Genetics And Human Responsibility

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America adopted a statement at its August, 2011 Assembly: Genetics, Faith and Responsibility- Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The following is from the Prologue:

Genetic science includes a range of disciplines that deal with biologically based characteristics and their inheritance. The developments stemming from genetic science and its applications illustrate the abundant gifts of God's creation. Breakthrough discoveries and cutting-edge technologies evoke a sense of awe and provide insights into the human place within the web of creation. They unlock unprecedented power to diagnose and cure diseases and to address agricultural and environmental problems. 

These developments also exemplify how contemporary human knowledge and technology are creating a different relationship between human power and life on this planet. Genetic science extends human powers over the fundamental processes of life in unprecedented and qualitatively different ways. It enables human beings to shape directly and rapidly the characteristics of living beings, including human beings 

The collective effects of these new powers mean human beings increasingly bear the moral burden for the shape of nature and the very existence of future generations. The cumulative force of such unparalleled power and choice promise great benefit but also present qualitatively new levels of danger and ambiguity.

In this and future posts I will share my views about these powers and dangers. I encourage you to read the entire ELCA statement. I especially like these comments further into the prologue:

• Genetic knowledge and its applications are not morally neutral. They require diligent and sustained attention in order both to direct their potential good and to limit potential harm.

• Individual and collective decisions must take into account the long-term impact of genetic science and technology as well as the character of the world today as a global village.

What we Christians especially bring to this dialogue is an understanding of what God in His Word tells us about how we are to use these powers. The Word also warns us about the dangers we face, especially since we are by nature sinful and rebellious. Let's start with a brief review of how we stand in relation to our Creator. Luther's Small Catechism teaches us in a simple, but profound manner how all creation depends upon God.

I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my limbs, my reason, and all my senses, and still preserves them; in addition thereto, clothing and shoes, meat and drink, house and homestead, wife and children, fields, cattle, and all my goods; that He provides me richly and daily with all that I need to support this body and life, protects me from all danger, and guards me and preserves me from all evil; and all this out of pure, fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me; for all which I owe it to Him to thank, praise, serve, and obey Him.

Notice that this statement affirms that God continues to provide us with all that we need to support our lives. He protects, guards and preserves us from those things that might harm us. For instance, when Sylvia and I huddled in the hallway of our home back in 2008 as Hurricane Ike came storming in from the Gulf of Mexico, we could only pray that our Father in heaven would spare us, because neither we nor anyone else had the power to control or divert the storm in its fury. And spare us He did, out of "pure, fatherly, divine goodness and mercy." We were without electrical power for weeks, but beyond that we were OK. For all this we give Him thanks and praise. In this we join the Apostle as he says, "In Him we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28). God's providence and protection is evident all around us. This is further affirmed by the Apostle in his letter to the Colossians,

For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. - Col 1:16-17 ESV

The all things means just that and includes hurricanes, squirrels, dolphins, fleas and we humans, alongside everything else. All these things were created, says the text. The verb were created is passive; these things did not—and do not—create themselves. In that sense our Father continues to create. He is continually creating, causing them to exist. They are utterly and completely dependent upon Him for their existence. As Luther's Catechism says "God has made me and all creatures."

Take me as an example. I am unique, am I not? Certainly. There has never been another quite like me. True, I look quite a bit like my father—and a bit like my mother, but I am not merely a clone of either of them. Nor will I, the unique person that I am, ever cease to exist now that I received a "new self, created after the likeness of God" when I was taken with Christ into death and raised with Him to new life (Romans 6:3-4; 1 Corinthians 12:13). He who first caused me to come into existence through the union of my parents has continued throughout these years to preserve my life. And beyond that, when I was baptized, He re-created me, giving me a new self, remade in His image and likeness. And His creative activity continues within me.

This continuous creating activity of God is everywhere, in trees, streams, the air we breathe, and the universe that surrounds us. "In him all things hold together." He upholds all things by the word of His power (Hebrews 1:3).

The fact that we creatures exist only and always by His Word of power does not mean that we are in any sense the same as God. The creatures do not equal the Creator. This teaching does not in any sense suggest pantheism, the idea that the sum of all that exists is God. He remains the Other, the Holy One, above, beyond and outside His creation. Yet within His creation, this natural world, there is an incredibly complex interplay and extensive sublime order. Tides rise and fall, water satisfies our thirst and planet earth continues to revolve around the sun. Modern science in all its varied disciplines reflects an ongoing discovery of this amazing order. We even dare to say that this order reaches out into the universe, the UNI-verse, not the MULTI-verse. All created things are UNIFIED, everything interplays with everything else. We affirm this because we believe there is but ONE God by whom and for whom all things exist. "In Him all things hold together."

Since we humans are interdependent with this amazing creation and given the vocation to oversee it, our task is to respect God's creation and to assist it to flourish. This is certainly part of what the Bible means when it teaches that we are created "in the image of God" (Gen.1:26-28).

Thus we must ask what this stewardship, this management responsibility implies in the amazing discoveries our scientists are making about genetics. We'll look further into that next time.