Designed to Last

It’s an intriguing question, asked by The Scientist magazine: “What if humans were designed to last?” Explaining in the first paragraph that “Charles Darwin, when drafting his theory of evolution, presented imperfections in humans’ anatomic structures and functions as the strongest evidence for his theory,” the authors wonder how a designed human would look different:

Evolution has given humans a beautifully orchestrated set of genetic programs to carry most of us through to sexual maturity [. . . y]et, if the molecular, cellular, and genetic machinery used to conceive, develop, and operate a human were designed rather than the result of evolution, humans would be different and life would look different.

The authors are accepting that evolution has failed to build the immortal human, but believing that humans can, potentially, engineer the human body someday into (hypothetical) immortality.

The authors, then, in no uncertain terms, are looking at these questions through the “lens” of evolutionism; that is, accepting that evolution has failed to build the immortal human, but believing that humans can, potentially, engineer the human body someday into (hypothetical) immortality. Contributing scientists suggest solutions for brain aging, tooth aging, and so forth. In addition, the old canard about the mis-wired eye is brought up (scientist Bruce Carnes refers to “well known engineering flubs in the eye”).

What happens, though, if we look at the mortal and imperfect human body through the lens of biblical thought? We see that the human body was created exactly as God intended it: “very good” (see Genesis 1:27–31). But we also see that in Genesis 3, a great tragedy befell the human race when Adam and Eve sinned, and as a result, the Curse entered the formerly perfect world. And, in blatant opposition to the article in The Scientist, the Genesis account shows that death came to perfectly designed humanity as a result of sin (see Genesis 2:17). The shortcomings of our present world do not show a lack of design; indeed, the “legacy” of design remains and shines through in spite of the Curse (see Romans 1:20). Rather, the shortcomings of this world remind us daily of the penalty for sin: physical and spiritual death—and the need for a Savior.

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