Suppose tomorrow’s lead news story read as follows:
“Pandemonium broke out yesterday afternoon at The Louvre in Paris, France, when a 33 year old aspiring artist disabled a security guard, shattered the 1.52 inch-thick protective glass, and immediately began painting a bigger smile on the face of the Mona Lisa! The culprit was apprehended and jailed, but not before doing incalculable damage. Experts are not certain that the painting can be restored.”
Can you imagine the sorrow and outrage? While some may not care, much of the world would be up in arms, demanding that the perpetrator be punished to the full extent of the law. The Mona Lisa was painted by Leonardo da Vinci between 1503 and 1506 A.D. It is one of the most widely recognized paintings in the world. Wikipedia claims that “It holds the Guinness World Record for the highest known insurance valuation in history at $100 million in 1962, which is worth nearly $800 million in 2017.” To deface such an invaluable piece of art would be reprehensible indeed.
Most reasonable people would likely agree that only the creator of such a valuable masterpiece should have the right to change it. Even if another more-talented artist should some day be discovered, it would still not be appropriate for them to “fix” or “improve” upon such a masterpiece.
You and I are also masterpieces. Moses described our origin like this:
“So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.” Then God said, “Look! I have given you every seed-bearing plant throughout the earth and all the fruit trees for your food. And I have given every green plant as food for all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, and the small animals that scurry along the ground—everything that has life.” And that is what happened. Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good! And evening passed and morning came, marking the sixth day. (Genesis 1:27-31 NLT)
God created mankind just the way He wanted them, and then He gave them the responsibility of overseeing everything that was created. He would eventually provide a user handbook—more commonly known as The Holy Bible. When mankind tries to reinvent himself or change the prescribed rules of operation, we should all be appalled. To deface or devalue mankind is to mar the most beautiful and significant creation of all time. No other creation was designed to be at one with the Creator. No other creation can create, love and forgive like mankind. And no other creation was built to live forever. We are God’s handiwork.
When individuals or people groups arbitrarily decide to “redesign” mankind, they become just as destructive and scandalous as the culprit described at the beginning of this article. They have no right. Their actions prove that they lack wisdom, discretion and taste. A respectable society would quickly take measures to restrain their destructive behavior, so that all mankind can enjoy the beauty and integrity of God’s prized creation. Protect mankind; insist that we hold to the Creator’s original design.