Babel Anyone? Eh, No Thanks

Genesis 11:3-9 (KJV)

3-And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar.
4-And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.
5-And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.
6-And the Lord said, Behold the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.
7-Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.
8-So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth; and they left off to build the city.
9-Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

Religious nut job strikes again! I was thinking about Babel recently and what the whole incident was all about. First question, they used slime? How appropriate. Our information on this event is limited. But, from what I gather these people were trying to reach heaven through their own man-made scheme rather than the means that God had laid out for them. They wanted a meritless heaven. God seeing the detriment that the people had placed themselves in had to intervene. He blessed them with chaos, and a chance to start all over again.

Babel may have been the original, but over time their idea has caught on repeatedly, to the detriment of the people. And guess what? It is alive and well today. If you have read my blog before you likely already know what I'm going to say. If you haven't here's the heads up. In addition to quoting Scriptures from time to time, I also use quite a bit of my blog space to discuss Progressivism.

One of the things I think is common between the Babel folks and Progressivism is their perspective on humankind. It's actually a pretty finite perspective, because little thought is given to the power God has in our lives. Instead the focus is on what man can do for itself. They see mankind as imperfect (I agree with that) but that with proper guidance we can be made better (yeah, I agree with that too) and that enlightened intellectually superior humans can control and mold the masses into their Utopia vision (I totally agree with... oh wait, what?) That kind of thinking comes from a prideful reliance on man's own wisdom, a wisdom which historically repeatedly is flawed and can lead to well, chaos. Mankind is capable of great things. But, without a humble acknowledgment of not just some human frailty but the absolute necessity for Our Creator, we are left building structures that could fall given the slightest provocation.

Here's the thing, this Babel, Progressive finite perspective looks to change a society through man-made means. But, what really changes things is when we individually humble ourselves and open our hearts, minds and wills to letting Christ change us from the inside out. Blessed with that miracle of redemption, people can then go forward and help others do likewise through service, unconditional love and other Gospel principles.

So, do we let fallible man dictate what change we ought to embark on, or do we heed the instructions of our loving God.

To underscore these different perspectives I'd like to use a pairing that a recent newsmaker (unless of course you only rely on the MSM), and Obama administration official Anita Dunn used. Though where she viewed them as equally admirable I view them as polar opposites, Mao Tse Tung and Mother Teresa.

So, let's start with Mao. It's clear to me that he believed himself to be an enlightened individual capable of making his people into a perfect society. How did he go about this great change? Force, tyranny, mass murder (upwards of 70 million). It's nearly unfathomable the damage this one evil man perpetuated. The world, or his spot on it, was his for the moment and he played it for all he could. The moment was finite, though the damage far reaching.

Mother Teresa, a truly noble and great spirit, viewed things with an eternal and infinite perspective. She knew we have a Creator. She knew He has a plan for us, which includes the possibility for a real Heaven. She humbly submitted herself to a perfect and loving God. She thus allowed herself to be sanctified by Our Lord to be an instrument in His hands in helping His children. Her work brought others to God so they too could taste of His goodness. Again, Christ changes us from the inside out, rather than the tyrannical heavy hand of "enlightened" man which tries to force us. Having God in our life does not mean there will be an absence of trial. Rather, it means that trials can be sanctified for our welfare. They can be instruments of change. It's very humbling and very real.

So, am I comparing Progressives to Mao? I certainly think they have similar perspectives, though some different means. Are Progressives trying to establish a Utopia? Are they trying to build another Babel? Well, yeah I think they are, brick by slimy brick.

What then are some of their building blocks? One of the slimiest pieces of bricks has got to be eugenics. I've written on this topic before. But, it is basically the belief that a perfect society can be bred. Sound familiar? Well, understand that historically that kind of thinking (though more and heinously carried out on other continents) actually had roots in early 20th century American Progressives. Ideas of birth control and even forced sterilization started with people like Margaret Sanger. Wait, her name sounds familiar. Oh yeah she's the one Planned Parenthood is so fond of. Abortion follows along that same thinking. I've outlined before some of the target populations. Needless to say people are dying for the "enlightened" eugenics cause, really little people.

Another brick is the "Great Society" introduced by President Johnson, and his war on poverty. Since his presidency spending on welfare programs have increased by 400%. The poverty rate in the late 1960's? 13%. The poverty rate today? 13%. Thanks LBJ! You cost this country a whole lot of money, now we get to pass on an indecently immoral amount of debt to future generations. And what gets built in return, a whole lot of good people who feel dependent on their government for survival. What a crime, it's like slavery.

There are others. But, I want to move on and look at what we then need to do. Remember God's response to Babel came when the people had finally gone too far. Perhaps we can intervene prior to that. Perhaps we can adopt the perspective of Mother Teresa. We could also adopt the perspective of our Founding Fathers. They did not just think about their own moment in time and their own spot on the planet. They thought of future generations and what form of government would best protect freedom. They thought of you and I. We need to be thinking of future generations also. That may, scratch that, it WILL require sacrifice. Entitlements must be siphoned away. Current laws would need to be challenged. But, first and foremost we need to return to God. We need to walk in His ways. The government too often tries to act like our parent, they are not. In fact it’s more like we are its parents and need to be watching over it. But, God is our Father. We need to follow the guidance He has already laid out for us. He wants so much to bless us. We need to put ourselves in the position to receive those blessings.

Life is not about building our own Utopia, its about letting God build us up to be what He knows each of us can be. As fun as learning another language can be, I say let’s put a stop to this flimsy tower and let God build us up instead.