Walking With Christ

Me daily: God, give me your plan because mine sucks.

Friday, I mentioned something about improving on the original design of Adam. Genetic manipulation is entirely possible these days. We can make all sorts of changes to the gene sequences of future children. Through trial and error experimentation, we have found that we can predict the eye color, hair color, genetic pre-disposition to certain diseases, and many other factors. That idea disturbs be because I know how flawed people can be. No matter how altruistic our desires are, there will always be someone who will pervert the plan for profit or selfish gain. In some cases it’s even worse, they will stand in the way of discovery to protect their own interests.

A problem cannot be solved with the same level of thinking that created it. – Unknown (often attributed to Albert Einstein)

Genesis 1:26a Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.(ESV)

The original design was flawless. God created man (male and female) as a perfect image of God. There was no distortion by sin. There was no decay. There was no rot or anything else to prevent a perfect image. God is the ultimate craftsman and doesn’t make mistakes. The kink, if you will, in the system was free will and a limited perspective. God knows all and sees all. He knows that the true result of any action would be before it is taken. It’s conjecture, but I think this is in large part because He makes the rules that everything has to exist by. That does make it easier to absolutely know how things will turn out with any given option. God does not make mistakes so the addition of the free will and perspective limitations that cause us to try to make decisions based off of incomplete information was intentional and has a purpose.

The limitations that mankind had in the garden were perfectly suited to the environment. They knew what they needed to know to do that tasks that they had been given. Be fruitful and multiply, taking dominion over every living thing that moves. We can’t prove it since the bible doesn’t explicitly say so, but I believe that Adam and Eve were functionally immortal until they ate of the fruit. Sin entered the world and began the process of decay. It took Adam 930 years to die. I would argue that the rate of decay hasn’t changed but our susceptibility to it has.

I’m absolutely not against science (science rules) or understanding. I understand how those can be abused or used as an excuse to do horrible things. Pretty horrible things have been done in the name of science and religion. Neither are good even if the results are ultimately positive. The issue with genetic manipulation is that we are trying to undo or overcome the damage done to the world by sin. It’s like an alcoholic trying to out drink their addiction. The world doesn’t understand sin, what it is, what it does, what it really means. It would almost be like a fish trying to explain the desert.

We have a vague sense of what sin is and how it is a part of our lives. The sense truly is vague. The corruption of sin permeates every aspect of our lives and prevents the possibility of perfection to God’s standard. It’s there. It’s always there. It hangs over us like an ominous cloud that threatens to consume us even as we, unwittingly, breath in the toxic vapors that slowly kill us from the inside. If we are of the world then we will never be able to actually recognize the cause and source of the corruption in our lives. This is why we are called to live apart from the world. In it but not of it.

The born again Christian is a new creation. We are made new. The materials are flawed and can fall a bit short of the mark, but the work is done by the same master craftsman who created the foundations of the world we live in. The image is restored to as close to perfection as possible without violating the free will of those who have gone before us. In a sense, we are returned to the garden where we are which means we are returned to the beginning of our story with the same commandments that Adam and Eve had. Go forth, be fruitful and multiply, taking dominion over every living thing that moves.

We might not be returned to before the fall, but, perhaps, we are returned to just after the exit from Eden. We are suddenly thrust into a new landscape that might seem harsh, hostile, and even barren. We have to learn so much about the new world we live in and how to survive. Mistakes will be made. Thankfully, we know the maker who can take us back to that point again and again. We know that through Jesus we have a path directly to our Father. We know that through the blood of Jesus, spilled on the cross, that those mistakes or sins are forgiven and we can begin to build anew.

Didn’t mean for that to sound so dystopian. The thought is that we cannot fix the problem of sin because it is a part of the world we live in like to many other things. It’s a part of life. It’s arrogant to think that we can think or reason on a level that would allow us to overcome sin on our own. This is just one of many reasons why we need a savior. Thankfully, we have one who was so willing and gracious to be that for us all. The gift is free. We are not the ones who paid the price. Like the alcoholic who continues to return to the bottle looking for answers, we cannot overcome the problem ourselves. It takes a new mindset and new direction to escape the valley of death we walk in. Once we are saved, that is exactly what we are given. It’s a bonus that comes with having that relationship. A new mindset. A new heart. A new destination. The world is a sinking ship. God threw us a floatation device (in the form of Jesus). All we have to do is to grab it and hold on for dear life.