f l o o d

Thoughts From the Shower Vol. 2

feelin' philosophical

in my critical thinking/writing class the other day we got into a discussion on pre-birth genetic enhancement for children. as you can expect, in a class with so many similar worldviews, most people spoke out against these practices. however, there was one girl who's logic seemed to be that even though it may br wrong now, as genetic enhancement becomes increasingly the norm, then we should use it. what i found interesting was a lack of the sense of just how different we as Christians are going to become in society as things progress. there will come a time, and it's not that far off, when we will be looked at as oddities for not enhancing our children, and our children will be considered disadvantaged. the way science is advancing, this is an issue our generation will have to face as we move in to starting families. they're is already technology being implemented by many to choose the gender and other physical traits (like hair color) of a fetus. it won't be long before things like intelligence, muscle mass, and height will be under our control.

the issue this brings up for me is that we as Christians are going to become increasingly separate from the mainstream, not only in regards to genetic engineering, but other areas as well. our society is steadily progressing towards a completely secular, naturalistic worldview. i find it odd that many Christians think that we are going to somehow be able to stem this tide and force our nation to retain it's Christian values through political means. personally, i think this degradation of society is going to be of great benefit for the Church. look at the 1st century church, their faith permeated every aspect of their beings because of how separate it made them. they were persecuted and outcast. this forced them to live lives of complete devotion. as the church became more mainstream and integrated itself into part of western culture, people lost this sense of alien identity that i think is so crucial to our Christian lives. but since the enlightenment period (which inspired the american and french revolutions), we've been inundated with ideas of individualism, naturalism, and nationalism which have overtaken our sense identity in God. since then popular society has grown increasingly secular, and Christians have become increasingly integrated into mainstream ways of thinking and living. i believe this is a wave we can not hold back. our goal now is to reach individual souls and as our moral and spiritual values pull us further apart from "the norm," we will find ourselves standing on a stronger foundation of faith.

...i had the rare luxury of a long shower, so there was much time to think.