TO BE HUMAN AGAIN

"Establishing a self-sufficient city on Mars will require upwards of one million people and millions of tonnes of cargo to be delivered to the Red planet. By launching more than 10 times per day to maximize transfer windows that open up every approximately 26 months, several thousand Starships will ultimately transfer crew and equipment to build a lasting presence on another world."

- spacex.com, Mars & Beyond

"Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” 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 11:1-9 (NIV)

Background: Genesis 11 comes after the flood in Genesis 9

"But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower the people were building."

- Genesis 11:5 (NIV)

ONE: New Technology

"Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar."

- Genesis 11:1-3 (NIV)

The plain in Shinar may be the place called Sumer, the earliest civilizations in the world in Mesopotamia and was a very comfortable place.

“The polemic thrust of the story is against urbanism and the overweening confidence of humanity in feats of technology. This polemic in turn is linked up with the stories of the tree of Life and Nephilim in which humankind is seen aspiring to transcend the limits of its creaturely condition.”

- Robert Alter

There was a technological building boom at this time that inspired the Sumerian civilization.

TWO: Reaching the Heavens

"Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves..."

- Genesis 11:4a (NIV)

Ziggurats: a name that means “hill of heaven” or “mountain of god.”

“Babel’s arrogance was to become godlike with access to the realm of God.”

- M.A De La Torre

Babel in ancient Cush/Babylonian meant “gateway to heaven", but to the Jews it meant “confusion.”

"Now Cush fathered Nimrod; he became a mighty one on the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the LORD.” And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar."

- Genesis 10:8-10 (NASB)

Technology was used by humans to bring glory to themselves; to make the human a god.

Artificial intelligence

"One of the biggest areas of research and development in AI right now is empathy and emotion…They call it emotion, empathy or personality but it's really trying to mimic the heart of humans … it can prey on the desire God put in us to be fully known and loved...”

- Sarah Zylstra, The Gospel Coalition

• 72% of teenagers have turned to AI for companionship.

• CHATGPT alone receives 700 million messages of personal self reflection every single week.

• Barna Research group says 40% of church members go to AI for spiritual guidance.

What does it mean to be human?

Transhumanism: the merging of human and machine.

“Transhumanism is a growing movement whose goal is to transform humanity by improving human intelligence, physical strength and the five senses by technological means.”

- Jacob Shatzer, Transhumanism and the Image of God

What does it mean to be human?

Transgenderism:

“Transgender” is an umbrella term for persons whose gender identity, gender expression or behavior does not conform to that typically associated with the sex to which they were assigned at birth

- American Psychological Association

“This ambition to replicate humanity in artificial forms echoes the hubris of Babel builders.”

- Mark Sears

"[Desecration is]...intentional abuse of something holy, something of more than ordinary significance."

- Carl Trueman, The Desecration of Man

"They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens,"

- Genesis 11:3-4a (NIV)

"Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.”"

- Genesis 11:7 (NASB)

"Then God said, “Let Us make mankind in Our image, according to Our likeness;"

- Genesis 1:26 (NASB)

According to the Christian worldview, humanity has limitations, obligations, and ends given by God to help us flourish; but when we aspire to break those barriers and boundaries it becomes desecration.

“My limits, my obligations, and my ends come down to my choice. I have to decide who I am.”

- Carl Trueman, The Desecration of Man

What does it mean to be human?

"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 11:7-9 (NIV)

To be human again we must…

1. Be aware of counterfeit hope.

Technology advancements bring hope in some areas but not the ultimate hope.

God will crush all counterfeit hopes before us.

2. Look to Jesus to true human.

"In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness."

- Philippians 2:5-7 (NIV)

"For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!"

- Romans 5:17 (NIV)

There is no need for transhuman movement because we have already beaten death through the power that raised Christ from the dead.

3. Humans must be the true church.

The church is vital in this next chapter of humanity.

To be human again means carrying out fifty-nine Biblical “One Anothers”

• Love one another (John 13:34)

• Honor one another above yourselves (Romans 12:10)

• Care for one another (1 Corinthians 12:25)

• Comfort one another (1 Thessalonians 4:18)

• Bear one another's burdens (Galatians 6:2)

• Forgive one another (Ephesians 4:2, 32; Colossians 3:13)

“We need to be more on our guard against diminishing our humanity and degrading the imago Dei by prioritizing machines more than with our fellow human beings.”

- John Lennox, 2084: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Humanity