Science cannot change man’s basic nature

From the writings of the Rev. Billy Graham

Q: Hollywood has taken to using a form of artificial intelligence praising the cutting-edge technology called “deep fake, a form of synthetic media. It manipulates an existing image with someone else’s likeness that easily deceives. This is scary stuff. Some claim that eventually it will enable science to create what they call “nonexistent people” to use as weapons. I wonder if this is what the Bible means in Job 15:35, “They conceive trouble and give birth to evil; their womb fashions deceit.”

– D.F.

A: Many of our technologists are saying there is a great need for a new breed of man. Even the political radicals and the humanists talk about the “new man.” From this, it’s clear that they acknowledge that man, as he is, is not good enough. So they look for the arrival of the new man who, they say, will come into being when society has been changed so that a new environment can produce him. We live in a revolutionary, changing world. Man’s moral capacities lag far behind his technological skills and discoveries. The greatest need in the world is to bring about the transformation of human nature, something man cannot do. There are technocrats who believe that technology is now advancing so rapidly that mankind will be able to create an entirely new human race. Some genetic engineers believe that they will be able to create any type of person they want. The Bible states, “Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14).

Science cannot change man’s basic nature. The only One who can recreate us is God. And that is precisely what He does when we humble ourselves and submit to His Son, Jesus Christ. The Bible says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). What a tremendous truth.