Are you sitting comfortably?

"These creatures have no elidia. They are like one trying to lift himself by his own hair - like a female trying to beget young on herself".

Out of the silent planet.

Take a look at this:





One of the earliest events recorded in the Bible regarding the impoverished condition of men once they leave Eden is that of the tower of babel. Basically, after creating a new material for building - the brick - mankind thinks it's ready to really be master of it's own destiny; to not worry about what's really good or important for people, but to marshall all to a common cause - making a name for ourselves. It's a tune that keeps re-disguising itself, but can be heard (if you're looking for it) just as well in our times, whether it's in the writings of someone like Ayn Rand or the intentions of something like the raised kind of underhand wheeling and dealing in the video - it all stems from a greed to own what isn't actually ours and achieve another aim in the process - evict the proper landlord. That was the flip-side of the Babel scheme - to reach heaven itself and to become the masters.

There's no surprise that Genesis tells us why we were aiming at such a dark throne (putting ourselves, ruled by greed, in charge). Anyone who takes even a brief look at the events of chapters 3-6 of the book can see why we were unfit for anything but judgement, so what happens at Babel, as soon as we get organized, is as predictable as an apple falling from the tree. What is surprising is how, even in times of judgement, God uses our very downfall to bring about something much better than greed and selfishness will ever foster. From the very fallout of the Babel incident will arise a family that will see the seeds of a far brighter future - a future that would include the coming of Jesus Christ Himself and the world hearing that in spite of our folly, redemption is truly happening, because God is at work, through Christ, to reconcile what has been so broken and so lost.

Our days here do not really turn around the wickedness of men, though that darkness often becomes very painful indeed - it revolves around a moment in our history when God came amongst us and by death and resurrection, concluded our sinfulness in what He suffered and the life that could not be vanquished by that sin - that is where our torn creation is looking today, for it's liberation will come.

Of course there are those that consider such a hope no more than wishful thinking - the problem there is that what the New Testament tells us about Jesus is pretty comprehensively supported by several other 'secular' sources, so even if you don't accept what the Gospel's say, you're still left with the problem of both what to do with Jesus and the bleak alternative of the 'worlds' we make without Him.

Without the one who sits above the heavens, who came to make us truly free, all we have left is the tyranny of selfish humanity - how long would it be before that corruption truly got its way? So ask yourself, what keeps us considering, longing for something richer and deeper than ourselves, and how will we really respond to that? That's surely wishful thinking worth pursuing.