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General Revelation and the Dominion Mandate
The concept of general revelation lays some of the groundwork for our
view of technology. Theologically, it is not an accident that human be-
ings have made the discoveries of science and their application in terms
Biotechnology and Competing Worldviews 55
of technology. The Bible is clear that God has embedded His wisdom
in the world (Prov. 8:22 31) and through general revelation has given
human beings the tools to unlock and apply His wisdom. This is part
of the dominion mandate given to the human race (Gen. 1:28). In the
prelapsarian Garden, human beings existed without the corruption and
decay, toil and trouble that resulted from God s judgment upon the
earth for human sin (Gen. 3:15 19). To be sure, in the Garden, Adam
and Eve were to keep and till the earth; but the labor was not
laborious. After the fall into sin, things became more complicated.
Work became toilsome (Gen. 3:17). The ground was filled with thorn
and thistles (Gen. 3:18) and, thus, the extension of dominion over the
earth came to include efforts to alleviate the effects of sin. For example,
medical technology is God s gift to human beings to alleviate disease,
clearly one of the effects of the entrance of sin into the world. Many
biotechnological innovations also fit under this heading.
A Christian Anthropology: The Image of God,
Human Dignity, and History
Critical to the revolution in biotechnology is the view of a human
being our anthropology. Human beings are a body soul unity having
both material and immaterial aspects. The Bible clearly teaches that
human beings are more than simply their bodies, more than a collection
of parts and properties. The Bible is clear that human beings have souls,
which animate the body and provide the capacities for a relationship
with God. This stands in sharp contrast to the physicalism that pervades
the sciences today. Further, human beings have intrinsic value by virtue
of being made in God s image (Gen. 1:26 27), which distinguishes
human beings from animals. The image of God, a doctrine often re-
ferred to in Latin as imago dei, is fundamental to the notion of human
nature, which grounds personal identity through time and change. In
addition, the image of God grounds the sanctity of innocent human life
(Gen. 9:6) and the principle of respect for human dignity and equality.
Human beings have essential dignity by virtue of being made in God s
image. This is the ultimate basis for human rights and the reason that
society ought to be concerned about the various ways biotechnology
threatens to undermine human dignity.56
56 CHAPTER THREE
Of course, this view of the image of God and human dignity also
has room for appreciation and encouragement of biotechnologies that
uphold human dignity and work toward alleviating the effects of the
entrance of sin into the world. Because of the reality of sin, the image
of God has been tarnished, and death and decay are part of the realities
of life on earth. Thus there is a need for technological innovations that
can both relieve human suffering and at the same time safeguard funda-
mental human dignity.
The notion of human dignity is the ethical principle often invoked
to challenge the seemingly inexorable march of biotechnology. In a
Christian worldview, morality is objective and universal and has a tran-
scendent source. It is not fundamentally a human creation. That is, mo-
rality is discovered or discerned, not created. God has revealed universal
moral virtues and principles, both in the Bible and in His world (the
latter known as natural law). The Bible gives both specific commands
and general principles that guide action and can be applied to the vari-
ous biotechnological options being considered. Both the commands
are principles ultimately rooted in the virtues that are reflected in God s
character, which is the ultimate source of morality.
In a Christian worldview, death is not the end of life. Again, this is a
vivid contrast to the dominant naturalism of the culture, which holds
that there is nothing beyond one s physical life. For the naturalist, death
is the end, and there is nothing apart from earthly life for which a per-
son should or could live. In scripture, however, there is an eternal hope
that serves as motivation for the believer to live faithfully in line with
God s design. In fact, there is as much hope for one s body as there is
for one s soul, for the promise of the resurrection at Christ s return
involves a transformation of the body (1 Cor. 15:35 58). The Bible
indicates that between one s death and the Lord s return, the believer
is present with God in an intermediate state and is rejoined with his or
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