The twenty-first century has already given us a rapid growth in knowledge, and will continue to be stranger than we can imagine, especially in the areas of science and technology. What was once considered science fiction will soon become science fact. In recent years, the concepts of intelligent machines and computers manipulating a person’s mind have become popular through movies such as Short Circuit, The Matrix, and Star Trek Nemesis which proclaimed that "to be human is to seek self-enhancement."
Widely noticed publications, such as the NSF/DOC-sponsored report “Converging Technologies for Improving Human Performance” and the final report of the President’s Council on Bioethics, “Beyond Therapy: Biotechnology and the Pursuit of Happiness,” have given close attention to human enhancement through technology.
Bio-technology’s popular uses shows a long list, among them weight loss, hair growth, birth control, teeth straightening, and sex selection of children. Transhumanism takes human enhancement even further, by changing the vision of a perfect man into a human-machine complex properly called “posthuman.” This is an effort to break every human limitation and redefine personhood. Nick Bostrom, Oxford philosophy professor and co-founder of the World Transhumanism Association, writes that posthumans will realize eternal youth and health, gain complete control over their minds and emotions, and “experience novel states of consciousness” that present human minds cannot imagine. Post-humans may even choose to discard their bodies in favor of life as “information patterns on vast super fast computer networks, or transferring their mind into another body to extend their life. This raises questions that the church needs to consider over will this new "person" have a soul and will they have the ability to receive Christ as their Savior?
As the Bible says in Genesis 11:6, "...now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do." How long will it be before His patience is once again exhausted?
Some of the more bizarre terrors in the Book of Revelation seem less strange as we peer into the emerging world of biotechnology. The "iron mixed with miry clay" in the image of the final world empire portrayed in Nebuchadnezzar's dream of Daniel 2 has also puzzled scholars for centuries. "And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay." - Daniel 2:43
To "mingle themselves with seed of men," they have to be something other than the seed of men. What can they be? Are they hybrids produced by cloning? Are they Nephilim produced by fallen angels? (The Restrainer of 2 Thessalonians 2 may be restraining far more than we have any idea.)
It is time to diligently do our homework; the days are getting stranger with every bizarre breakthrough and our time is getting shorter. There is no priority in our life more urgent than our spiritual preparation. None of these things is unanticipated in God's plan for you and me. And there is no way to be ready for what's coming unless you know your Bible...and unless you have a personal relationship with its Author!
The transformation Christians should be seeking is not the physical or psychological enhancement found in science, reason, or technology, but rather the trans-forming work found only in God’s supernatural work through His Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:18). Romans 12:2 says:
"And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." Romans 12:2
Christians need to be aware of Transhumanism and its various forms, but they need not concern themselves with seeking something they cannot and should not attain—autonomous perfection in a utopian world society. Man’s salvation is found only in the perfect and complete atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ and his promise of eternal life, as a free gift, to those who believe in him (Romans 3:23-26; Ephesians 2:8-9).
So where does this leave us in regard to the morality of this? The technology per se is not immoral any more than the Internet or television is immoral. It is Man’s use of it and his motivation that is at issue. However, if we attempt to thwart God’s power for our own personal gain, then the use of genetic engineering cannot be condoned. Also, for whatever reason, if the use of the technology is for eugenic purposes or to create biological weapons, it is clearly immoral.
As Christians, we must be the “Watchmen on the Wall” in regard to the use of this technology. We should question—loudly—technology and techniques that might lead to hasty or untested results. We need to provide a moral compass to assure that the results of genetic engineering do not degrade the integrity of Man nor make a mockery of God’s creation.
Singer/songwriter Sara Groves speaks on bio-ethics:
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