In the past, I haven't cared much about genetic engineering however I walk on a new path in Christ and I wonder "what would Jesus do?" It is true, scientists have been genetically altering our livestock and plants for decades but I wonder if this is of God or of evil?
My husband first noticed genetic engineering with chickens about fifteen years ago. First we would laugh at the size of the "pic of chick" in the grocery case then it wasn't funny any more. Today scientists alter orange juice, livestock, and have patents and create seeds in the lab. Remember when farmers were in charge of our food stuffs? God created the plants, plants formed seeds and farmers became their shepherds. My gut tells me in the beginning those who cultivated the land did so because their devotion to God and their love for their work.
Remember on that day in the Garden of Eden when everything was unadulterated? Biblically, genetic engineering was of God and not of mankind. In Genesis, God created everything man would ever need and God's creations were perfect. Today man genetically alters himself, his food, and his animals and does so without reverence or conscience.
Have you ever heard of a Liger or a Tigron? Ligers are crossbreeds between a male lion and a female tiger. Tigron? A cross between a male tiger and a female lion. How about wolf dogs? Iron Age Pigs? I.A. Pigs are hybrids between pigs and wild boar and have become the specialist of the meat trade. A Zebroid or Zorse is the result of crossbreeding a horse and a zebra. A zonkey? ... well the list goes on and on.
So when is cross breeding bad?
Always.
Ever see a bull so large that they can hardly walk? Bigger, better, more ... for hunting purposes? Like the idea of eating a turkey at Thanksgiving? Did you know that the breast on some brands are larger but so extreme that their chest is too heavy for the turkey to lift and they can't stand up in their cages? What is the ultimate price for more more more? Once I thought vegetarians and vegans were obsessive and compulsive but now I get their picture. Vegetarians around the world are seriously wondering whether the food they are eating is actually vegetarian. In the case of GM (genetically modified) products, Flavor Savr as they are usually called, tomatoes are genetically altered by introducing into them genes from a fish, the Arctic Flounder, so as to reduce freezer damage, to enable them to have a longer shelf-life, to ripen longer on the tree while remaining firm at the time of picking and transporting and to make them bigger and tastier as well. No layman can make out the difference between Flavor Savr and a normal tomato which is primarily why staunch vegetarians want the altered tomatoes labeled. What about vegetables with chicken genes introduced into potatoes for resistance to disease and for increasing shelf-life and size, or tobacco altered with mouse genes to reduce impurities or with a gene from fire-flies that makes the leaves glow at night?
I write this today by a driving spirit that recognizes how far we have walked away from God's word and our own history. It is said that science has been progressing in leaps and bounds through the exploitation of animals by allowing humans to move genes from one specie to another to create another totally different specie. The question remains: what was God's original intention and are we acting as responsible stewards of His creations? Though scientists claim they can, and will make genetically-altered animals that will help cure human diseases and illnesses (transgenic research has been going on for nearly 20 years) to date, they have not one single cure for a human illness.
The bible tells our God is all-powerful "For with God nothing will be impossible" Luke 1:37. The author of all life is God and according to the first chapter of the Book of Genesis, "He created every species to reproduce after its own kind." Thus, there is no room in God’s creation for man to step in and start modifying DNA by cross transplanting the genes from one organism or species into the DNA of another. In essence, man is now creating species variants that God never intended to exist. Such alteration of species specificity is a serious violation of God’s natural order and I believe it to be a corruption of life and an abomination unto the LORD.
“And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon earth: and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.” (Genesis 1:11-12).
I believe it is not of mankind to upstage God's perfect plan and modify through dark science his genetic codes. “Ye shall keep my statutes. Thou shalt not let thy cattle gen- der with a diverse kind: thou shalt not sow thy field with mingled seed: neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woollen come upon thee.” (Leviticus 19:19). If you don’t think food is a critical issue in the eyes of God, let me remind you that it was the consumption of a forbidden food in the Garden of Eden that led to the fall of man. Adam and Eve broke God’s very first commandment and ate proscribed food from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Do you really think Satan would forego a strategy that worked so well for him back in the beginning?
And another parable put he forth unto them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was
sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, did not thou sow good seed in thy field? From whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy has done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let them both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.’” (Matthew 13:24-30). For those of you who don’t know what tares are, they are the next best comparison to a genetically engineered version of wheat. Tares are a counterfeit form of wheat (a weed that looks like young wheat). They look exactly like wheat and when they are growing side by side next to good wheat there is no way to tell the difference until they reach harvest time. When tares reach their peak they turn black on the top, the grain is not edible, and their seeds in many cases cannot be replanted. (www.healthtruthrevealed.com).
Slowly ... indoctrination by the evil one. "And every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.” 1 John 4:3. I wonder, are we so deaf dumb and blind that we cannot see evil manipulation when it presents itself to us?
Our responsibility as believers is to purge for the truth.
The answers lies in you.
