The Mormon Transhumanist Association in Africa recently invited me to speak. Because of their strong motivation and inspiring work, their membership has been growing rapidly. My understanding is that, since inception about a year ago, the African area of the association has grown to around 200 members. Below is a lightly edited transcript of my sermon, which I delivered to them remotely.

Friends, it’s good to be with you today.

What I’d like to do is speak with you about the scriptures. In fact, I’d like to read the scriptures with you today. If you have your scriptures, I encourage you to get them because we’ll be looking at them together. So if you could grab your Bible and your Book of Mormon, we’ll be using those.

What I’d like to read about in the scriptures together is the Gospel of Christ and how it relates to transfiguration, to the ideas that we teach and proclaim and share here at the Mormon Transhumanist Association.

Become Christ

If you would, let’s turn together, first of all, in the New Testament of the Bible to the First Epistle of John, chapter 3. That’s where I’d like to start. Right there at the beginning of the chapter, let’s read the first two verses together.

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” (1 John 3:1-2)

Think about that for a moment. Think about what it says. Think about what it implies about the relationship between us and Christ.

It says that when Christ appears, we will be like Christ. Imagine what kind of change is required for that to happen. Imagine the kind of people we will be when that happens.

All throughout the New Testament, this idea is taught – this idea of transformation or transfiguration, of profound change. We must become as Christ is. We must become Christ with Jesus.

Do the Works of Christ

Let’s move on to the second passage of scripture. This one is in the Gospel of John, chapter 14, verse 12.

“Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things.” (John 14:12 )

Again, I invite you to think about the words that are written here by John. What’s he saying? He’s saying that we should do the works of Christ and even greater works than those that are talked about in the New Testament.

This is Jesus speaking in this passage. He says that whoever believes in him will do the works that he has done. And they will do even greater things.

This extends the same message we received in the First Epistle of John, where we’re told that when Christ appears, we will be like Christ. How will we be like Christ? This scripture tells us we will be like Christ because we will do the works that Jesus showed us, and even greater things.

That’s a stunning idea. It’s a big idea – one that should sober us, cause us to reflect, to think about what potential we have, but also how far we have to go.

Create Heaven on Earth

Let’s go to another passage of scripture. This one is in the Book of Revelation, or the Apocalypse of John, which is the last book of the New Testament. We’ll go to chapter 21 and start at the beginning, verses 1 through 4.

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and He will dwell with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’” (Revelation 21:1–4)

In this passage, John is describing the future of Earth – this place where we now live – when it has been transformed and become a heaven, and God lives on Earth.

How will God live on Earth? Well, we’ve already read in other passages of scripture that when Christ returns, we will be like Christ. So, when Christ returns, we will be God with Christ, with Jesus.

We will be like Jesus. We, as God with God, will live on Earth. This will be our heaven transformed.

It’s a beautiful idea – an idea worthy of our hope and worthy of our work. It’s an idea not just about power, but about compassion. It’s about becoming the kind of people who, as the scripture says, will wipe every tear from the eyes of our family and our friends and everyone else. It’s about seeing their suffering and helping to relieve it, about becoming the kind of people that Jesus Christ exemplifies.

When we do that, this Earth will become our heaven. And God will dwell here with us.

God Inspires Technology

Let’s turn to the Epistle of Paul to the Hebrews. We often call it the Book of Hebrews. We’ll look at chapter 11, verse 7.

We sometimes wonder how we will achieve these great prophecies of the future – that we will become like Christ, that heaven will come to Earth, and that Earth will become heaven. Hebrews 11 has something to say about that.

“By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family.” (Hebrews 11:7)

When Noah heard the prophecies of the future, when Noah was confronted with the challenges of his day, he was inspired. He was moved by the Spirit of God.

And in his inspiration, what did he do? He built. He created. He used the technology of his day – with inspiration of God – to build a boat, an ark, and save his family from impending disaster.

We, today, find ourselves in a similar situation, confronted with the challenges, the risks, and the potential disasters of our day. We have been inspired by God to act, to become like Christ. How do we do that?

Well, it starts with prayer. It starts with inspiration. It starts with revelation.

But it proceeds from there to action, and from action to building and creating and using all the means God has given us. And that includes technology. We must use the technology of our day, as Noah used the technology of his, to create and build so as to save our family and friends and our world from potential disaster.

Change to Avoid Destruction

There’s another scripture related to this idea that’s important. I’d like to turn with you to the Book of Jonah in the Old Testament, going to Jonah, chapter 3. Jonah was a prophet called by God to go to Nineveh and proclaim the word of God. We’ll read what the scriptures say about him – Jonah 3, starting with verses 3 and 4, then skipping to verse 10.

“Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it. Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, ‘Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.’”

“When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, He relented and did not bring on them the destruction He had threatened.” (Jonah 3:3-4, 10)

How often do we hear of prophecies of destruction, of the end of the world, of terrible things – of frightening things, of tempests and earthquakes and fires and destruction and death and hell? How often do we hear these dark ideas? And yet these are not our fate.

We read in Jonah that Jonah was called by God to tell the people of Nineveh they would be destroyed. But they changed.

They repented. They became better people. And they were not destroyed.

Confronted today as we are by dark ideas and terrible risks, we too have the opportunity to change, to repent, to be better people, to create and to build better relationships, to use the means God has given us – including technology – to make the world better. If we do that, we have this scriptural precedent, this promise, that we will not be destroyed.

Despite great risks, like Nineveh, we can repent. We can change. And we can overcome.

Resurrection to Diversity

Let’s talk a little bit about what that future might look like in more detail. We’ll read together again in the New Testament, Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians, chapter 15. We’ll go to verse 35 to start.

“But someone will ask, ‘How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?’ How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. But God gives it a body as He has determined, and to each kind of seed He gives its own body. Not all flesh is the same: People have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another, fish another. There are also heavenly bodies, and there are earthly bodies. But the splendor of the hea