That Hideous Strength — Andrew Forrest

Forgive my delay in sending this out today—I forgot to schedule it! [Note from yours truly, 6:30 AM]

Genesis 11:1-9

The Tower of Babel

1 Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. 2 And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.

3 And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.”

5 And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. 6 And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.”

8 So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. 9 Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth.

The Babel story tells of humanity’s desire to save itself through technological innovation. Genesis 1-11 is a descending spiral of humanity’s attempts—and failures—to find life apart from God; Babel is the culmination.

Note that they have the technology before they have a use for it. First, they have bricks, and only then do they decide to make a city and a tower. In other words, the means drive the ends. What a true description of our current struggles with technological innovation—we gain the power, and then we think of ways to use it. Just because we can do something, however, doesn’t mean it’s wise for us to do so.

I predict that the great struggle for humanity in the 21st century will be a struggle over technology: either we will master our technological powers, or be mastered by them. In the Babel story, God stops the builders before they can complete their project. Will God need to save us from ourselves in the same way?

P.S. A gold star to anyone to correctly replies with the original source of my title for today’s post. ⭐️