Human Gene Editing Needs Biblical Standards

People have been modifying parts of their world for millennia, and that includes livestock as well as plants. Since selective breeding is slow, scientists started working on genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Those are safe, but people are afraid of them anyway.

Move forward to people wanting to improve themselves. One way is to have an implant, prosthesis, or some other benefit from science and technology. This can be taken to extremes in transhumanism. Human gene editing (HGE) has similar ethical problems as forming improvements through technology.

CRISPR genome editing, National Institutes of Health (Usage does not imply endorsement of site contents)

Secular scientists are prone to ignoring ethics, and they have demonstrated that in HGE. They have a fundamentally-flawed worldview based on materialism (no God, therefore no ultimate moral standard, belief in evolution just material exists). Sure, some can be good, moral people — relatively speaking. But only biblical values can establish consistent ethics and morality.

Genetically modified humans no longer exist only in science fiction. Recent technological advances have ushered human gene editing (HGE) from the realm of Brave New World to the horizon of scientific possibilities. These possibilities became realities in 2018, when biophysicist He Jiankui infamously announced the birth of twins whose DNA he had modified using the gene editing tool known as CRISPR.

Notwithstanding that unconscionable use by Jiankui, CRISPR was a breakthrough so significant it won the Nobel Prize in chemistry because it allows for quickly, precisely altering DNA. Such tools, like most technologies, can be applied for helpful or harmful purposes and may lead to unintended consequences. For instance, although HGE technologies unlock novel possibilities for curing diseases, concerns about HGE’s safety, appropriateness, and social dangers have led to high-profile reports calling for a global ban on certain HGE practices—at least for now.

As HGE becomes increasingly available, accepted, and popular, Christians must know how to draw biblical boundaries in response. The following discussion examines relevant theological, scientific, and ethical factors to help believers think biblically about where those boundaries lie.

The rest of the article is even more compelling and thought provoking than this introduction. To continue, click on "Biblical Boundaries for Human Gene Editing."