Bioethical Decisions and Today's Christian:

Finding You Way Through The Morass of Today's Overwhelming Medical Ethical Dilemmas

13 Lesson Overview by Robert E. Cranston, M.D. Neurologist & Bioethicist

The end of the 20th century has brought unusual technological advances to our society. Christians today face dilemmas that were completely beyond imagination just a few years ago. Abortion became legal in the U.S. in 1973. Organ transplantation came into its own in the latter half of the century. When I attended medical school in the late 1970's, AIDS was not a part of standard medical school curriculum. Since then, the AIDS epidemic has exploded in America and around the world.

New diseases, technologies and health treatment options raise many complicated questions. When does life begin? When does death transpire? What is "Quality of Life", "Sanctity of Life", and how do they differ from each other? When is care futile? Who owns the life that
we each live?

Christians are to be light in a dark world and a seasoning salt in a corrupt society. If we are to serve God in these roles, we must engage the prickly issues of the day. To do this John Wesley used four tools to make decisions that have since been labeled the Wesleyan Quadrilateral. These are: Scripture, Reason, Tradition - Including the wisdom of the Church through the ages, and Experience - including God's work in our lives and the inner witness of the Holy Spirit. We will always observe and respect these same four signpost as we travel through this process. We will reason together around scripture and pray for the Holy Spirit's illumination as we do so. Since many of the bioethical dilemmas we will engage were not extant in ages past, we will tap not only into the great creeds of the church and the wisdom tradition with our own churches, but also into the new tradition of Christian bioethical thought.

It is my belief that our ethics must be (See Lesson Twelve) "God-Centered... Reality-Bound... and Love-Impelled". As I work through ethical dilemmas, using Wesley's Quadrilateral, I am always guided by these three parameters.

God Bless you as you read and study together.

Robert E. Cranston, M.D.

Bioethical Curriculum [Click to download .pdf]

This study curriculum is provided, without cost, for use in personal or group study. This is not copyrighted, and you may down load and make as many copies as you like. It is my hope that God will use this to help you learn more about Bioethics and become His "Salt and Light" in your community.

If you use this, my one request is that you would let me know where it is being used, and how many are involved in your group. I can be notified by email at: robert.cranston@carle.com