Would You Choose An "Orignal" Person... Or a Clone of That Person Who Loves You?
Hey Everyone:
Let's say it was possible to make one clone of any human being at their current age. They would look exactly alike, and the clone would be "perfection", while the original person would be... the person you know.
The catch is, only ONE of the two can be allowed to continue to exist. Whom would you choose? The original as they are, or the clone who loves you?
Here's an example from a movie no one's ever heard of that I saw last weekend and got me thinking about this (I won't name the movie because it was direct-to-video and had themes I can't recommend as a Christian, to my own fault):
Craig and Tracy are a couple. Craig is totally head-over-heels in love with Tracy. She puts up a front of loving him back and has promised to go to a local college so they can stay together. However, all of this is a lie. Tracy has been seeing someone else for months, and plans to move away to another school in the fall.
Through a pretty-much unexplained twist in the movie, Craig meets Tracy's clone, who resembles her exactly in appearance but, unlike Original Tracy, loves Craig back and tells him so. (She's not perfect, however, as she is willing to kill off Original Tracy in order to take on her identity in full.) Craig has a choice between Original Tracy who cheats on and lies to him or Cloned Tracy who showers him with compliments and affection (but, remember, is also willing to off Original Tracy to take her place.) Only one can live (sorry, it was a premise of the movie.)
Craig chooses Cloned Tracy without much hesitation.
*Disclaimer--I know a million arguments could be brought up about cloning and why would only one have to exist and so forth, but for the sake of this thread, I'm asking about what you would choose, not what's scientifically possible.*
If it were you--whom would you choose? I have a friend whom I asked, "If you could choose between Original Me (with all my flaws... marks from cuts on my arms--part of the past--and everything), or Cloned Me (happy, cheerful, no depression or issues and felt things you wish I felt), whom would you choose?" He told me he would choose Original Me in a heartbeat because a clone would not be real to him. He said, "I would choose you because I want what's REAL."
He's a better person than I am. Can I be honest? If I had a choice between Original Husband who chose someone else over me, and Clone of Original Husband who loved me back, I would have chosen the clone without hesitation. Human nature, stripped away of everything, so often boils down to greed. And I can be the first to admit this.
If you could choose between the Person You Love who cheated on you, lied to you, and hurt you beyond your capacity, vs. Clone of That Person who loved you, was faithful, and shared your Christian beliefs, whom would you choose?
And I think about things such as... a parent who has a child whom they love, but this child is defiant in every way, is dependent upon drugs and alcohol, will not listen to any kind of correction... and will not change. If the parent could choose between Original Child with problems that will never go away, or Clone of Original Child Who Was Everything The Parent Could Hope For (star student, successful career, happy family life), whom would they choose?
If the choice was between your Dysfunctional Original Parent who has never shown you an ounce of understanding, kindness, or love... and Clone of Your Parent who showered you with praise, affection, and encouragement... whom would you choose?
If you could choose between your Original Abusive Boss or Version 2.0 who actually understands why you're struggling at work or trying your best, whom would you choose?
Yes, I know this is all far-fetched and seems pointless. But the reason I ask is because it got me thinking about God and how much He values us as we are and our own free will--when humanity rebelled and would not stop without Divine intervention, God did not clone perfect versions of us to serve Him instead, though at times He wanted to start over (such as, with the Flood and when Moses had to beg God not to destroy the people and start over.)
For some reason, God amazingly accepts our Original Selves, and chooses to redeem, rather than replace.
But for us mere humans... We lack to power to redeem others. However, if we were allowed to REPLACE someone... What would YOU choose?
Hey Everyone:
Let's say it was possible to make one clone of any human being at their current age. They would look exactly alike, and the clone would be "perfection", while the original person would be... the person you know.
The catch is, only ONE of the two can be allowed to continue to exist. Whom would you choose? The original as they are, or the clone who loves you?
Here's an example from a movie no one's ever heard of that I saw last weekend and got me thinking about this (I won't name the movie because it was direct-to-video and had themes I can't recommend as a Christian, to my own fault):
Craig and Tracy are a couple. Craig is totally head-over-heels in love with Tracy. She puts up a front of loving him back and has promised to go to a local college so they can stay together. However, all of this is a lie. Tracy has been seeing someone else for months, and plans to move away to another school in the fall.
Through a pretty-much unexplained twist in the movie, Craig meets Tracy's clone, who resembles her exactly in appearance but, unlike Original Tracy, loves Craig back and tells him so. (She's not perfect, however, as she is willing to kill off Original Tracy in order to take on her identity in full.) Craig has a choice between Original Tracy who cheats on and lies to him or Cloned Tracy who showers him with compliments and affection (but, remember, is also willing to off Original Tracy to take her place.) Only one can live (sorry, it was a premise of the movie.)
Craig chooses Cloned Tracy without much hesitation.
*Disclaimer--I know a million arguments could be brought up about cloning and why would only one have to exist and so forth, but for the sake of this thread, I'm asking about what you would choose, not what's scientifically possible.*
If it were you--whom would you choose? I have a friend whom I asked, "If you could choose between Original Me (with all my flaws... marks from cuts on my arms--part of the past--and everything), or Cloned Me (happy, cheerful, no depression or issues and felt things you wish I felt), whom would you choose?" He told me he would choose Original Me in a heartbeat because a clone would not be real to him. He said, "I would choose you because I want what's REAL."
He's a better person than I am. Can I be honest? If I had a choice between Original Husband who chose someone else over me, and Clone of Original Husband who loved me back, I would have chosen the clone without hesitation. Human nature, stripped away of everything, so often boils down to greed. And I can be the first to admit this.
If you could choose between the Person You Love who cheated on you, lied to you, and hurt you beyond your capacity, vs. Clone of That Person who loved you, was faithful, and shared your Christian beliefs, whom would you choose?
And I think about things such as... a parent who has a child whom they love, but this child is defiant in every way, is dependent upon drugs and alcohol, will not listen to any kind of correction... and will not change. If the parent could choose between Original Child with problems that will never go away, or Clone of Original Child Who Was Everything The Parent Could Hope For (star student, successful career, happy family life), whom would they choose?
If the choice was between your Dysfunctional Original Parent who has never shown you an ounce of understanding, kindness, or love... and Clone of Your Parent who showered you with praise, affection, and encouragement... whom would you choose?
If you could choose between your Original Abusive Boss or Version 2.0 who actually understands why you're struggling at work or trying your best, whom would you choose?
Yes, I know this is all far-fetched and seems pointless. But the reason I ask is because it got me thinking about God and how much He values us as we are and our own free will--when humanity rebelled and would not stop without Divine intervention, God did not clone perfect versions of us to serve Him instead, though at times He wanted to start over (such as, with the Flood and when Moses had to beg God not to destroy the people and start over.)
For some reason, God amazingly accepts our Original Selves, and chooses to redeem, rather than replace.
But for us mere humans... We lack to power to redeem others. However, if we were allowed to REPLACE someone... What would YOU choose?
