My window looks out over a sprawling city. It seems like every ten minutes, some sort of emergency vehicle speeds past, the wail of its siren growing louder, until it echoes eerily off the walls of my room, then fades into the distance.
There is something desperately wrong with society. We as humans know this to be true on a fundamental level. We want to fix it. We want to build a perfect civilization.
Thousands of years ago, the people of the world convened together, and decided to build a tower in celebration of the ideal society they’d thought they’d formed, marked by a single ambition, and united by a single language. This tower would be the crowning achievement of their humanist utopia. They thought that by their own power, by their own greatness, they could make their world perfect. They were wrong. (If you aren't catching my drift, read Genesis 11).
Ever since the failure at Babel, the diverse peoples of earth have continued to strive for such a world, one they could take hold of and make perfect. We seem to think there’s something inherent in our race that makes us great, that makes us conquerors, that makes us world-builders, and that if we can only tap into that something, everything will go right for us.
Don’t believe me? Look at our history. Dictators have gone to extremes to bring out the parts of the human race that they think will lead to a golden future. Look at our philosophy. Great thinkers have theorized on the flaws of society, and what people can do to cure them. Look at our stories. Authors dream up utopian cities, and worlds, and federations, quite similar to the dreams of Babel, where human intuition and goodness has solved all our problems. (Sci-fi fans. You know what I mean.)
But like Babel, all our ambitions lie there unfinished. Why? Why would we long so deeply for a perfect world if we can never achieve it?
You see, humanity lived in a perfect world once. The original man and woman were completely united with one another, and fulfilled to the core of their being. And it all centered around their Creator and Sustainer, God.
God was was the author of this original utopia. As His creations enjoyed, walked with, and came to know Him, they achieved the purpose of their existence. They lived in the only truly perfect society.
Then, as we are now too painfully aware of, they fell for the ruse we have been falling for ever since. They believed the lie that they could have perfection based on their own power, knowledge, and nature, apart from God. They were wrong. (This account is in Genesis 1-3).
So, now, here our race is. Delving further into the myth that we are the key to flawless existence. That if we only try hard enough, we can do anything. All the while, we are only one step away from the true answer to all humanity’s problems: our Creator and our Lord.
We reach for utopia in every direction but up.
Yeah, I know it's more depressing than my usual fare, but this is only the first part to the story. Tune in for my next Wednesday post, two Wednesdays from today, and I'll continue with the same theme, but with a more hopeful ending. In the meantime, there will be a top 5 Tuesday article that will probably just consist of geeky fluff. I hope you enjoyed. I hope I made you think. I'd love to hear from you!
Keep on glowing in the dark,
Elora
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