Download Science and the Bible 1

2nd DRAFT (10/02/2011)
Science and the Bible - 2 Biology (part 2).
The theory of evolution still remains a cause of conflict for some.
But our biblical story introduces another biological area where conflict may occur – genetic
engineering!
Tell the story - with its intrigue, love and sex – of Genesis chapters 29 and 30. Briefly - it
tells how Jacob falls in love with his cousin Rachel and agrees to work 7 years for her
father Laban. But is tricked by Laban into marrying Rachel’s elder sister Leah – and
to work a further 7 years to have Rachel as well.
There is double dealing over the final payoff . Jacob offers to tend Laban’s flocks of
sheep and goats for a bit longer provided he can take the black sheep and the striped
and spotted goats from Laban’s flocks. Laban agrees to this but then removes all the
male black sheep and all goats that were striped or spotted and gets his sons to take
them far away.
Read:
Genesis 30 v37-42
This tells how Jacob removes strips of bark from a tree branch – so that the branch
has light and dark stripes. When the female sheep and goats are ready to mate he
stands the striped branch at their water troughs when they come to drink. He then
ensures that mating is with the strongest animals. In this way he produces strong
black lambs and striped goats - which become his.
Question: What do you think of Jacob’s ideas of breeding? (The use of striped sticks is
“sympathetic magic” but the use of strong stock is good sense. )
This story gives an example of an early awareness that it is possible to manipulate
the characteristics of offspring through controlled breeding.
What does the group know about the way we now understand characteristics are passed on?
Genes are the units of inherited information - responsible for passing characteristics
from one generation to another.
Through experimenting with peas, the priest Gregor Mendel worked out the laws
governing the inheritance of characteristics which he published in 1866. His laws –
using the idea of genes - provide the foundation of more efficient plant and animal
breeding today.
The middle of the 20th century the structure of the complex molecule DNA was
worked out and it was shown that sections of the DNA molecule are responsible for the
behaviour of each gene.
Question: Knowing what we know now we may think Jacob’s science was primitive - but
what do you think of the morality of what he was doing?
While ostensibly looking after Laban’s flocks Jacob was using his knowledge
(“science?” such as it was) to manipulate the breeding to his own advantage - but
Laban had already removed certain sheep and goats to skew the breeding in his own
favour.
Question: Some people dismiss genetic engineering as “playing God”, but the word “playing”
is a very ambiguous word. How many uses of the word “playing” can you think of
(playing up, playing around, child’s play, playing tennis, playing Beethoven etc.)?
Is the word being used positively or negatively?
Discuss responses to “playing Beethoven” (or any other composer). What is involved in being
able to do this? (if anyone in the group plays an instrument they may be particularly
helpful here) Possible suggestions: being able to play the appropriate instrument
(which requires much time and practice); being able to read a musical score – and
interpret it as the composer intended (or is this necessarily true? are two
performances of the same work likely to be identical? is the musician not part of
the creative process?)1
In what ways might the answers be different if we think of “playing jazz”?
1
See Jackie Leach Scully Playing in the Presence ISBN 0 85245 337 x Quaker Books May 2002 pp 50-54 for
development of this idea of “playing”.