The Bulletin
of the
Church of Christ at
New Georgia
Tim Johnson, editor
January 12, 2003
In
This Issue:
Cloned
for Eternity
By
Steve Klein
Closet
Convictions
By
Dan Shipley
Cloned for Eternity
Cloning is the process of producing an individual from a single cell of its parent -- creating a genetic twin without following the normal course of heterosexual reproduction. Someone once explained it to me like this: "Clones are people two!"
There has been a lot of attention given lately to the cloning of humans. Some of that attention is no doubt due to the prominent place of clones in recent science fiction books and movies -- not the least of which is the movie Star Wars: Episode II. But news reports of the possible cloning of a human have brought the subject of cloning into the bright spotlight of our national news media. A group known as Clonaid is claiming to have actually cloned a human; a baby girl named Eve was supposedly born on December 26, 2002.
Clonaid is a branch of a religious sect known as the Raelian Movement. The Realians describe themselves as follows:
"The Raelian Movement is an international religious organization which claims that life on Earth was created scientifically&ldots;by a human extraterrestrial race whose name is Elohim. The Raelian Movement was founded in France following the contact between an extraterrestrial and Rael (a.k.a. Claude Vorilhon) on the 13th December 1973. The extraterrestrial, who called himself Yahweh Elohim (Hebrew for Jehovah God, sk) ...promised to return openly, bringing all the prophets of the past as predicted in the religions, if we establish an official embassy for them." (From the Clonaid & Raelian websites)
The Raelians believe that cloning is the key to obtaining eternal life. They explain it like this:
"Once we can clone exact replicas of ourselves, the next step will be to transfer our memory and personality into our newly cloned brains, which will allow us to truly live forever. Since we will be able to remember all our past, we will be able to accumulate knowledge... Thus today, man's ultimate dream of eternal life, which past religions only promised after death in mythical paradise, becomes a scientific reality... (eventually) eternal life in a computer will be possible without the need for any biological body..." (From the Clonaid & Raelian websites). The Raelian Movement also claims that Jesus was resurrected through an advanced cloning technique performed by the Elohim.
While the Raelian Movement may seem bizarre and just plain kooky to most of us, it's not very much different from some widely accepted religions. For instance, the Mormons make a connection between eternal life and human reproduction; they believe that marriage and family are designed to be eternal relationships, so that couples who are married in a Mormon temple will continue as a family "into the eternities." Heads of families will become the "fathers" of future worlds over which they will be as God is to us. Another religion, Scientology, holds that the human struggle for survival on earth is the result of an ancient conflict on another planet. Scientology is the religion of a number of well-known celebrities such as John Travolta, Kirstie Alley, Jenna Elfman, Priscilla Presley and Tom Cruise. Scientologists also believe that "all life forms evolved from the basic building blocks: the virus and the cell.".
These religions all have similar problems. First, like the woman with whom Jesus spoke at Jacob's well (John 4), they fail to understand the spiritual nature of eternal life because they are focused on the material world and on physical relationships. Second, they fail to appreciate the true nature of God because they cannot conceive of someone who is as superior to man "as the heavens are above the earth" (cf. Isaiah 55:8-9). Being lifted up with pride, they imagine that duplicating themselves for all eternity is a worthwhile goal, and never stop to consider that in their present state, they may not be worth duplicating!
The Bible teaches that eternal life is obtained not by duplicating oneself, but by replicating Jesus. God desires sons in the image of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. The Bible says, "For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren" (Romans 8:29). If I'm to be a clone for all eternity, I do not want to be a clone of myself, but of God's Son. "For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body..." (Philippians 3:20-21)
This Jesus is not some superhuman from outer space -- He is not from this world at all. He said, "You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world." (John 8:23). Jesus is not of this world, and neither is eternal life.
As children of Adam, made of the dust of this world, we will return to dust. But as children of God, bearing the image of His Son, we may live forever. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:49, "And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man&ldots;For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality"
"And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son" (1 John 5:11).
--Steve Klein
John 12:42-43 says: "Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God." From its beginning, the cause of Christ has suffered because of disciples with closet convictions; the kind of men who know and believe the truth but will not stand up for it. Consider, for example, these influential rulers of our text. Potentially, their worth to the cause of their unconfessed Christ was immeasurable; effectively, however, they contributed absolutely nothing. Worse, their influence remained where they did, as must always be the case.
What a testimonial to the tremendous swaying power of cowardice and pride! It keeps them among those whom they oppose and puts them in opposition to their own faith and convictions. "But after all", they may have reasoned, "we do have our standing in the community to think about." And, besides, how could we ever explain to our friends of the synagogue circle about what we really believe? Why, what would they think?"
So goes people-pleasing religion. And so stay the people-pleasers in religion --- in their "synagogues" of compromise and out of God's kingdom. But most of them do not see their "going along" as being all that serious, let alone as jeopardizing salvation. For example, it is not unusual to meet denominationalists who freely admit certain unscriptural practices espoused by their church, but will not speak out against them. They know and believe certain Bible truths, but will not practice them, for fear...? Now, what is the essential difference between these and the elders of our text? Is it less honorable to deny Christ than His word?
The false idea that men can honor Christ while ignoring, perverting and desecrating His doctrine is of the devil! "He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him-- the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day" (John 12:48). Man's part in gaining a right standing with God lies in his knowing, believing, and obeying of gospel truth (John 6:45; 8:32; Mark 16:16; Romans 6:17; James 1:21-22). Every right relationship with God is a truth determined relationship! All that God requires of man and all that man can ever do to please and glorify God is made known in His word (2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 John 9). He who shuns it, compromises it, or adds to it reflects on the God who gave it (1 Thessalonians 4:13), whether Jew, denominationalist or Christian.
In recent years, many members of the church of Christ have "awakened" to find themselves in "synagogues" of liberalism. They share the dilemma of the rulers to some extend. "Shall we speak out and risk being put out --- or shall we go along to get along?" May God help them to see the seriousness and importance of standing up for the Lord by standing for His truth. To continue "going along" is to continue violating conscience and fellowshipping error. Friend, your influence is where you are. Demonstrate your allegiance to Christ and His truth while you can! Stand!
-- Dan Shipley
from "Plain Talk",
Volume 17, Number 2, April 1980