The Future of Christianity I

First, a disclaimer: I am not a prophet. I do not claim to possess any special revelation from God. I also do not claim that we have any future beyond this moment which has been given to us. For this discussion I rely solely on the facilities that God gave me, and for them I am thankful! This article is best read with the understanding that "it" all could come to an end at any moment, thus making this whole shebang moot.

Also, understand that I'm not taking a stand on issues herein, such as gays in the ministry. I'm merely using them to make my point.

There are many debates within Christianity today. Some of them are things that ancient Christians probably couldn't even imagine. From questions about the ministry (the role of women and professed, practicing homosexuals) to the science of a flat earth and a heliocentric solar system.

My question for you is this: what sociological and scientific changes are likely to occur which will impact Christianity? Furthermore, are some of these so drastic as to call into question the need for Christianity?

Sound drastic? Try telling a first-century Christian that the Earth (the home of God's chosen people) is not the center of the universe, nor the galaxy, nor even the solar system. That might shake their faith, after all wouldn't God put us at the center of all things?

Where is the future leading to? Stay with me, this is going to get weird.

Let's start with human cloning. We can fight it all we want, but eventually it's going to happen. Not every country is against this technology. My question is: what is the status of the soul of these people?

Easy enough. They have been awarded a soul by God. Cha-ching.

Now, how about completely synthetic humans? I'm not talking androids, rather I'm talking lab created humans, built from DNA lying around the lab with no fertilization happening, with DNA pulled from multiple sources. Simply taking the DNA code and building a human. Completely feasible (someday).

Let's get crazy. Looking far into the future, how about a genetically engineered half-human, half creature (say a bear) by an unethical regime for the purpose of creating a race of super laborers? Do they have souls? Does the grace of God extend to them? What about a 1/4 human? 1/8 human? Where will God draw the line?

Along the lines of grace, how about aliens? It's not unrealistic to think that we may discover intelligent life (I'm not betting on it, but this fits in with my premise here). If they look like us, great! No problem. Buuuuut, what if they don't? If we were created in God's image, how do we reconcile intelligent bug-eyed grasshopper aliens with God's image? Do we deny them salvation (as the Jews tried to deny it to the gentiles before Paul came around), or must we revisit scripture to justify the fact that our new alien friends are not hell bound? What will ol' bug-eyes say when they find out their saviour was a soft, squishy human, and not a strong exoskeleton-possessed beetle with extra limbs and no facial hair?

What about reanimating deceased people? Future science may well be up to the task of taking dear-old-grandma's corpse and literally rebuilding her. Is this the same person or a different one? If it's different, is she saved if the "old" one was, or must the new one become baptized in the Holy Spirit?

We (as Christians) cannot even agree on the simplest of items, such as the benefit (and scriptural support) for women in the ministry, or the need to dunk people during baptism. Heck, we can't even agree on things where the scriptures aren't so vague! How will future Christians handle what's coming to them?

I don't know, but I have faith that it will work out just fine :-)

-Brian

Comments

Anonymous said…
At what point does a clone become human and possess a soul?

If you clone one internal organ, does that organ possess a soul?

What if you clone all internal organs? Do they collective constitute a human?

What if you clone all one's body parts, except the brain?

What if you clone only the brain? etc..
December 20, 2006 at 12:30 AM
Brian said…
Great points. Does God tie the sould to a particular body part? That sounds strange. It's dilemmas like this that (we) Christians need to be prepared for. This will be similar to the baptism argument. Full emersion, partial emersion, sprinkle on the head...If you are dunked but a part of your head doesn't go under, are you baptized? What about none of your head...and so on.
If cloning happens, this well could become a very divisive issue! We'll have the equivalent of Baptists (full immersion only) who say that only 100% "natural" humans can have a soul...
December 20, 2006 at 9:57 AM
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