Homo Deus: The History Of Man Comes Full Circle
In Genesis we learn that the devil tempted Eve with the illusion that by disobeying God and eating the forbidden fruit she could become a god herself. The original temptation was to place self in the place of God:
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
- Genesis 3:1-5
After Adam and Eve's fall we see some of God's inner thoughts:
And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.
- Genesis 3:22-24
By eating the forbidden fruit, Adam and Eve gained a certain divine wisdom - the knowledge of moral reality. Unable to handle this information they immediately devolved into a sinful state. In this broken state God wanted to ensure that they could not have access to the Tree of Life, which would have prolonged their sinful state forever. In other words, the hell they were creating for themselves would last for eternity had God not intervened.
Nearly two millennia later, mankind was again on the verge of attaining a demigod-like state at the Tower of Babel and God intervened:
But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”
So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel—because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.
-Genesis 11:5-9
What I'm trying to get you to notice is that God never let's sinful humanity attain to the level of the Bene Elohim (a.k.a. the little "s" sons of God - the angels). Only those who have submitted to God through faith in Jesus Christ will be able to to attain to that level and it will be done by God's own perfect power. Believers have a new sinless spirit through faith in Christ and will soon have sinless bodies as well when the resurrection and rapture occurs, but God clearly does not want and will not allow humanity to advance to immortality while possessing a sinful nature.
This is why we can know the LORD's coming is near because humanity is on the very cusp of the third "sinful immortality event" (we'll call it S.I.E. for short). The first was when Adam and Eve had sinned yet were still in the Garden of Eden and able to access the Tree of Life. The second was when mankind shared a single language and had the same evil plans to ascend to Heaven. The third S.I.E. is happening in the present day.
In our generation we've seen mankind reach outer space and even the moon. There have also been technological breakthroughs left and right. Medical and genetic research have given men and women a growing control over their bodies, health, and lifespan. And now, in 2017, technology has advanced to such a degree that mankind is on the cusp of reaching out again to the Tree of Life while in a sinful state.
Through the genetic breakthrough known as CRISPR mankind is closer than ever to reversing aging and making itself immune to any and all diseases and with the advent of machine learning A.I. and transhumanism the human race has finally reached its sinful zenith. This time we see not only mankind again reaching out its hand to the Tree of Life and ascending to the heavens on its own strength, but we see a replay of the hybridization of man found in Genesis 6.
An NBC article summarizes the current situation from a secular perspective very well:
Evolution is a slow affair, taking some 5 million years to turn a chimpanzee-like creature into us. But what happens when we push down the accelerator and take command of our bodies and brains instead of leaving it to nature? What happens when biotechnology and artificial intelligence merge, allowing us to re-design our species to meet our whims and desires?
Historian Yuval Noah Harari explores these questions in his runaway bestseller, "Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow," a kind of sequel to his 2014 book, "Sapiens." The title of his new book suggests a startling stage in our evolution: Homo sapiens (“wise man”), far from being the pinnacle of creation, is a temporary creature, one soon to be replaced by Homo deus (“god man”).
I am reminded that many video games are pushing the younger generation to accept computer/cyborg body parts so the human race can have advanced genetic capabilities.
ReplyDeleteYes this all over the place now, but not only in media. It's also quickly becoming reality. Several companies have already started offering hand implants that allow employees to open doors, pay for concessions, etc. Google Glass, wearable screens, RFID implants, vision and body modifications are already here now.
Delete"5 Million years of evolution"? What sort of unbiblical nonsense is this? Creation is just under 6000 Years of age, easily calculable using the Sun, Moon and Stars God put in place to tell time and seasons; 1656 Years Creation to Flood + 2160 Years Aries (dated to the reign of Sargon the Great i.e. Legitimate King 2334 BC) to Pisces (matches the Maccabean rebellion period) + 2160 Years Pisces to Aquarius (dawning now). Sargon would have needed to be 21 (Age of Accountability) to be declared "Legitimate King", born as Taurus moved into Aries.
DeleteBabel "Gate of El" (El=Saturn=Moloch symbolized by the 6 Pt Star used on the Flag of Israel) was initiated secret societies, a revival of the pre-flood conditions God Flooded the Earth to stop.
Howard, just to be clear - we're young earth here. I was just quoting their secular perspective.
Delete"We see a hybridization of man found in Genesis 6"-Gary So what sort of "Hybridization" are you referring to? Nephilim? The word "Giant" is used in Gen 6 because Angles cannot physically mate with humans. Attain the level of Bene Elohim? El is the Phoenician god Saturn seen in Babel "Gate of Saturn" or Babylon "Gate of Osiris" where Osiris is another form of Saturn/Satan/Molech/Chiun/Sikkuth whose symbol is the 6 Pointed Star. Elohim is the plural form of Saturn/El "Sons of Saturn".
DeleteHas anyone thought about this verse? [Rev 9:6 KJV] And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.
ReplyDeleteThis is after they take the mark. This must be the effect(unable to die) of the cause(mark). Satan likes to steal ideas from God so, one of the ideas that he will sell to the public is Eternal Life, Limbs will grow back, and such with CRISPR, "You will be gods" sales pitch all over again. [Isa 46:10 KJV] Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times [the things] that are not [yet] done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:
Same goes for the Revelation 12 sign being at the beginning in part -3914 , and in full at the end 2017.
It seems that as the time nears this end of the age story is unfolding like the best Hollywood blockbuster ever made.
DeleteI see the fulfillment of this verse in all the 'dare devil' activities people have been doing the last 20+ years. (Skydiving, Bunjee jumping, etc...) People are risking their lives for a temporary thrill, but we have learned how to keep them from finding it by making these activities 'safer.'
DeleteThe idea of nanotech body reconstruction is also a possible fulfillment, but once that is in the ecosystem, no one could avoid getting it... Even touching someone who has gotten the treatment could pass on the tech to others...
Overall, we don't really have to reach these things... I think just knowing they are possible in the near future is enough for fulfillment. (I think of the Rev 12 sign the same way... Barring a complete realignment of the heavens, we know it's going to take place... So we could call it already fulfilled... But it is in that grey area of waiting for it to finally happen.)
He tells us things in advance so that when they happen we will believe... So how are we supposed to react when we see something is going to happen before it happens? :-)
I don't see what 'daredevil activities' have to do with anything, but who knows?
DeleteIt must be a direct allusion to AI or something related to what the fanatic Kurzweil is propsing (which he tell us will be here by 2029!).
Why would they want to die if they have this technolgoy? Does it make the suffer? CAn they not escape it? Boils on the skin? Hell on earth!
I think the meaning of the verse could be simply that many people will learn about the existence and immortality of their souls the hard way, through an outwardly-successful suicide that fails to bring an end to their conscious existence.
DeleteAnd with another twist of irony and "coincidence," the author of "Homo Deus" cited in the NBC article above has a certain middle name of interest...
ReplyDelete