner has expressed willingness, and the partner who OWNS, is not on record with an answer!
That would normally be called theft; and when ONE partner is God, it would have a derogation by inference, of His ownership which would amount to evil ascriptions, presumptuous downgrading of His place, and hence technically blasphemy. God has given man a mind which has the powers to think, in wisdom, or in whatever irrationality he may choose to abuse it (cf. Repent or Perish Ch. 7, SMR Ch. 3, That Magnificent Rock Ch. 5); and man may use that mind in following on and seeking to understand the works of God, quite rightly : the fit is purpose-bound.
However when the' work' is in re-structuring what God has made, not merely remedy for the proliferations of sin within the laws and procedures God has ordained, or realisation of His gifts: then the moral issue arises. This ? It is not some intrusion or invasion; it is man alone who can be capable of that, in his relationship to his Maker, who is his absolute Creator, and whose patience and mercy is so prodigious that it is almost beyond conception. Nor is it some undue reduction of hedonistic autonomy, which is involved, through insatiable sovereignty or some such cacaphonic concept. It is simply this: God has made man and given him a mind for its place, not for becoming his own god, or making himself one.
Presumption in this, is mere misuse of gifts, and this leads to the consequences of insurrection. It is pitiable in consequence, poignant in folly, but inevitable in result, when mercy is ignored, when repentance is dismissed or even disdained.
Indeed, it is one of the most constant verifications of Biblical Christianity as the word of God, that His wisdom and consistency as Creator is constantly attested: He does not permit licence to make of this world a thing of utter folly, but judges, restrains, predicts, provides as in Christ; nor does He so inhibit and restrict as to prevent the very image of God in man from having any application at all. On the contrary, His patience (cf. II Peter 3:9) in view of the provocations (cf. Psalm 106) is so intense, so spectacular, and so immensely lovable, that one is inspired to seek to develop in this respect. His co-ordination of mercy and patience, carefully programmed for man to behold in the 'opera' book, the Bible, is with provision for intelligence and repentance a donation so ample, so liberal, that the word takes on a new meaning. It is amplitude with understanding, limitless lovingkindness with an end to folly, it is like nothing else. That! it is what you expect of your infinite Creator; it is what you get. THAT! it is verification.
The presumption however, of
which we have been speaking, this too is verification, for it is precisely such
an outcome which is predicted as a preliminary to the predicted return of the
Saviour as sovereign (as in Psalm 72, Isaiah 11, Zechariah 6, 14, II Timothy 3,
I Timothy 4, II Peter 2, II Thessalonians 2; and see Answers to Questions
Ch. 5, Biblical Blessings Ch. 2, SMR Ch. 8).
THE BY-PRODUCTS OF PRESUMPTION
There has of course been a long lead up to such presumption (which is not known to have occurred as yet, but the way yawns open for one more masquerade in divine regalia, for this pitiful race). The test tube babies, as they are called, in which ingredients are put together outside the womb, are a movement to the end in view now. In this case, if the parties are willing, and if the ingredients are from those already married, then it resembles a therapeutic procedure in this, that something is not working, which is given assistance in working by facilitating action for those very things. If either procreative ingredient comes from an outside source, of course, it is a biological parallel to fornication and is hence not in line with the directives in the Bible on that topic.
Marriage is the Biblically indispensable basis for child-production, and failure in one way or another in the womb, still allows for such a case, the joining of the engendering members in another milieu, provided they are in fact from those so married. If not, then the case varies from this authorised basis.
Therapy is always one thing; and re-direction of affairs is another.
Thus, when this procedure is used, in vitrio, for NON married, or for NON therapeutic reasons, it is still interference a) with the moral law and b) with the limits of healing as distinct from imperious adjustments at WILL.
Thus WHEN AND IF it becomes possible to make direct some organ, without the intervention of a living being: that has no apparent moral problems. IF it involves a baby, it does have them, to put it in marked under-statement, as noted above; and IF it involves for a baby, its death or mutilation, then this involves even more enormity; and to call them 'problems' is more than euphony in such a case. The reality is of the highest magnitude of presumption and interference, and in the end, comes to theft.
But what MIGHT happen if what were to be done was not the more grievous than simple abortion murder case, just noted, but the actual 'making' of a child to grow into an adult ?
Numbers of things might happen, just as with the 14 year old with the car.
The first thing of course
is that presumption and theft occurs. You are taking what is not yours and
making up ideas about its utilisation which are yours. It is as simple as that.
You are not then helping: in the earlier case, it is a matter of
murdering life, and in the latter for the whole being to adult, you are
masquerading with it. You are acting as source, or sovereign or both. But
you are neither, and in this setting, it is a kind of lie (cf. II Thess.
Thus, were such an asexually created being to occur, there are results. What are they ? First, then, the situation in view: You are seeing what will come when certain technical facilities provided are caused to act without warrant, guidance or control, without authority and with an impudent insertion of the mind you were given, into the bodily apparatus you were given.
1) It COULD lead to a new thing: the non-automatic might replace the automatic, and the spirit might not be given. This is far from a necessary result; it is possible. When you are misusing your senior's property, it is hard to know just what he will do; when He is GOD, there is no limit. He is very deep, and not in a hurry. Things sometimes develop over a sunny period of apparent reward for presumption, only to end in a huge exposure and the uttermost grief.
2) There might be some deformity in the equipment, some gross or subtle omission which would be a fitting rebuke to the presumption. It could become like a pianist trying to play on a piano which lacked pedals, or top, or keys. Enormous numbers of affliction are possible. Life is in this case is becoming a play thing; and as the history of our race should tell even the most superficial, it is decidedly not, repeat not, a plaything. Rather is it a purposively produced entity of the gravest significance which, if ignored, makes the heaviest conceivable inroads into the spirit of man in individual, family, social or national catastrophe.
3) The omission, if any, could lead to new forms of manipulability. It is not necessary; it is simply one divine option, and it might or might not be associated with some later clear case of a reason for it, at the technical level. It could be an equipment failure or a divine non-co-operation. God is not forced to favour theft with beauty - or predictability, for that matter!
In time, perhaps, it might occur to the life-violators to make nerves with subtle DNA changes, if they can manipulate them adequately, better fitted for relationship to electronic fittings and so on.
The
political possibilities in kind have been explored already somewhat, in The
Other News 5.
THE WORLD OF WOES
These things are so, and we have earlier looked at both the certainty of creation, and the effervescent emptiness of conceptions that the work is done by a non-worker (cf. SMR Ch. 2 and Ch. 1; That Magnificent Rock Chs. 1 and 8; A Spiritual Potpourri Chs. 1-9, Wake Up World! Your Creator is Coming ... Chs. 4, 5, 7 and Stepping Out for Christ Chs. 2, 7, 8, 9, 10 and other sites as noted in Index), as well as the certainty that God has spoken to His self-dismembering creation called man. (This calamitous cutting - not all do it! but the avenues are numerous, psychic, financial, spiritual, moral, physical and so on, so that the results are pandemic and in proportion, all but engulfing. Revelation shows just HOW engulfing they will in fact become.)
Now we are looking merely at the perspective of such developments, in particular.
Many will complain of the ordeals for the race which are being divinely prepared as noted in the book of Revelation, and are already very apparent as frequently brought to the attention of reader's on this site (as in Answers to Questions Ch. 5, SMR Ch. 8). However, WHEN you not ONLY do evil, presume, ignore, dismiss, dispense with God (in theory, you could not in fact cf. Divine Agenda Chs. 1, 4, Acme, Alpha and Omega: Jesus Christ Ch. 8, and REFUSE to repent, it is a very special case.
To do evil is one thing; to do it with depth and depravity is another; but it is yet again a different thing, a far more vicious and detestable thing, more contemptible to the truth of the Almighty (as seen in Daniel 12) when you REFUSE to REPENT. This simply means that either
· 1) you would do it all again, or
· 2) even if you might not, you do not accept any responsibility for your action, so blaming your maker for your evil, and assaulting His name.
This of course is stabbing the doctor who is offering the operation, and it is quite morally useless, to say no more, to accuse him of lack of this or that, while he is in hospital (the imagery for the crucifixion before the resurrection), or if he does not undertake to operate in view of your refusal and violence, aggravated insult and assault, with self-will and self-assertion: a sort of complex brew of folly, intoxicated and alien to all good.
The 'you' in this case, is in large measure the whole world. It does not repent. It continues with pharisaic complacency, sadducaic disbelief and presumption, Herodian politics and Caiaphas kinds of procedures, on its far from merry way. The world is bringing on itself two things.
The first is
increasingly unmitigated evil, catastrophes apparent in the simple and obvious case of the
ozone layer destruction, aggravated itself in slowness to adapt, the US being
at the present in arrears in insisting on this and that instead of making a
lead, when it contributes so much to the problem. It is apparent equally in the
radioactive contamination, when man has thrown caution to the winds along with
the radiation, and adversely affected perhaps millions of children already, a
special gift of which
The second ? It is the divine rebuke. You see the preconditions for this in Revelation 9:20ff., where despite the divine wrath from the woeful miscreancy of the human race in vast proportions, there is NO REPENTANCE. Now repentance is not merely a feeling of regret: for that is remorse. The Greek word indicates a total change of heart, mind and direction. It is biblically used in the phrase, moreover, "repentance into life" as in Acts 11:18. This shows that it is going somewhere, and life is that destination!
God
is there noted to have granted to Gentiles this action of activated remorse,
co-ordinated change which cumulatively, turning from the things of old, the
ways, the values, enters in this contrition into the domain of life itself,
through the redemption in Christ made available to all who should come, who, of
course, in the foreknowledge of God, are already paid for! (Romans 8:32, I John
2:2, Romans 8:29ff., Ephesians 1:4, Isaiah 53). The movements of God are
precise and knowledgeable, and this is no exception. His provisions are
adequate for all, paid for those redeemed. He does not redeem the unredeemed,
or pay for those who do not, and will not know Him. As always, He covers REPENTED
sin, and remits by payment, what comes to sacrifice with FAITH. This has been
and remains always, the way. It is deep, it is not a mere human vagary.
THE WORLD OF DIVINE BENEDICTION IS NOT LOST:
BUT THIS PRESENT
WORLD WILL BE
Moreover, repentance is like the stones on the path of return, and redemption is like the door at the end of the path. You do not COME to the door without repentance, and you cannot get in without faith, nor would it help you if you had even that, if you did not have a door in which to have faith, for heaven and its kingdom are not penetrated by presumption, but by invitation, repentance, faith and redemption.
THAT, it is the performance of Christ (Hebrews 7-10) who purchased eternal redemption for those who receive it, in eternity covered by His costing in the Cross.
How far from these are the presumptions we have just been considering. How far from these are the attitudes so imperviously, so remorselessly, intransigeantly and inexorably chosen by those who constantly write RSPV's to the God of creation, by their misuse of it and of each other, and as constantly ignore or seek to abort the consequences by endless talk, whether in philosophy or in meetings national and international. Here the waftings of presumption can even be coded into pseudo-moral laws, made so simply by convenience, God Himself being treated either as such or as an impediment, or even an excrescence, while the wicked dig the pit, as the Bible declares, for the time to come. It is deep, in that case; for there has long been much energy put into it.
TO COMPLAIN becomes virtual insanity, but it is not the merely mental variety (Hosea 9:7), and the most brilliant can fall into this pit: it is spiritual. It is lèse-majesté, it is hideous oversight, it is as if an orphan being accepted by a kindly family, constantly used the family car and ignored the head of the house. When what might have been is considered, and that the whole is dependent on mercy from first to last, then the abhorrence of the conduct makes it a marvel the orphan is still in the house at all. What creates the condition of orphan ? Sin.
That ? It is deflection of direction, disqualification of quality, disharmony of spirit with God, disbelief in reality, falling far short of the glory of God, rebellion against His clear revelation, rejection of His sacrificed Son, these are some of its ingredients. It cancels all would-be visas and removes all mere creation appropriations. Mercy only remains, and this becomes sovereign, majestic, sure, effectual when it is taken where it is definitively given, in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, who showed the exact opposite of presumption, in becoming man that man might become adopted by God, as many as received Him.
However man proceeds until the house is removed, and the family of God proceeds to its eternal precincts (I Cor. 15:56ff., II Cor. 4:16-5:1ff.). It is like a prolonged lung cancer case, where the treatment is abhorred and the condition is abhorrent. The glory is this: it is one thing - the correction is still individually available. The time is not even now, too late. It comes to people, one by one, just like an operation. Someone else cannot have the correction in his or her body, for you (Psalm 49:7,15); but on the other hand, this highly personal and private aspect, becomes public once the operation is over, and you are begotten into the family of God by His word (I Peter 1:21), so that HIS SEED remains in you (I John 3:9).
This is one operation which
even the grisly hands of presuming man cannot touch; though they make trial of
it, as in masses and seedy ceremonialism, sacerdotalism, liberalism,
neo-orthodoxy, neo-evangelicism and any other thing contrary to sound doctrine,
Biblical teaching (cf. The Kingdom of Heaven Appendix, Chs. 3
and 8, SMR pp. 732B, 821, 833, 861, Answers to Questions 8,
pp. 214ff.). However, there is this one result:
it does not work. It is merely a word.
It is not a work. ONLY GOD in His
own way makes the work that lasts, and by His Spirit He applies it. Man has
spirit; God IS a Spirit, and none can imitate His actions, though many may
without authority seek to intervene. His throne is the pre-condition of man's
existence; and He, being always what He would be, and having no limits,
continues unchanged. It is man who must change; or the changes will rung on
him, not in impossible and misconceived events doing work without working
capacity, but by God who works all things after the counsel of His own will.
- "Make a joyful shout to the LORD, all you lands!
Serve the LORD
with gladness;
Come before His
presence with singing.
"Know that the LORD, He is God;
It is He who has
made us, and not we ourselves;
We are His
people and the sheep of His pasture.
Enter into His
gates with thanksgiving,
And into His
courts with praise,
be thankful to
Him, and bless His name.
"For the LORD is good:
His mercy is
everlasting,
And His truth
endures to all generations."
Thus are ancient words of Psalm 100, applicable to modern man, and their wisdom is his proper vision, while the Spirit of God, never changing, makes applicable to man, not the incestuous relationships with NATURE, which are of the nature of combined tragedy and farce, defilement, defacement, and abominable blindness that seduces and secures folly as if it were fairy floss for greedy children: not these, but the truth (John 16:7-15). This is firstly and with unique authority never countermanded or withdrawn, in those ancient Biblical words: prescriptive, analytical, applicable to mankind; and then by His Spirit, applied, so that the truth comes home, and home for many, may come to be the truth.
It is a glory of life, that it is personal; it is a wonder that it is adequate; it is natural that it is supernatural, since nothing else could make Nature (cf. SMR, That Magnificent Rock); and it is a culmination for admiration, that our Source overpassing all our desire (Isaiah 11:10), should in creating us, have given us such desire, that it might be sated.
Not
then in passing things is stability and wisdom to be found; or in making asses
of ourselves by exercising ourselves in things to high for us (Psalm 131), but
in care and prudence, according to the word of God, may we safely proceed, not
in the perplexities of taking upon ourselves divine dealings as if we were apt
to play God, but in the assurances of following what He has given, no absentee
landlord, but the provider for all the needs of His people. To avoid the
transition from spiritual vagrant to child of God, is as needless as is its
presence fatal to restraint, understanding and life (John
NOTES
*1A
The incredible
(except for the leaven of irrational liberalism, which makes all but anything
credible) fantasy that the Old Testament did not have a concept of spirit for
man, but only had a body mind situation, should here be summarily dealt with;
for although it is not strictly relevant, since the spirit of man is a frequent
and clear subject in both testaments, yet it is well to iron out the wrinkles
and smooth the crinkles of erratic culture at such a point.
In the Old Testament the word transliterated ruah, is used both of God and of man. God by His SPIRIT moved on the face of the waters, in the essential activities of creation. These of course involve thought, understanding and technical skill, as often demonstrated on this site, far beyond our own, in terms of the product, part of this being ourselves!
God's Spirit, says Genesis 6, would not always strive with man. Hence the meaning is personal, susceptible to emotion, thought, action, intention, purpose, performance of the same. It is precisely what was meant, is meant and continues to be meant. The man, in whom God placed spirit, being in His image, and He being Spirit, man obviously has a participation in the qualities so derived, so named. Means of expression in symbolic form, such as we use continually ourselves, as in 'breathed life into his work', and so on, do not alter the fact beyond all figure, of which the actions and meanings speak for themselves.
Thus in Proverbs we find that the spirit of a man is the candle
of the Lord by which He searches his thoughts (Proverbs 20:27), that the Lord
forms the spirit of man within him (Zechariah 12:1), weighs the spirits (16:2)
by which it clearly not meant a laboratory scaling but a consideration of their
ways! that
"he who rules his spirit" is better than he who takes a city (
Who, accordingly, asks the Lord, has directed the Spirit of the
LORD ? while on the Messiah in His earthly mission, we read "I have put My
Spirit"
on Him - Isaiah 42:1 (and He does not have this Spirit by measure, in view of
His Deity -John
This is the consistent testimony of the Bible to what we have frequently shown to be the spirit of man, in contradistinction to mind and body (see some of the references in the lines following this note).
Similarly the Lord observes in Isaiah 61:1 the compassion, control, power, prerogatives and performances wrought in Him, as the Spirit of the Lord is upon Him.
In I Thessalonians 5:23, we find man to be spirit, soul (or life) and body, while in I Cor. 14, we find that the spirit of a man is able to worship, but should be used in concordance with his mind, although, in terms of pathology, the mind may have been alienated, in which case, the purging of his spirit is a proper procedure in the restoration of his mind (I Cor. 14:15, Ephesians 4:17-24, II Cor. 7:1, Psalm 51:10).
The spirit of a man is accountable, responsible, responsive or
unresponsive, deceitful, lying or corrupted, gentle or evil (cf. Zechariah
13:2, Isaiah 29:10, 63:14, Micah 2;11, Psalm 32:2). The Lord put life into the
dry bones in the vision of Ezekiel 37, and so brought life to mere form, and a
new heart and a new spirit is the gift of those who find the Messiah in the New
Covenant (Ezekiel 18:31 with 16:60ff., and Jeremiah 31:31 with Zechariah
6:12ff., and Jeremiah 3:17 with 23:5ff.). Gentleness of spirit is one of the
gifts of the Spirit of the Lord (Galatians 5:22), and to err in spirit is precisely
the prerogative of spirit, which is not a utensil of DNA, or of culture, or of
thought, but an entity directly related to God, able to be imbued from him,
burdened with concerns, or embroiled in the concerns of the flesh
(Ephesians 5:22, II Cor. 3:3, I Tim. 4:1, James 4;5). Through the Spirit of the
Lord, man may mortify the diseases of his own spirit (Romans
See also SMR pp. 316Dff.,
422Eff. and News 122 , 111, Little
Things Ch. 5.
*1
Verbally, the term
'apostasy' as used here is generic, and to some may seem a little
unusual.
However, it is
used with design, and advisedly in this context.
Often it refers to a departure from one's normal religious profession, provided this has due claim to be orthodox in the sense of non-deviant from the authority of God.
However, the actual MEANING of the word in Webster, is "a total desertion of, or departure from, one's religion, principles, party , cause etc.". Its Greek root is defection, revolt. To this is added the 'apo' (transliterated).
It is the totality of the desertion which makes the word applicable. In this case, the 'party' is the human race, and principles are those of which it is constituted, a sufficient basis for 'orthodoxy': its creation components and their due servicing and treatment, usage and non-abuse, as in the hand-book given to the race, as demonstrated in SMR Chs. 1 -3, 10 in particular, and elsewhere on this site.
*2
It is with no
small rejoicing that one finds in the Reader's Digest article, the
statement that, relative to the cloning of a human being, "Ian
Wilmut ... remains steadfast that, however tragic, there is no human loss that
could justify this." This admirable restraint is most reasonable and just.
It was he who is presented as being profoundly involved in the technical
advances in knowledge which relate.