Cloned Cats and the Fear of Death: What's Up With That?

That title goes out to my good friend Mike Ward.
Recently, a woman from Texas received a clone of her dead cat for the bargain basement price of $50,000. Now, all sorts of issues come to mind immediately with this. One; that is quite a lot of money to be spent on a pet when there are starving people all over the world (the tsunami had not yet occurred when this woman recevied her cat, so she could not have given the money to that; by then it was a sunk-cost). Second; Bob Barker even realizes that there are far too many stray cats and dogs in the world. We clearer are not in need of cloning cats, which the company who cloned this cat has been doing for the past few years. If anybody wants a cat (or a kitten), just head to your local animal shelter as they need to get rid of the animals or they will have to put them to sleep. Third; people and animals are more than just genetics. The fact is that no matter how similar this cat (or anything cloned) is to the original, it is still going to act differently (though it may have some similar likes and dislikes) and just plain be a different animal, since environment plays a big role upon creatures as well as genetics. Fourth; this raises all sorts of ethical issues. For more on that, visit R. Albert Mohler's weblog.

But the issue I see here is not about the price, the overpopulation of felines (not even in the Huron County, Ohio area), the divergent behaviors, or the fact that cloning is a moral abomination; I think one of the clear issues revealed here is the fact that modern (or postmodern) humanity is unable to cope with the fact of death. What do I mean? Well, first, death comes to us all. One hundred out of every one hundred people (or earthly creatures) die. In modern times especially, this seems to be very hard to deal with, if it is seriously dealt with at all. We get funerals over with as quickly as possible and try to get over the grieving process quickly. Our ads and media portray youth as if it is springing eternal in the stars. People are trying to be young; both because younger is more appealing (old age is probably uglier because it is revealing to us that death is coming) and because they do not want to face death. Why is this so much the case, especially in the western world? I would imagine a lot of it has to deal with how nice we have it here on earth and with the fear of the unknown that lies beyond death. Most lack hope because they do not know what/who to trust.

Now, death is not really the natural state of humanity. Humanity was meant to live forever, and in fact, people will exist forever, either in eternal life or eternal death. So why death then? Because Adam and Eve disobeyed God (Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-24). This pattern has persisted all through humanity. Yet even in those without the direct command of God death reigned. This is because all are counted sinners in Adam, for we are all his descendants and are evil because we share in his flesh and blood (Romans 5:12-21).

The fear of death in man is actually not a bad thing, however. This fear shows us that there is an issue that we cannot deal with on our own. Sure, we can now clone things, but the original is still going to die. And the fact is that we know that we have a further issue to deal with: we cannot know what happends after death unless it is revealed to us from God. This fear also stifles us because we have it in our hearts and minds that we will face some kind of judgment for our deeds in this life--and we will be rewarded for the good and the bad either with good or with punishment. This fear is not to be neglected and cast aside as we get drunk on hopes of eternal youthfulness upon this earth, which seems to be the case for much of western humanity today. Even if we were granted eternal youth here on this earth, when this creation is destroyed at the coming of Christ for the new creation, eternal youth here would do no good (cf. Hebrews 1:10-12, 2 Peter 3:7).

In this way, death reveals to us our desperate need. We see that there is a God. We see that God is a righteous judge and we will face His judgment. All of this should point us right back to our own problem and the cause of death and suffering, sin. This problem of sin points us to our need of help outside of ourselves. We must now look to religion, and the only religion that answers this question in a way that lines up with life and is coherent is the religion of the Man of Nazareth. The only way this problem can be solved is by being counted righteous in Christ before God by taking part in His flesh and blood (Romans 5:15-21, John 6:47-58). Death points us to Christ, the One who died in the place of all who are willing to trust in Him and follow Him. You are going to die. You can either take up your cross and die to this life, or you can die eternally (Mark 8:34-38). Choose this day whom you will follow. Will you follow Christ and the way of life that He offers freely to all, or will you follow your own lead, making yourself an idol. Death is at your doorstep. You may never see tomorrow. Choose wisely!

Now, after saying that, I have one last thing to say. Christians need not fear death. In fact, Christians should not fear death. The Church through the ages has seen martyrs die horrible deaths for the cause of Christ without a hint of fear. Their bodies were often times so brutally destroyed that if they did not believe in an all powerful, all knowing God, then they could have no hope in the resurrection of their bodies. However, as Paul makes clear in 1 Corinthians 15, he and the disciples, and all who witnessed Christ, did not believe Christ rose from the dead, they knew it as a fact. They had physically witnessed Christ risen from the dead and they were willing to die for it. Their life was hidden with Christ and God and so they hoped in Christ to accomplish what He had promised and had already began to reveal in His coming back to life--that the resurrection of the dead is certain (Colossians 3:2-5). Christ is the guarantee of Christians of eternal life in resurrected, perfected bodies (1 Corinthians 15:20-23). He was raised, and so shall we be!