Pandemonium’s Engine

I am privileged to be included in this new book release by Defender Publishing. My chapter is titled “Christian Transhumanism: Pandemonium’s Latest Ploy.” The term “pandemonium” has an interesting origin. It is the capital city of Hell in Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost. I run a little theme throughout my chapter using quotes from the 17th century Christian classic throughout my critique of transhumanism and the theology and philosophies which under gird it.

In Paradise Lost, Satan and the fallen angels have been relegated to Hell and seek to mount a new offensive. In Pandæmonium, the capital city, Satan employs his beguiling oratorical skills to incite his forces. Aided by his lieutenants Mammon, Beëlzebub, Belial and Moloch they plot to overthrow God’s forces. The final strategy is decided when Satan volunteers to poison the newly created Earth and God’s new and most favored creation, Mankind. This is where an intriguing parallel with transhumanism comes into play as it has the potential to do just that. Not only could we create a posthuman species, germline genetic therapies could pass it down to the next generation permanently altering the human genome. The potential for a horrific outcome is real.

The American philosopher, political economist, and author, Francis Fukuyama, agrees, contending that “the most significant threat posed by contemporary biotechnology is the possibility that it will alter human nature and thereby move us into a posthuman stage of history.”[i] The potential threat is real and the decisions made over the next decade will have a deciding influence on the outcome. The theological and ethical issues are critically important for Christian thinkers to consider. This book is just one ripple in the pond of our culture. I pray it inspires many of you to think critically about the spiritual implications of the bio-technology revolution.

Pandemonium’s Engine

Thomas Horn served as editor in chief for this book by numerous experts in Bible Prophecy

Forward – Jim Fletcher

Chapter 1 – Pandemonium and “Her” Children, by Thomas Horn, D.D.

Chapter 2 – Nimrod: The First (And Future) Transhuman “Super Soldier”, by J. Michael Bennett, Ph.D.

Chapter 3 – The Folly of Synthetic Life: Genetic Tampering, Ancient and Modern, by Gary Stearman

Chapter 4 – The Übermensch and the Antichrist, by Douglas Woodward

Chapter 5 – Christian Transhumanism: Pandemonium’s Latest Ploy, by Cris D. Putnam

Chapter 6 – Transhumanism Enters Popular Culture, by Frederick Meekins

Chapter 7 – Man Becoming His Own God?, by Douglas Hamp

Chapter 8 – Transhumanism From Noah To Noah, by Noah W. Hutchings

Chapter 9 – Genetic Armageddon, by John P. McTernan, Ph.D.

Chapter 10 – To Storm Heaven; To Be Like God; To Rule the World, by Carl Teichrib

Chapter 11 – Pandora’s Box for the 21st Century? The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, by Chuck Missler, Ph.D.

Chapter 12 – Dragon’s Breath, by Sharon K. Gilbert

    Order the book for $10.00 plus shipping:





[i] Francis Fukuyama. Our Posthuman Future.(New York: Picador, 2002),7.

 

Whence Then is Evil? An Answer to the Argument From Evil

Recently, an acquaintance of my brothers regrettably backed his vehicle over his own daughter and killed her. A seemingly horrible and needless evil, this is a pretty common accident. Children are so innocent. Why doesn’t God prevent it? The biggest challenge to the Christian worldview is the argument from evil. It is a serious problem. David Hume refined the argument to: “Is he willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then is he impotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then is he malevolent. Is he both able and willing: whence then is evil?”[1] Accordingly, the three common solutions to the problem of evil are based on three elements which in combination seem to have caused the predicament: God’s greatness, God’s goodness, and the presence of evil.[2] Each approach centers on a specific element.

The first solution is called finitism in that it makes God finite. It addresses God’s greatness, specifically by denying his omnipotence. God is attempting to conquer evil and would if he could but so far, has been unable to do so. This can also take the form of dualism in which there are two equal but opposite powers of good and evil interlocked in an eternal struggle. This is the belief of the Iranian religion Zoroastrianism. The good god, Ahura Mazda, is opposed by his evil twin side Ahriman. This accounts for evil but offers no real hope.

The second solution attacks the problem by redefining God’s goodness. The great presuppositional apologist Gordon H. Clark is used as an example for this approach. A staunch Calvinist, Clark was perhaps one of the most important evangelical philosophers and apologists of the twentieth century.[3] According to this view, the laws God imposes on humanity literally do not apply to him. Clark said, “I wish very frankly and pointedly to assert that if a man gets drunk and shoots his family, it was the will of God that he should do it.”[4] Whatever God does is right simply because he does it. His solution amounts to the syllogism: (1) Whatever happens is caused by God.(2) Whatever is caused by God is good. Therefore, whatever happens is good.  The major problem with this approach is the word ‘good’ loses all of its meaning. If a man shooting his entire family is good, then what is evil? It makes God seem arbitrary.

The third solution is to deny the reality of evil. This is the view prevalent in pantheistic systems where everything is God. Evil is an illusion, a product of errant belief.  Most of this line of thinking is borrowed from Hinduism. It was widely popularized in America by the Christian Science cult. In this cult, sickness and pain are seen as an illusion, along with evil, and of course it follows that the concepts of sin and death are an illusion as well. The problem is that it just doesn’t work.  No matter what Mary Baker Eddy may have believed, she now has a grave that proves her wrong.

It is pretty clear that all three are unsatisfactory. Even more, they are not really compatible with a Christian worldview. The first and third are relatively obvious because the Bible makes it clear that God created everything good (Gen 1:31) and the existence of evil is hard to deny. The second is not as easy, as this is actually the work of a thoughtful Christian. I am somewhat sympathetic to Clark’s solution because the world seems to be such a brutal place. The story of Job is a good example. His family is killed for what appears to be a cosmic bet with Satan (Job 1:12). God does not try to justify his allowance of Satan’s evil perpetrated on Job and his innocent children.  He asks basically “who are you to challenge me?” (Job 38:4)  Thus, I must remain open to the possibility that, in light of eternity, even things as horrible as a man shooting his family or even running them down by accident may turn out to bring the best overall outcome. We just do not have the perspective to understand. Still yet, it is not practical to simply accept this solution.

Why not? Well let’s suppose that in light of the overwhelming pain and suffering we see in the world we accept the premise that, no matter how bad it is, it is God’s will is and that somehow God will bring a greater good from each evil. This is a common platitude that people offer up to a suffering friend, “rest assured God will turn this around and use it for good.” (Consoling pat on the back) Well if we truly accept that this is reality then what motivation do we have to fight evil or seek social justice? If all evil is being worked into a greater good, then when we stop the evil, we prevent the good. Clearly this is wrong as scripture tells us to oppose evil (2 Cor 10:5, Eph. 5:11, 1 Tim 6:12) and “learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.” (Is 1:17)  Thus, the only real value I see in this defense is that we must admit sometimes we just do not understand why God allows evil. Like with the fellow that ran over his daughter, sometimes the best thing to say is, “I don’t know.” God does comfort those who mourn (Mat 5:4).

I think it is also important to remember that God does not ask us to endure anything that he has not taken on himself. Indeed, God as the Son entered this sinful world as a man and endured the most brutal death imaginable. God as the Father watched his innocent Son be brutally beaten and crucified.  I would remind the reader of Mel Gibson’s film, The Passion of the Christ. While each of these three common solutions goes too far, there are valid insights from each. The best approach is likely to understand the problem in light of all three and not focus too narrowly on one element.  I prefer to address the problem in terms of an eschatological solution. God wants relationship and worship. Freedom is a necessary component for worship and relationship to be meaningful. Freedom is not really free if choosing evil is not a live possibility. Evil is a result of the misuse of freedom. God is working this out for the maximum good but it is a process. I have faith in God’s goodness and that we are in a process that will result in God banishing evil as he has promised (Rev 21:4).

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away


[1] David Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, part 10.

[2]Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House, 1998), 439.

[3]Walter A. Elwell, Evangelical Dictionary of Theology: Second Edition (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2001), 271.

[4]Gordon H. Clark, Religion, Reason, and Revelation (Philadelphia: Presbyterian & Reformed, 1961), p. 221.

History 101 – Resurrection Challenge

These are just a few principles that historians use to make determinations about sources and testimony. I learned these from Habermas and Licona’s book The Case For the Resurrection of Jesus. Many of the replies I have received on Youtube reveal that skeptics resort to attacking the bible rather than accounting for the historical evidence. When a critic attempts to simply dismiss the bible out of hand, he is committing what is known as the genetic fallacy. The genetic fallacy is a fallacy of irrelevance where a conclusion is suggested based solely on its origin. Basically because the bible is a religious book they dismiss it as a historical source. Yet the truth is the New Testament has proven itself reliable over and over again. For instance, skeptics used to claim Pontius Pilate was a fictional character until archeologists uncovered a stone monument bearing his name. There have been many such vindications. A 19th century archeologist,  Sir William Ramsay , set out to expose the book of Acts as a work of fiction but after thorough investigation he ended up being so impressed by Luke’s accuracy that he converted from skeptic to christian believer. He wrote,

    Luke is a historian of the first rank; not merely are his statements of fact trustworthy, he is possessed of the true historic sense…in short, this author should be placed along with the greatest of historians.1

The New Testament is regarded as historically accurate as far as its mundane claims, thus the skeptic cannot simply dismiss its testimony to the miraculous. The evidence is abundant and compelling. How do you account for it?

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1 Sir William M. Ramsey, The Bearing of Recent Discovery on the Trustworthiness of the New Testament, Hodder & Stoughton, 1915.

Coming Soon… Take the Resurrection Challenge Win a Free Book!

Friends,

Skeptics claim there’s no evidence for the Christian faith. That is simply not true. I fell like it’s time for me to do my small part to help set the record straight on the issue of central importance. And I would love for you to join in. I have been working on mastering the historical evidence for the literal bodily resurrection of Jesus. I would like to suggest to you the book, The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus by Habermas and Licona. I believe that the position one takes on this particular matter has eternal ramifications. Because I genuinely care about people, believers and skeptics alike, I feel called to present the evidence so people can make an informed decision.

Many people are not aware of the factual historical case for the literal resurrection Of Jesus Christ. This was the pivotal event of all human history. The evidence is astonishingly good considering the extreme antiquity. To stimulate the conversation I will be giving away two brand new books for the best response videos from Christians and skeptics alike.



Just keep your eye out for a new video which will be posted here on this website and on my YT channel by Tuesday August 24th called the “Resurrection Challenge – Can You Account for the Evidence?” Christians should respond with arguments and evidence supporting my presentation and skeptics must posit an alternate scenario that still accounts for the accepted data. I will make a decision at the end of September and mail prizes to the winners.  I will be posting videos all through the month with my research supporting the resurrection. I hope you will follow the evidence where it leads!

In Christ,

Cris