We are all X-Men!

For the uninitiated the X-Men are fictional characters that appeared in Marvel Comics and have been made into box office hit movies since the turn of the century.  The basic premise is that these characters have mutated DNA which has resulted in them having all manner of super powers.  The X-Men, under the benevolent guidance of Charles Xavier, use their super powers for the good of all.  Unsurprisingly there are some mutants who do not believe the rest of the human race will put up with them and so their super powers are used for somewhat less caring purposes.  Thus we have the makings of the classic good versus evil story line. The super powers may be fictional but that there are mutants walking among us is quite true. Indeed every one of us is a mutant – it could be said that we are all X-Men! It seems that between 100 and 200 mutations are added to the human genome every generation.  These mutations far from granting anyone fantastic super powers either have no effect (thankfully) or degrade or destroy our DNA so that some of the information that makes us what we are becomes defective. If you have ever said to a friend that you feel like you are “falling apart”, strangely that may not be far from the truth. In some circles mutations are seen in a positive light because, it is said, they are the driving force of evolution; they are what turn molecules into men over time and hence the extrapolation that super-heroes may arise. What is observed however is quite the opposite. Illnesses and disabilities caused by mutated DNA are all too well known and even on the rare occasion when a mutation conveys some survival advantage to a species it still comes at a cost. Information is lost so evolution’s direction of travel is downward not upward. The Bible also refers to this universal pattern of decay. It says: “we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now”.  In the verse immediately preceding this it say: “the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption” (you can look these up in the Bible, in the book of Romans, chapter 8 verses 21 and 22). Yet the overarching message of the Bible is not one of hopelessness but of confident hopefulness. Even in that passage above which speaks of all creation being in the bondage of corruption, it goes on to speak of “the glorious liberty of the children of God”.  You might think of the Bible as old hat and not worth a second glance, yet it evidently speaks about life and the world as it really is. It is easy to be dismissive of something simply because that is what our friends do.  In this world, so full of decay, there is something wonderful going on, something much more marvellous than the creation of super heroes.  What a shame to miss out on that just because our friends are happy to.    

Robert Yerby, Church Elder.

First published in the Guernsey Press and reproduced here with permission.