Who Am I?Sample

Today, in the first half of the 21st century, we’re experiencing a significant revolution that hits at our fundamental makeup as humans. When we talk about “genome editing” or “gene editing,” we’re talking about a form of genome engineering in which DNA is inserted, replaced, or removed from the genetic material of the cell. This is a technology that enables geneticists and medical researchers to edit the genome of plants, animals, and humans.

Let’s think about categories of gene editing:

• Gene therapy includes efforts to edit patient genomes with the goal of preventing, stopping, or reversing various diseases or disorders.
• Enhancements and super-enhancements attempt to edit patient genomes with the goal of optimizing human capability.
• Germline editing is editing not only the genes of one person but of every person that comes after that person. By editing reproductive cells, you’re editing genes for generations of individuals.

I hope you’re starting to see why this is so significant. Are we fundamentally altering, not just one human life, but generations of human lives to come? And how does that affect the decisions we make now?

About this technology, author Walter Isaacson writes,

In the upcoming decades, as we gain more power to hack our own evolution, we will have to wrestle with deep moral and spiritual questions: Is there an inherent goodness to nature? Will an emphasis on personal liberty turn the most fundamental aspects of human nature into consumer choices made at a genetic supermarket? Should the rich be able to buy the best genes? Should we leave such decisions to individual choice, or should society come to some consensus about what it will allow?

I assume you’re seeing how these questions and concerns strike at the heart of our humanity. Clearly, there’s so much to think about and consider here. Let’s do so standing on Biblical foundations. The Bible clearly calls us to:

• Fear God humbly (Proverbs 22:4). If we do not fear God, we will prove ourselves to be fools, plain and simple. We live in a world that doesn’t fear God.
• Think and act wisely. Let’s study and work diligently, and let’s—as followers of Jesus—be on the front line of discussions about this technology, relying on the Wisdom that only God can give.

All of us together, with fear before God, need to trust God completely. Amidst all the monumental questions raised by this ongoing technological advancement, Psalm 2 reminds us that God is still On High; we are not. God is still the Creator; we are all still creatures—and we can trust Him.