I’m No Scientist but I’m Awed

If we are awed by the revelations of deep space from today’s telescopes, we will be no less mesmerized by the unbelievable revelations of the nano-world from today’s microscopes. These powerful instruments deepen our look into the complex intricacies of living organisms. Using microscopes that fits on a needle scientists can now look deep into the human cells in real time! 

One such excursion into the microscopic world has allowed the genome editing technology called CRISPR. Using this technology, scientists have been able to snip away and alter the DNA of human embryos. In 2018 this resulted in the birth of the first genetically engineered humans— Amy, and twins Lulu and Nana.

The CRISPR technology which is like a gene scissors, allows scientists to cut away at defective or undesired parts of cells to eliminate diseases or unwanted traits. The problem is that this “molecular scissors” is not very precise and so genome editing may make unintended cuts resulting in a hodgepodge mosaic of cells. The CRISPR babies, Amy, Lulu, and Nana,  must be monitored closely for the rest of their lives for any unexpected effects on their physical and mental state.  

This experimentation has raised many bioethics questions, no small one being man’s right to invade the very essence of a living being. The Chinese scientist, He Jiankui, was imprisoned in 2018 for this experimentation but is free today. 

More recently the British Heart Foundation awarded £30 million to a research group for research using the CRISPR technology to eliminate cardiovascular disease.

The Psalmist speaking of human life says, “For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.” Psalm 139: 13- 16. 

Hopefully, man’s excursions and incursions into the mysteries of our macro- and microcosmic worlds will not lead to a trust in self. The Psalmist says unequivocally, “I will praise You (God).” As technological access increases our knowledge of scientific phenomena will we continue to praise God because we are “wonderfully made”?   Will we see ourselves as the discoverers of the “fearful and wonderful”, or yield to the temptation to feel like the creators? Will our discoveries serve to bring us to our knees in awe, or lift us to pedestals of self-aggrandizement?  

I’m no scientist but I am awed!