Since I mentioned it in posting this morning’s hymn, I can’t stop thinking of something Charlton Heston’s astronaut character said in the original Planet of the Apes movie, in 1968. Soured on his own world, the astronaut has embarked on a one-way trip into the unknown because he’s sure that somewhere out there, “There must be something better!” Better than earth, he means.
Well, doesn’t that just speak volumes? Our whole benighted age in just five words!
But of course, what the oracles of this age say sounds completely different: “Sooner or later, we’ll have all the answers! Science will provide those answers. No more sickness, no more war, no more crime or poverty. Just give us the power, give us the money, obey us in all things–and the earthly paradise will be yours! Minus the heavenly paradise, though, because there’s no such thing…”
We have to listen a bit more carefully. What do they praise? Massive, all-powerful government. Homosexuality. Transgenderism. Sexual promiscuity. Abortion. Assisted suicide. “Open borders”–not that there’s ever been any such thing, but throughout history, the closer a country comes to it, the closer it comes to destruction.
Their earthly paradise is full of behaviors which, if pursued to their natural ends, result in death–even extinction, if everybody does what humanists say we ought to do.
So in their own way, they are proposing to leave the earth behind–if not by means of a starship, then by means of death. First everybody else’s; and then, like it or not, their own. All they that hate God’s wisdom love death (Proverbs 8:36).
But the earth is the Lord’s–and so are we. And so are we.
Proverbs 14:12 “There is a way which seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.” I can’t add one thing to that thought.
That particular proverb, and that one alone, appears twice in King Solomon’s book.
It’s key to my worldview. I try to be a good man, but I’m still a fallen man and even my best efforts would lead to failure. That’s why we need redemption.
If we could do it ourselves, we wouldn’t need a Savior.
Precisely! We all worship to the best of our abilities, but no matter how correct we are, we are still dependent upon Jesus’ sacrifice to achieve salvation.
Meanwhile, **Science** is about to find a way around that. See the next post: we’re all gonna be immortal. Sort of.
“Sooner or later, we’ll have all the answers! Science will provide those answers. No more sickness, no more war, no more crime or poverty.” — Actually, we usually hear that it’s government that’ll provide the answers.
But every time I hear some politician or party or advocacy group held up as the one that’s going to save us all — especially from the other politicians, parties, and groups — I think of Psalm 146: “Put not your trust in princes nor any son of man.” We’re all fallen creatures. Only God has all the answers.
The utopian fantasy caused a lot of damage when it was done in the the name of Communism. Now, it seems, science has taken it’s place. Science has it’s uses, but the problem is when it’s elevated above everything else. It has become a religion with it’s own priesthood. It then becomes less about science, and more about scientism.
Oddly enough, I was writing about “scientism” in that sense back in the 1970s, in my weekly newspaper columns. But of course it’s way older than that.
I used to believe “Utopia” meant not a place . Today it means liberal hell.
Ludwig van Mises, the genius economist, pointed out the fallacy of all these Utopian schemes. They are based on the collective; society, the state, tribes, groups, clubs, etc., when reality is based on the individual. All of creation was made for man, each individual man, woman, and child. Our job as believers is to strive to bring earth in line with heaven, the Great Commission, even though perfection will not be attained in this age. We press on toward the goal, that’s our job no matter what is going on around us. We are to be Overcomers, letting our light shine – individual to individual (we come into this world alone, and we leave it alone – so to speak).
Right you are. The older I get, the more I realize that we are meant to be individuals and that much of the social order is simply a lie. In a world of justice and plenty, which is foretold in the bible, we are told as much. Micah 4:4 “Each of them will sit under his vine And under his fig tree, With no one to make them afraid, For the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken.”
This isn’t to imply that mankind will be standoffish or antisocial, but I believe that individual rights will be very important. We will take responsibility for ourselves and our families. We will respect the rights of others and we will take joy in sharing from our abundance.
No one knows just how every little detail will end up, but it sounds a lot better than today.
Isa 65:21They shall build houses and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22They shall not build and another inhabit;
they shall not plant and another eat;
for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,
and my chosen shall long enjoyc the work of their hands.
23They shall not labor in vain
or bear children for calamity,
for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the LORD,
and their descendants with them.
24Before they call I will answer;
while they are yet speaking I will hear.
25The wolf and the lamb shall graze together;
the lion shall eat straw like the ox,
and dust shall be the serpent’s food.
They shall not hurt or destroy
in all my holy mountain,”
says the LORD.
No human source could ever even approach delivering such blessings, but these are from God and the price has already been paid by Jesus.