Week Eight
The Abolition of Man:
Chapter Three – The Abolition of Man
In a vacuum the view of the future, can give a sense of hopelessness, until one remembers, day in day out, in the objective reality of Christ Jesus, there is no such thing as hopelessness. For, no matter what men do or do not do, whatever is accomplished or not accomplished in this world, on this planet, or any other, for that matter these three remain, “Faith, Hope, and Love.”
In this third and final chapter Lewis writes about “Man’s Conquest of Nature” through science and technology. His question is, “…is man the possessor of increasing power over nature?”
(Take a minute to define that for yourself.)
Then Lewis looks at three specific examples of man’s technical progress: travel, communications, and medicine. For travel he chooses the airplane, for communication, the wireless, (radio), and for medicine he chooses contraceptives. He points out, “Any or all of the three things… can be withheld from some men by other men – by those who sell, or those who allow the sale, or those who own the sources of production, or those who make the goods. What we call Man’s power is, in reality, a power possessed by some men which they may or may not allow other men to profit by.”
Current scientists are pretty good at creating global hysteria and feelings of fear and worry about catastrophic disasters and mass extermination through unavoidable natural events. They scan the skies for the terminal asteroid that the Bible calls “Wormwood.” They lay the ground with instruments to measure the movement of the earth, concerned about earthquakes (San Andreas Fault line) and the possibility of a super volcanic eruption such as Yellowstone or Mt. St. Helens. They propose and plan interplanetary travel and colonization for fear that the earth will not be capable for long of sustaining its human population, or its feared climate catastrophes. Truth is they know what we know – a simple shift in the earth’s magnetosphere could realistically destroy our planet, just as it did Mars, (which by the way is one of their planets of choice for future colonization). Biologically, science worries about the possibility of pandemic pathogens that could wipe out the entire human population if not prevented by scientific breakthrough. The fact is that Man’s Conquest of Nature is an absolute (but accomplished) myth – a wayward religion known simply as Scientism. Here is a “fun fact” about “Nature.” At any given moment, nature could completely annihilate the entire planet in any number of ways. Science must worry about such things because they have no Creator God (hope) to sustain them in His mercy. They must rely on human endeavor, on science, on Progress, but Progress, like any other human endeavor, comes at a cost. “For every action there is an equal and, opposite reaction.”
Remember the song, “One Thing Leads to Another,” by The Fixx, it is interesting in that it expresses the reality of human life. For every advance, for every security, every convenience, every comfort, there is a price to be paid, another scar on our planet, a certain loss of individual freedom, the enslavement of the body, mind, and soul. Lewis put it this way: “Man’s Conquest of Nature, if the dreams of some scientific planners are realized, means the rule of a few hundreds of men over billions upon billions of men. There neither is nor can be any simple increase of power on Man’s side. Each new power won by man is a power over man as well. Each advance leaves him weaker as well as stronger. In every victory, besides being the general who triumphs, he is also the prisoner who follows along behind the triumphal car.”
The truth is that Man’s Conquest of Nature is really man’s sinful need to be his own god and that sinful need is the result of Satan’s express desire to rule in God’s place, he who declared “I will ascend into Heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God.” “…I will be like the Most High,” has condemned the sons of Adam to follow along with him and, unless we choose, individually, to do otherwise, we are cursed to move forward alone, without God’s mercy, into an uncertain future. A planet spinning out of control in a universe who’s Nature is to bring all life to extinction. This is even more true if indeed man’s new religion is “secular science” (anti-Christ) because the priests and acolytes of that temple of Satan are aggressively determined to dominate the earth with their godless ways and doctrines. You and I are compelled in every way and in everything (as Bob Dylan said so powerfully) to serve somebody, to serve one or the other. “It may be the Devil or it may be the Lord, but you’re gonna sever somebody.”
Conclusion,
Just seventy three years since C.S. Lewis penned this warning to mankind, the intent of The Green Book has been more than successfully fulfilled. The destruction that it promised, that Lewis warned us about, can be seen everywhere around us, in every corner of the globe. Soon, the Puppet Master will make himself known and man’s fate upon the earth, his doom will be sealed. But I encourage you, “Now is the time of God’s favor, today is the day of salvation.” So, “Choose this day whom you will serve …as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
