The above is a brief clip from a question offered up by a young professing atheist, having now given way to doubts (my opinion) cast by the dysfunction of the church, the disintegration of the family unit and the injustices of society and its governments.
“The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state. It must be the guide and the critic of the state, and never its tool…. If the church does not participate actively in the struggle for peace and for economic and racial justice, it will forfeit the loyalty of millions and cause men everywhere to say that it has atrophied its will.” MLK,Jr.
This seems to have been a week of personal impact, as I reflected again on the distance of the church from the world it professes to “salt.”
“Science has…bestowed upon [man] powers which may be called almost creative; which have enabled him to change and modify the being surrounding him, and by his experiments to interrogate nature with power, not simply as a scholar, passive and seeking only to understand her operations, but rather as a master, active with his own instruments…who would not be ambitious of becoming acquainted with the most profound secrets of nature; of ascertaining her hidden operations; and of exhibiting to man that system of knowledge which related too intimately to their own physical and moral constitution.”
This last quote was taken from the writings of chemist, Humphry Davy, and recently used by a friend of mine in his most current book, Perfection (Baylor University Press, p.99). I found it interesting that this vintage 1800’s scientist whose contributions were centered primarily on the study of certain alkali metals would unknowingly forecast such a time as today. A time when even in my own hometown, we are growing human organs and facial replacement structures for those wounded in current wars.
An internet entry dated August 2001, declares, “HEART tissue has been created from human embryo cells for the first time, raising hopes that transplantation could become a thing of the past.”
Then in May of this year, a quote from BiotechDaily International “a new study describes the development of artificial human skin with biomechanical properties, based on an agarose-fibrin biomaterial.” That’s not cloning but true creation of life!
My author friend, in Perfection, had utilized Davy’s quote to preface comments around Shelley’s tale of Frankenstein, all leading to a discourse around ethics and bio-technology debate.
My question to the church is this, are we sufficiently integrated in the marketplace to even influence the debate, now rapidly shaping what is being called “a post human future,” or are we simply isolated in way too many sanctuaries, there trying to convince each other of our own opinions about God and Christ, while we lose the next generation to the harsh and lonely realities of the “rational”?