My OperaThe Future is Past!
Monday, January 21, 2008 3:17:40 PM
Recently I saw on a newsfeed the info-film made in 1967 about life in 1999 "and beyond," starring a very young Wink Martindale. I liked it so much I recorded it and burned it to DVD. Parts of it were scarily accurate (email and online shopping), and parts were, well, wistful. I want the clothes-cleaning closets and my daughters want the automated kitchen! Shari, my significantly better half, does not -- she likes cooking "the old fashioned way" (a quote from the film).
Well, the "and beyond" is on us, and the future is never quite what we expect, even when we get some things right in our predictions. The church in particular is facing some tremendous challenges.
Recently on one of the lists, someone asked:
This one of the issues that is going to be of special concern to the 21st
century church, I should think. However, for discussion purposes, how is a
human being made? Through cellular reproduction, using genetic material
from both father and mother. No one argues about whether or not such a
child has a soul. But is genetic material necessary for a soul? How does a
person get a soul? Jesus had no genetic father, but he certainly, as fully
human, had a human soul...
Now, Jesus is a special case as also being fully God, and unique in
redemptive history also with regard to his purpose. But I think it at least
establishes the possibility that the possession of a soul is not tied to
genetics, but something else, and that something has to be the creative
activity of God. Even a child conceived in the natural way is formed by God
in the mother's womb (Ps 139). If cloned human beings are possible, then
God will have to give them souls, if souls they are to have.
Well, the "and beyond" is on us, and the future is never quite what we expect, even when we get some things right in our predictions. The church in particular is facing some tremendous challenges.
Recently on one of the lists, someone asked:
You know, I've had a curious thought, there was some scientist that
tried to clone himself in a lab. the cells lived for like 5 days
before they died. The question is, if scientists were to succeed in
cloning a human being, how do you think that would work? What would be
the spiritual consequences? Do you think God would kill any full blown
clone? Would the clone have the same soul as the person they are
copied from, or would they have their own soul? What if a clone were
to learn and accept the truth of the Gospel?
What do you think?
This one of the issues that is going to be of special concern to the 21st
century church, I should think. However, for discussion purposes, how is a
human being made? Through cellular reproduction, using genetic material
from both father and mother. No one argues about whether or not such a
child has a soul. But is genetic material necessary for a soul? How does a
person get a soul? Jesus had no genetic father, but he certainly, as fully
human, had a human soul...
Now, Jesus is a special case as also being fully God, and unique in
redemptive history also with regard to his purpose. But I think it at least
establishes the possibility that the possession of a soul is not tied to
genetics, but something else, and that something has to be the creative
activity of God. Even a child conceived in the natural way is formed by God
in the mother's womb (Ps 139). If cloned human beings are possible, then
God will have to give them souls, if souls they are to have.
