Orthodox Christianity and Genetic Engineering: Part I

How would one relate the two subjects, you may ask? Well, I don't really plan on relating them at all. They have just been on my mind recently.

I have known about Orthodoxy for a long time now, since about my sophomore year when I met the one Orthodox Christian in my fraternity. Quite honestly, I have always found many parts of it appealing. Interestingly enough, the same parts that make it appealing also keep me from wanting to be Orthodox. For example, Orthodox Christians are sacramental, meaning they believe that in order to properly experience the presence of God, one must participate in certain rituals, or sacraments. These include (this is not an exhaustive list) baptism, communion, confession, and even marriage. No Orthodox Christian will say that this is the only way to experience God's presence. Certainly, many Protestants and Catholics experience God's presence in a legitimate way. Every Orthodox Christian will say that participating in the sacraments is the best way, though. Of course, Protestants will make analogous statements about Catholics, and Catholics, the Orthodox. Sacramentalism appeals to me because there is a beauty in being able to experience the presence of God in a time-tested way. It bothers me because I have been raised to believe that our salvation is not based on what we do, but what God does. Of course one could argue that salvation and experiencing the presence of God are very different things, but I would argue that they are very closely related. The one is evidence of the other. Not universal proof, mind you, but evidence.

The fact that Christianity is so divided bothers me. Many people will say: "Well when you get down to it, we all share the same basic beliefs." This seems ridiculous. If we all basically agreed, there would be no reason for so many churces to exist. Yes, perhaps you could say that all Christians believe that Jesus was God incarnate, that He died on the cross and rose again for our sins. But even in something as fundamental as this, there is a huge difference in opinion among the Christian churches. What does it meant to "die for our sins?" What does it mean for Jesus to be God incarnate? Orthodox, Protestants, and Catholics have very different thoughts about this. Maybe not so much about the person of Jesus, but definitely about the work of the Cross. The point of all this is that I think somebody has to be right, or at least more correct than everyone else. I am beginning to wonder if this is perhaps Orthodoxy. If so, why did it take so long for Americans to begin to recognize the church? One of the biggest weaknesses of the church is its tendency to closely tied to a specific ethnic group. Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, etc. But nonetheless, before Orthodoxy emerged in the public consciousness, was the entirely of American Christianity in apostasy? I find this difficult to believe.

Stay tuned for Part II