Giessel.org

I've been seeing this more and more, and its been bugging me, but these two in the same weekend has brought it to the point where I'm ready to rant.

By the way, if you haven't seen either of the subject items and don't want spoilers, go away now.

One of the things that I've seen more and more is the premise that humans are basically good, but get corrupted by the civilization they create. One of the places this was evident was in the Battlestar series finale. Humans once again "started over", just the clothes on their back and a few supplies. The idea was that humanity was worth saving but their culture, their history, their civilization was not. In Knowing, the angel aliens or whatever they were saved a few of the children, but no sign of saving adults, presumably to save those who were uncorrupted. It seemed to me that like in Battlestar, although not stated quite a blatantly, the idea was to save humanity, but not human culture, history, or civilization.

The truth on the other hand, is exactly the opposite.

Romans 3 (KJV):

9What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;

10As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:

11There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.

12They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

13Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:

14Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:

15Their feet are swift to shed blood:

16Destruction and misery are in their ways:

17And the way of peace have they not known:

18There is no fear of God before their eyes.

19Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.

20Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

Romans 5:

12Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

13(For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.

Paul makes it clear that through the law, we can know our sin and therefore know that we need a savior. Without the law there is no knowledge of sin. Sin is still present, but we do not know how offensive we are to God. So, by leaving behind the history and law of our civilization (which is still at its core based on the morality given by God), we would be giving up the only stabilizing influence to the lusts of the flesh (Romans 1:28-32). Rather than having a chance at a Utopian society as portrayed, the Bible makes it quite clear that the exact opposite would occur. This elevation of the goodness of man and the de-elevation of the importance of our true history and the law really rubs me the wrong way. While I enjoyed Battlestar as it had much to like (the entire show highlighted the depravity of man over and over, it annoyed me that they made an attempt to deny the depravity of man in the finale, although one could argue that they showed that their attempt to deny the depravity of man was unsuccessful based on the results of their experiment), I couldn't find anything redeeming in Knowing and in the end did not enjoy it.

Enough said.