For centuries, in some parts of the world, knowing and claiming one’s ancestry was a common practice in establishing one’s legal rights or other successions of entitlements sanctioned by law. In recent years, though, there has been a noticeable marketing effort to promote the search and discovery of one’s lineage for the purpose of establishing a sense of identity and social relatedness.
One popular method for identifying one’s ancestral roots is DNA testing. Many who search to answer the proverbial questions “Who am I?” or “Where did I come from?” assert that identifying the connection of genetic characteristics found in one’s family history will bring about a sense of well-being or completeness. Those embarking on this search cite a desire to discover similarities in culture and values, to ascertain a familial bond from which to build shared interests, to gain insight into one’s emotional proclivities, to predict one’s health and longevity, or to establish a sense of security or belonging.
Yet, to accept that our identity is governed by genetically controlled characteristics, and to believe that matter can contain or program itself to reproduce and sustain familial relations, only takes us deep into the belief that identity has its starting point apart from God. And accepting the conclusion that identity is transmitted from a mortal personality through laws of matter, makes us vulnerable and defenseless to all the varied beliefs associated with the so-called laws of heredity. To believe that matter or mortal personality is the origin and developing factor of good in our identity requires the corollary—that it can also be a source of evil, manifesting itself as hereditary disease, sickness, or any other physical or emotional malfunction or disorder.
