Here it is Wednesday [now Friday as I go to publish this], and I am just getting around to reading the Review section of the newspaper, The Australian. I know, you are thinking “You still get a newspaper delivered???”. We get the weekend edition and spend the entire week working our way through it. It’s a comfort thing, I reckon.
In this past weekend edition was an article about the similarities between two novels written early in the 20th century—WE by Yevgeny Zamyatin and 1984 by George Orwell. The point of the article was to suggest that 1984 was quite possibly plagiarized by Orwell from Zamyatin’s book written 25 years prior. If something like this had taken place today, Orwell would have been called to account for the similarities in the two story lines.
I have not read either book in their entirety—I think I fell asleep watching 1984 the movie. I do recognize and have used many of the terms from 1984—“Big Brother is watching”, “thought police”, “doublethink”. These phrases have become a part of our lexicon, never mind the term “Orwellian” to describe all things dystopian. But this claim of plagiarism is not my interest. At this point in history, what purpose does it serve other than to highlight WE and its parallel sense of a world operating counter to the “common” sense of justice and the evils of suffering?
What caught my interest in two books I have not read is the fact that both suggest a direction of sociological belief and desire to live in a world, Oceania, controlled by “Big Brother” or in the case of WE, the Benefactor of the One State. Both authors zeroed in on a human desire to be “governed” by The One. Winston Smith, the protagonist of 1984, comes to the realization that he, in truth, loves Big Brother. Well, you can see where this is headed.
Of course we have an innate desire to be governed (dare we say loved?) by The One! It is in our DNA, so to speak, we are hard wired to desire love, mercy, fellowship, and yes, even discipline from The One we love. We just part ways when it comes to His identity. From my perspective there are just two choices—The One is human or divine. I don’t really see much of an alternative since within all of history, no others have revealed themselves. No sense borrowing trouble with silly notions of extraterrestrials and the like. Let’s just deal with the evidence at hand.
Many people scoff at the notion of theocracy, the notion that a God could govern the world. But as a Christian, isn’t this exactly what we believe? While we may have earthly leaders and governors, they ultimately govern at the behest of the Almighty. “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.” Romans 13:1 Even though God has set people in power for His purposes, He ultimately rules! A blinding statement of the obvious. Or is it? Big Brother and/or The Benefactor? No…Yahweh. He is watching to gather unto Himself those who love Him and accept what He has done for us in Christ. We don’t deserve His love, His mercy, or even His discipline. But thankfully He provides it to those whom He predestined and called. “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28
So this apparent innate desire to have some one to rule over us is legitimate, beneficial, and biblical. The issue is WHO that ONE is…and that makes all the difference.
“Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:14-15
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