Disclaimer. I am no generic scientists.
I understand that science today has unlocked the human code. I read that CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) allows scientists to edit DNA in a living organism. I find that mind boggling.
I remember I first encountered genetic engineering in the first instalment of Sid Meier’s Civilization in 1991. Talks of designer babies and genetic enhancements are no longer science fiction. It is now a menu of possibilities.
In my limited mind, just because we can does not mean we should.
“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.” (Ps. 139:13).
When scientists edit embryos to choose eye colour, height, or intelligence, is it still medicine or is it playing God? When corporations patent genetic modifications to control food supply, is it just innovation or is it exploitation? When governments dream of building super soldiers or citizens who live longer, is it still progress or is it presumption?
Do we know the full cost? What we deem as a “harmless” edit today may cause an unforeseen disease tomorrow. (If I mentioned a possible zombie apocalypse, you will think I talk nonsense, so, I will not.) A decision made in one generation may haunt the next. And what was meant to improve life could easily cheapen it. I will argue that the consequences of gene manipulation are potentially more dire than any political or economic decisions.
God designed life with wisdom far beyond our reach. Genes are not random code – they are his handiwork. When we tamper, we are not editing errors. We are questioning the Creator. We are messing with what we do not know.
The call for us as believers is clear:
Stand in awe, not arrogance.
Resist the temptation to remake life on our terms.
Honor the One who has already called his creation “very good.”
Because life is not ours to rewrite.
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