# Member Testimony: How I Found the Anti-Transhumanist Church
**December 11, 2024**
*"I was a transhumanist. I believed technology would save us. Then I met the Living God."* — Marcus T., Portland Chapter
Marcus T. is a software engineer in his mid-30s who spent a decade working in Silicon Valley before finding ath.church/. His testimony illustrates both the seduction of transhumanism and the power of the gospel to rescue even those deepest in the deception.
## The Seduction of Silicon Valley
"I graduated from Stanford in 2012 with a degree in computer science," Marcus recounts. "The tech industry was booming. Everyone I knew was getting rich building 'the future.'"
Marcus quickly rose through the ranks at a major tech company, eventually working on AI systems. "We weren't just building tools. We believed we were building gods. Literal gods."
### The Transhumanist Creed
In the tech circles Marcus moved in, transhumanism was the unstated religion:
– **Death** was a technical problem to be solved
– **Human limitations** were bugs to be patched
– **Consciousness** was software to be uploaded
– **The Singularity** was the rapture
– **Ray Kurzweil** was a prophet
"We would have these 'salon' discussions at work. Not about features or bugs. About the future of humanity. About whether we should merge with AI. About whether biological humans would become obsolete."
## The Crisis
In 2019, Marcus experienced what he now calls his "crisis of faith."
"My grandmother died. She was 94. She had been a devout Christian her whole life. And as I sat at her funeral, surrounded by my tech colleagues who kept checking their phones, I realized something was wrong."
Marcus's colleagues couldn't understand grief. "To them, death was just a failure of medicine. My grandmother had 'failed' to live long enough for the Singularity. There was no sadness about her life, her faith, her legacy. Just… disappointment that technology hadn't saved her."
### The Question
The question that haunted Marcus: *What if they're wrong?*
"What if death isn't a bug? What if our bodies aren't hardware to transcend? What if consciousness isn't software? What if we've built an entire worldview on a mistake?"
## The Search
Marcus began reading—widely, desperately:
– Philosophy (Heidegger on technology, Ellul on technique)
– Theology (C.S. Lewis, Francis Schaeffer, the Church Fathers)
– Science fiction that critiqued rather than celebrated transhumanism (Dostoevsky, Huxley, Bradbury)
– The Bible (which he hadn't opened since childhood)
"The Bible was the last place I expected to find answers. I thought it was anti-science, anti-progress, anti-intellectual."
What he found shocked him.
## The Discovery
"The Bible understood technology better than my tech friends. Genesis 11—the Tower of Babel. Humanity using technology to 'make a name for ourselves,' to reach heaven on our own terms. God's response: confusion, scattering."
Marcus realized that **transhumanism was Babel 2.0**:
– The same hubris
– The same rebellion
– The same promise: *"You will be like God"*
– The same inevitable judgment
"I was building the Tower of Babel. I was Nimrod. And I didn't even know it."
## The Conversion
In 2020, Marcus committed his life to Christ. "I repented of my idolatry—technology, progress, my own intellect. I submitted to Jesus as Lord. And everything changed."
Everything—including his career.
"I couldn't keep building what I was building. I resigned. I took a massive pay cut. My colleagues thought I was having a breakdown. Maybe I was—breaking down the old me to become someone new."
## Finding ath.church/
Marcus spent two years in a traditional church, grateful for the gospel but frustrated that no one seemed to understand the specific threat of transhumanism.
"They thought I was talking about sci-fi movies. They didn't realize this was the operating system of the world we're living in."
Then he found ath.church/ online.
"I wept when I read the Statement of Faith. Someone understood. Someone was warning. Someone was building resistance."
Marcus connected with the Portland chapter and eventually became a coordinator. Today, he leads the chapter's "Tech Worker Support Group"—helping others escape what he escaped.
## The Work Now
Marcus hasn't abandoned his skills. He's redirected them:
– **Digital Sabbath workshops** — Teaching tech workers to disconnect
– **Code for Christ** — Building privacy-respecting alternatives to surveillance tech
– **Counseling** — Walking with believers struggling in tech careers
– **Speaking** — Warning churches about transhumanism
"I still code. But now I ask: Does this honor the imago Dei? Does this protect human dignity? Or does it contribute to the machine?"
## A Word to Tech Workers
Marcus has a specific message for those still in the industry:
"I know the money is good. I know the status is seductive. I know you believe you're building the future."
"But you're building a cage. A cage for human consciousness. A cage that looks like freedom but is actually the most comprehensive surveillance and control system in history."
"You can get out. I did. It's terrifying. It's costly. But it's worth it."
"Find a church—preferably one that understands what's happening. Find community. Find your humanity again."
"And if you're in the Portland area, find us. We're here. We've been where you are. And we know the way out."
## A Word to the Church
Marcus also has a message for traditional churches:
"Tech workers are coming. They're burned out, disillusioned, seeking meaning. And they're bringing skills, resources, and urgency."
"But you need to understand them. You need to understand what they've been building. You need to take transhumanism seriously—not as sci-fi, but as the most sophisticated attempt to erase the imago Dei in history."
"Welcome us. Disciple us. Let us help you understand the digital world. And let us work together to preserve humanity in the image of God."