Silence?

"And God Said"

Genesis 1:3


"And the whole earth was of one language, and of one accent and mode of expression".

Genesis 11:1

"And they began to speak in other languages as the Holy Spirit gave them expression, loudly and clearly".

Acts 2:4.

"A language has its own personality; implies an outlook, reveals a mental activity, and has a resonance, not quite the same as any other".

C S Lewis - The Discarded Image.

What do Professor John Lennox, a Cave in the Syrian desert, the above verses, and troubling 'idiosyncrasies' in AI computer coding share in common?

Perhaps nothing at first sight, but when Tim Mahoney's recent second film in the Patterns of Evidence series began to conclude its findings by discussing the well-nigh miraculous origins and development of ancient Hebrew, I began to see something both astonishing and troubling was afoot.

Let me seek to explain.

We're told in Psalm 2 that one of the biggest evils we now face as humanity as a result of our fallen nature is that men of authority will seek to come together in power with a particularly dangerous intent in mind - to unfasten themselves from the rightful Lordship and reign of the Almighty, evidenced through the Kingship of of His beloved Son (yes, that's all stated in the Psalm). This, as Paul goes on to show in Romans chapter one, is often a motivational imperative in much of the fashions or intents of our secular culture, and consequently leads to social activities that are marked by immorality and, worse, alienation from true identity as the ones bearing the image of our Creator. Such intentions, of course, carry the seeds of its own destruction.

The means, as shown in the events at Babel (Genesis 11) to bring this about are often found in what is expressed and agreed upon as common intent, so language and its use is fundamental to the how and the why of where we are going as a culture.

Think about how we ourselves use particular words in this respect - words like 'define'. Providing a definition can be extremely useful, but what if the definition is incomplete or inaccurate or, worse yet, given to obscure or blur something vital ?(see Lewis' chapter, Reservations in the book The Discarded Image for a very thought-provoking examination of such issues).

The recent Patterns of Evidence film about Moses and the writing of the Torah produced some fascinating material on how the original Hebrew language may well have come about in what can only be described as miraculous events, but it also hints at how all language is, in effect, God-given, so when we use such a valuable gift to malign and seek to exterminate the truth regarding its giver, we are engaged in something dreadfully sinister.

Recently, Professor John Lennox presented a fascinating talk in which he sought to examine recent social and technological trends in the world, and the nightmarish ramifications of these for our culture and particularly in respect to our understanding of God. At the core of this Babel-like slide into a religious secularism is our growing use of Algorithmic codes that can easily and selectively reject and phase out undesirable world views and beliefs. This has been witnessed in measure in events like those experienced by Jordan Peterson in Canada in the last few years (in respect to legal changes and practice in educational facilities) or the current tightening social controls in China via the ever-present use of technology to monitor and define right social behavior, but this may well be just the start. It is reported that technology that can effectively read your neurons and determine your thoughts, turning these into speech, may not be very far away. Image the consequences if this manner of 'control' becomes widespread.

What is telling is that behind much of this is not an absence of religion, but a re-directing of our religious propensities into a secular pluralism that requires unwavering adherence and total commitment by the community. It is a breed of political and social monopoly that is worryingly akin to the manner of pervasive, diabolical structure described in the final book of Lewis' Cosmic Trilogy, That Hideous Strength. What is clear is how 'arranging' language is at the very heart of this.

There is a scene in the movie The Book Thief where Max, a Jew hiding from the Nazis, tells Liesel about the almost magical power of words by writing something for her in Hebrew, echoing the essence of what John writes about Jesus as the Word in John 1. We are living in a time where that very essential truth is being perverted and re-used as 'code' to undermine the essential nature of truth. It is isn't a case of our times being unaware of God's spoken riches. It's simply a case of we want to hold from Him the right to speak - for Him to remain silent as we seek to prove Him guilty.

It is folly, and it is deadly.

There are numerous ways we can harm and murder each other, but when we inhabit a world where this particular crime is deemed proper to benefit us all, we are working to do violence against God and the value of His amazing handiwork, and the retribution of His beloved will draw near.
The truth will slay us, either for good or for our ill, but it will not long remain silent.

Let us hope and pray that such a crime does not become what defines our present age, but that the precious gift of the Word made flesh, of God with us, speaking to us, becomes vital once again.