The Quest for Immortality: Christianity vs. Transhumanism

For years, mankind has sought the mysteries of immortality. Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China, hoped to live forever. Alexander Bogdanov thought immortality could be achieved through blood transfusions. Many others have pursued elixirs of life or fountains of youth.

When we look back on these futile quests, we might laugh or shake our heads in disbelief. For many of these individuals, their pursuit of permanence ultimately hastened their mortal end.

But what if I told you that there was a modern take on that old quest for immortality, one just as fraudulent and fruitless as those that came before it?

It’s called transhumanism, and it’s a worldview that is utterly antithetical to Christianity. But while transhumanism has been around since the mid-20^th century, it’s become more relevant in recent years because a surprising number of influential people in the technology industry now hold to transhumanist ideals—individuals who have tremendous say in the direction our world’s technological progress will take.

What is Transhumanism?

Finally, men will master the forces of nature; they will become themselves architects of systems, manufacturers of worlds. Man then will be perfect …

– William Winwood Reade, The Martyrdom of Man

Encyclopedia Britannica defines transhumanism as “a philosophical and scientific movement that advocates the use of current and emerging technologies … to augment human capabilities and improve the human condition.”

Sounds alright so far. Humanity has consistently used technology to improve our quality of life throughout the centuries. Wouldn’t a pair of glasses be considered an augment for someone with poor eyesight? Haven’t many of us benefited from modern medicine?

Certainly, there are some incredible advancements that continue to be made and are worth celebrating. Earlier this year, we discussed the enormous potential surrounding brain-computer interfaces (aka BCIs) and how they might help victims of disease or injury regain a level of function that was thought to be lost.

The leveraging of technology is not where Christians and transhumanists diverge. That fork in the road comes from our understanding of “the human condition” and how we might improve it.

Two Problems, One (Real) Solution

Every man carries the entire form of human condition.

– Michel de Montaigne, Essays

“The human condition” can have a variety of meanings depending on the context in which it’s used. But for our purposes here, I’ll define the human condition as “the big problem” that we as humans must confront.

Unfortunately, transhumanism and Christianity have identified two different big problems.

Let’s start with transhumanism. The Britannica definition continues:

“Transhumanists envision a future in which the responsible application of such technologies enables humans to slow, reverse, or eliminate the aging process … The movement proposes that humans with augmented capabilities will evolve into an enhanced species that transcends humanity—the “posthuman.”

Eliminate the aging process. Evolve into an enhanced species. Transcend humanity.

All these statements point to the underlying problem that transhumanism is desperate to solve: death.

Death, Sin and the True Need

Transhumanism would argue that death is humanity’s shared affliction that we must correct. But Christians know that death, as sobering and sorrowful as it can be, is a natural part of life. We are born, we age and, eventually, we pass on from this life. To the transhumanist, that is an abject tragedy.

Christians would argue that death is simply the resultant effect of our true problem: sin (Romans 6:23). We are fallen creatures, having rebelled against our Creator in an effort to elevate ourselves to His place (Genesis 3:1-6).

The transhumanist who says we should strive for an immortal, “posthuman” reality is simply taking a bite out of a new (and equally ruinous) fruit.

Jesus Christ did not come into the world and take on human flesh in order to live forever. He came here to die and, by His death (1 Peter 3:18), to conquer sin and death through His resurrection (Hebrews 2:5-15). Romans 6:6 says, “We know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.”

Jesus has already conquered death. So it’s not immortality that we should seek but salvation. We shouldn’t strive to be posthuman but post-sin, something only achievable through the sacrificial, saving work of Jesus Christ.

Transhumanism is Incompatible with Christianity

Thus says the Lord: ‘Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord.’

– Jeremiah 17:5, ESV

Any effort to reconcile Christianity with transhumanism is a hopeless pursuit. Christianity argues for the primacy of God—that God, and God alone, is the source of life and our hope of salvation.

Transhumanism seeks the primacy of man. As such, a vacuous space resides at its center, one it vainly hopes to fill with the power of technology. A formidable power, to be sure, but one that will be left wanting. The hole is God-shaped, after all.

Christianity is Not Anti-Science, but Transhumanism is Anti-God

Christianity is not “anti-science” or “anti-progress.” But Christianity holds science in its proper place: as a means to understand the intricate, orderly workings of the universe that its Creator put in place. Science is not an end in and of itself. As Isaac Newton said, “Gravity explains the motions of the planets, but it cannot explain who sets the planets in motion.”

Problems arise when the natural and beneficial progression of technology is revered as the salvation of humanity—a place that should be reserved for God alone. Like the Tower of Babel and the golden calf, transhumanism has turned technology into an idolatrous pursuit. This, naturally, leads its followers away from God.

The Transhumanist Influence

“We … are building a brain for the world.”

– Sam Altman, “The Gentle Singularity”

We’ve talked a lot about transhumanism from the conceptual level in this article. But it’s important to note that this worldview isn’t something restricted exclusively to academic thought.

Elon Musk—CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, X (formerly Twitter), xAI and Neuralink (one of the companies working on the BCIs mentioned earlier)—has spoken about merging biological and digital intelligence. Jeff Bezos and Peter Thiel (founders of Amazon and PayPal, respectively) have poured huge sums of money into research dedicated to combating aging and death. Sam Altman, founder of OpenAI (ChatGPT’s parent company), is also a proponent of transhumanism. In fact, many technological titans see the development of an artificial general intelligence as the key to a posthuman reality.

These are prominent figures who have helped guide the development of technology. Innovations such as Neuralink’s BCIs are currently restricted to the medical space. But what would prevent a transhumanist from pushing the application of brain implants to other areas, such as work or entertainment, not to help people regain lost functions but to expand the bounds of natural human ability? Or attempting to cheat death by trying to upload their consciousness to an advanced computer?

As Christians, we might object, but the transhumanist would not.

The Right Path

“If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.”

– C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Technology, as a form of secular salvation, is a vain, endless quest. As we’ve seen time and again, emerging technologies bring with them new and often unexpected problems.

Here’s the good news: The author of life has not abandoned us, resigning our fate to whatever meager solutions we humans might devise, technological or otherwise. He designed us for more than this mortal life.

Transhumanism gropes at immortality. But the irony is that our eternal existence has never been in question. As Christians, we know that God created us with not just a finite mind and body but an eternal soul. At the end of our earthly lives, we will either reside in the presence of God in heaven or apart from Him in hell (Matthew 25:31-46).

God has already provided the way to heaven through the life, death and resurrection of His son, Jesus Christ. That is the right path, the only path.

I would urge anyone—transhumanist or not, technology afficionado or not—to heed the wisdom of the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:

“I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’
‘O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?’
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”