Immortality without Eternal Life

Christian bioethicist, Nigel Cameron says:

In the end, taking life made in God's image may not be as bad, in God's eyes, as making life in our own.

Cameron is talking about genetic engineering and the problems it poses to a Christian understanding of humanity. One trans-humanis has said, "We are going to be as gods, we might as well get good at it." He's talking about our ability to isolate certain genes and genetically impart them to our future offspring.

Companies are actually at work patenting genes that will one day be for sale. So if you want your child to be immune to certain diseases in your family, you can buy the right kind of genes to impart that immunity. Great idea, right? But you can also determine eye and hair color as well as select genes for a forty-four inch vertical jump.

The trans-humanists believe that his will eventually lead to the genetic perfection of mankind and even to an immortal body made of synthetic material. Adbusters published the "Cyborg Manifesto" a few years ago in order to alert us to the views of the trans-humanists. As Cameron says, "These are not sci-fi crazies" but people who speak on the National Science Foundation Platforms. Here is part of the Adbusters parody of their views:

Trapped for millions of years in nature's garden with God calling the shots, we have finally discovered an escape hatch. Advances in computer technology, biotech, and nanotech have unlocked the promise of controlling our own evolutionary future, of burning the old DNA blueprint. For the first time in our history we can seize total control. We can declare the human body, its clumsy bones, its tiny brain, its cumbersome systems, a failed experiment. We can transcend our own biological vessels and decide for ourselves what it means to be human. For far too long we followed a genetic script handed down from on high. Now at last we get to direct, to make history, rather than just acting it out (Adbusters, The Cyborg Manifesto, last paragraph, qt. in Mars Hill Audio, vol. 81).

This is our folly: We want immortality without eternal life.