A Marine firing team gets caught up in a firefight in Helmand, ten miles from the Kandahar border. The Squad leader takes multiple 7.62 rounds to his upper arm as they're getting overrun with insurgents. They call in a helicopter to pick them up to get the wounded back for medical treatment. The Sergeant's arm is too mangled to save so they must amputate it. He gets awarded with a purple heart and gets sent home with an honorable discharge. After getting back to his house the marine finds it is very difficult to do his daily tasks and chores with only one arm. After raising enough funds, he goes to a prosthetics specialist to get a robotic arm, sized and fitted for him.

The marine's solution to his daily issues of having no arm is an example of a transhumanist (abbreviated by H+)  approach. Transhumanism is the movement to enhance human life by the use of technology and to make that technology widely available to the average everyday person. So far in today's world some life enhancing technologies would be the pacemaker, prosthetic body parts, and even body part transplants.

Even though the technologies I've listed off sound like there could be no downside, there are still some technologies I did not list which could do more harm than good. Despite these results there is a fine line between the benefits of transhumanism and the terrifying possibilities it has to offer. One of these questionable technologies would be micro-chipping. Some uses for these microchips could be for tracking (such as our own troops for the event of a capture), or to allow the person injected with the microchip to watch videos or to surf the internet using only their eyes. Of course these examples of uses for micro-chipping doesn't even scratch the surface of how many uses there will actually be  available in the future.

Some of the risks of just micro-chipping alone include the possibility of cancer, electric shock, the possibility of having the chip get hacked, and there's even the possibility of the chip causing tissue or muscle damage as soon as it gets injected under the skin. So, now that we have mentioned a few of the medical risks of certain transhumanist technologies, some religions believe there are also spiritual risks.

A common belief of Christianity is that due to the placement of a microchip, the right hand, is a disguised “mark of the beast”. Revelation Chapter 13 verses 16-18 read “And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is 666.” Another common belief related to transhumanism for Christians is that some forms of technology are what they would consider “playing God”. The most common reason for this belief is that getting a prosthetic or any kind of artificial device on or inside you is contradicting God's plan for your life. This belief is often backed up by II Corinthians 12:9-10 which reads: “And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.”

Another example for a transhumanist idea which is looked down upon by Christians is the ability for men to give birth. Why are Christians against this? Simply, because the Bible never says anything about the man bearing the pain and agony of birthing a child, but every single verse in the bible talking about childbirth is talking about the woman. John 16:1 reads”Whenever a woman is in labor she has pain, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy that a child has been born into the world”.

Given all these reasons as to how some transhumanist technologies are good and why some are bad, there is still the one age old question that remains: where is the line drawn between beneficial technologies and the inhuman or unethical technologies which we want to avoid?

For most Christians this line is drawn where the piece of technology which is being used and implanted is not a necessity in order to function and live like the normal every day person. For a few other Christians this line is drawn at any point where technology is permanently implanted or attached to your body, this is including the pacemakers or the prosthetic limbs I mentioned earlier. That being said, there are also people out there who believe strongly in making any of these transhumanist implants available to anyone, and these implants will be mass produced and widely available to everyone, and when everyone has these implants, some will call it a world of cyborgs.

I feel this a very important topic to research on and look into because no matter who you are, whether you are rich and upper class or if you're the average working class Joe, transhumanism could effect your way of living, whether it's going to change it in a positive way or a negative way. When the world gets to a point in time where these technologies are mass produced and are as common and inexpensive as the common flu vaccine, what are you going to do? Does your religion believe in the technology that all your friends and colleagues are getting? If you're not religious, does it sound like it could be potentially damaging to your health or even your social life? So before you go out and get a microchip implanted under your flesh that lets you use the internet from your eyes and your eyes alone, or if you think it's a good idea to switch roles in producing an offspring with your spouse, ask yourself these questions, are the potential risks and side effects worth the benefits which the implant or microchip is intended for?

Resources:
1. https://hplusbiopolitics.wordpress.com/2008/07/13/bible-verses-on-human-enhancemen/
2. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/zoltan-istvan/a-new-generation-of-trans_b_4921319.html
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transhumanism
4. http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/152240-what-is-transhumanism-or-what-does-it-mean-to-be-human