The Singularity And The Day Of Judgment

From a human viewpoint, I am alive because of the advances in medical knowledge and technology. In the past four years I have been operated upon twice by surgeons. The first was to bypass the blocked arteries feeding my heart with a procedure is called CABG or coronary artery bypass graft and pronounced "cabbage". A couple years after that operation another group of surgeons replaced my heart's aortic valve with a procedure known as TAVR, trans-aortic valve replacement. Without these surgeries I would very likely be dead. I have heart disease!

Advances in other medical technologies are proceeding at a rapid pace. Today, in some instances, surgeons don’t need to even be in the room to conduct a surgical operation. Recent innovations in robotics have produced machines like the Da Vinci surgical system and the Kymerax, which offer precise, mechanical tools that a surgeon operates remotely. These machines also feature helpful options like 3-D imaging and on-the-fly magnification of the surgical area—though they still require a living, breathing person to operate them.

As I pointed out in my previous blog there are those who believe that since these and similar advancements are proceeding at an exponential rate, with our intelligence and knowledge doubling every few years, scientists will eventually complete the reverse-engineering of the human brain. This will mark the Singularity. The Singularity is the technological creation of smarter-than-human intelligence. It also describes the moment when our civilization will change so much that its rules and technologies will be incomprehensible to all previous generations. That's why we are at a loss to adequately describe it. At that point men will be able to download all their information into a computer network capable of reproducing themselves. The singularitarians will no longer need biological bodies. They will become "post-biological" humans, capable of constantly upgrading their software and their hardware. They will be immortal! 

We Christians who believe in God's judgment upon rebellious mankind and Christ's redemption upon the cross of Calvary, have barely begun to address this challenge to our faith. My own search of the Internet reveals a marked paucity of entries by Christians ready to address these issues. This is why I appeal to any Christian reading these words to step forward. Speak up! And, if you find it appropriate, contact me as well. 

I humbly suggest several approaches: 

• We are created beings, not the product of mindless evolution. The theory of evolution is a gross deception. 
• We humans are unique, made in the Image of God. We are not mere biological animals with superior intelligence. 
• We who bear God's image have God's command to subdue and rule over His creation. 
• Consequently we do not resist advances in science and technology, but welcome them as gifts to be used properly to bless mankind and care for God's creation. 
• However, we are by nature rebellious and disobedient to our Creator and so readily fall into the temptation to use our technologies for self-centered ends.  
• There are other super-intelligent, spiritual beings encouraging us to use our technology and science to join their rebellion against the Creator and to destroy one another.   
• Christ, God's Son, came into this world as a human to take our place under God's judgment and to rescue us from God's judgment upon this rebellion.
• Given new birth by the working of the Holy Spirit, we put our trust in Christ and seek to honor Him in all we say and do—also in the use of our technologies. 
• We also await Christ's imminent return when all will be called before God's judgment seat to give an accounting of how we have used all that He placed in our hands. 
• The hubris of the Singularity is a sign that Christ's return is indeed imminent.

In future postings I will spell out these responses in more detail. I welcome and encourage other Christians to join me. The Singularity may be approaching, but so is the Day of Judgment.