I wonder if I could go pro if I tried PEDs. Several years ago, I wondered if I took PEDs (Performance Enhancing Drugs), would I be able to make a pro team? I had played a season on a lower-level club team for ultimate frisbee. Watching Olympic and professional athletes get busted for Human Growth Hormones, steroids, and testosterone levels creates a fascinating situation. How much better would I be on PEDs? Would I take them? Doesn’t Human Growth Hormone sound like more of something I already have? Has anyone else out here tried this?
I’ve been a sports fan my whole life. I loved the summer of ‘98 with McGuire and Sosa blasting home runs. I had the yellow LiveStrong wristband to celebrate the great story of Lance Armstrong, from cancer survivor to Tour de France champion. The evidence shows the drugs work, and people love Captain America (should we talk about our nation’s namesake hero being juiced up on drugs?). In the end, the potential success, if being a professional ultimate player is a success, did not seem worth the effort to find PEDs or any potential repercussions.
Doping did not make sense for me, but for many, it does. And a new company, Enhanced, believes it’s a path to a healthier, better life.
The promise of enhanced has already been made to Christians. So, we hope for the resurrection of our bodies, and the eternal hope of the physical presence with our risen Lord.
The Promise of Enhanced
At the heart of Enhanced lies the promise of physical strength and longevity. Pharmaceutical advancements offer thinner waistlines, happier temperaments, and long-lasting vitality. When the Marvel movies debuted and grew, I assumed that in the future we would be like Iron Man, but now it seems that the hope of technology says we should be like Captain America.
The Enhanced Games did not break the number of records they hoped, but they reached an audience who just might believe in the promise. If you will take their tests, inject their medicine, and give them your money. You can be enhanced.
However, that begs the question: how long will you stay on the drip? When you pause the subscription or have inevitable side-effects, will you no longer be enhanced?
You see, you can only be enhanced for however long you will keep up the habit, take the pills, and follow the instructions the company provides. You can only live the enhanced life when you are on the program; it’s a temporary aid for a problem that has no end.
Frail Bodies
Advancements in medicine changed the way we think about our bodies and even our own mortality. Pop culture shows us musicians and actors who seem to be ageless. Yet we know that our bodies are frail and start to fail. Enhanced says that this can be solved and there is a better way. Our society has begun to believe technology can save us, as Pope Leo recently warned.
But Scripture reminds us that we are not God and our bodies will fail, they are like “jars of clay” (2 Corinthians 4:7), and our days are like “grass” (Psalm 103:15–16) that passes away when the wind comes. The Bible does not present these metaphors as morbid; rather, they reflect reality.
For years, I would go to the gym on my birthday to dunk a basketball. The years of success lied to me, now the hoop mocks me as I walk by, and my knees ache with the contemplation of giving it another go. That does not mean that we should despair. We age, our bodies change, our joints hurt, and the world seems to speed up. But, as the old hymn reminds us, “Change and decay in all around I see; O Thou who changest not, abide with me.”
Our Physical Hope
Reality shatters the idols of youth and beauty. Enhanced tries to piece those idols back together. It could work for a while. And, who knows, maybe Bryan Johnson will actually live to 120. But then what? If we put our hopes for a long and meaningful life into a pharmaceutical and workout regimen, we will end up being devoted to it.
I am not saying you should neglect your bodies or give up on fitness. In fact, if you want longevity in ministry, you do need to take care of your body. But if your hope in life or ministry is in an enhanced version of yourself, it will eventually fail you. And there is a better hope, indeed, a physical hope.
The ultimate hope for the Christian lies in the New Heaven and New Earth in resurrected bodies with our savior, who is fully God and fully man. The longing for a perfect body can only be satisfied in the resurrection of the body, of which Jesus was the first. When new companies and new drugs promise a better life, we can say yes to taking care of our bodies. But no to an unending routine of drugs and vitamins. The promise of Enhanced has already been made to Christians. So, we hope for the resurrection of our bodies, and the eternal hope of the physical presence with our risen Lord.
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