The Christian and Culture: Christians in Babel – the Culture of Babel

We now come to the question of how best to describe the development of scientific and technological culture. If Christians can understand this culture fully, they will be better prepared to consider their own responsible involvement in it.

We are faced with many problems and dangers, including the possibility of a global nuclear war. It is becoming increasingly clear that, whether due to a nuclear war or an accident, a global catastrophe is not at all impossible.

We will need to subject this possibility to the Word of God. We face the greatest and most pressing problems of life and death on a global scale. This is a “sign of the times.” How can we perceive this sign? And how will we respond?

Perhaps Christians need to realize that they are facing an apocalypse. Perhaps they still underestimate the potential for destruction, especially from a nuclear war. The consequences of such a war would be almost indescribable. And if any future generations survive, they will suffer greatly as well.

What kind of culture can tolerate this threat?

What should be the Christian's attitude toward this? This culture can be called the culture of Babel. The Christian's responsibility in such a culture cannot be denied.

He needs to appeal for a return to cultural life before God (coram Deo), to responsible cultural development.

At the same time, the Christian must evaluate his days according to prophecy; he must remind people that unspeakable disaster will take place unless there is repentance.

Christians need to proclaim that political solutions cannot alter the current course of modern culture. They affirm that beneath the cultural stagnation of the moment lies man's radical religious choice.

Christians must assess the spirit of today's culture on the basis of God's Word, and on that basis they must seek normative political responses to current problems.

Prophetic assessment and cultural analysis—the task to which the church has been called—will enable Christians, including those active in politics, to exert influence on major developments in culture.

What does the expression “culture of Babel” mean?

The reason for Babel is the stubborn ambition and fall of man into sin, which has often been felt from that time onwards. This reason has reached unprecedented prominence today for two reasons:

First, we now live in a secularized culture that no longer cares about God and His commandments. Second, secularized culture has at its disposal enormous scientific and technological power. Let’s look at the combination more closely.

Let us note that the motif of Babel manifests itself in an integral and global way in our current culture. It continues to drive science and technology.

Economics and politics into a single massive entity—these sectors build on each other’s strength to move together toward the absence of God.

Wasn't this culture described in Revelation 13?

The prophecy states that the beast of political power will increase its strength near the end of time through the mobilization of the beast of the earth. Could it not be the beast of the powers of science and technology?

Thus, science and technology, now at the service of politics, will present deceptive powers, signs and miracles (2 Thess 2.10).

Within this culture, material prosperity will be interpreted and even worshiped as progress. Humanity will deliberately choose the things of earth over the things of heaven.

Development will become unprecedented overdevelopment in science, technology and economy, and overdevelopment will become exploitation.

What was called progress will now be called regression, a type of retrograde development. The appearance of material prosperity and well-being of materialism are real and deceptive threats.

Environmental catastrophes, the depletion of natural resources and energy sources, the gradual alienation of people, and the growing gap between rich and poor nations show that the mighty culture of Babel is threatened by internal impotence and decay.

Once again, the prophetic truth of Revelation 18 is seen

Verses 11 through 14 make it clear that the disappearance of the culture of Babel will coincide with the end of the mineral, plant, and animal kingdoms, as well as the end of the human world. Man's single-minded ambition has set culture on the path to doom.

This path leads to the human kingdom. However, because man is incapable of ruling justly, it too will lead to destruction and death.

As mentioned before, the motivation for Babel comes from the human desire to recover the lost paradise through their own strength. Men try to leave their legacy on earth, and create eternal rest and the conditions for their utopia.

Cain and Nimrod were prototypes of these men. The Babel motif is repeated several times in Scripture: Sodom and Gomorrah, Egypt, Babylon, and Nineveh all demonstrated the signs of this culture.

The Bible often prophesies against these forms of single-minded ambition. The text of Revelation 11 shows us that even Jerusalem, God’s chosen city, could become a form of Babel.

This should tell us something: precisely in Western and post-Christian culture, man's stubborn ambition has been given wide freedom, inspired by the powers of science and technology.

Much could be said about the history of this development

But it is even more important to see what the Bible says about the religious direction of the Babel culture. I am reminded of 2 Thessalonians 2:1-21 and 2 Timothy 3:1-9. If these passages are read in the context of Romans 1:16-32, the religious direction becomes clearer.

Romans 1 shows us what happens to the pagan and their culture, and reveals to us the religious direction and commitment of non-believers.

The texts of 2 Timothy 3 and 2 Thessalonians 2 describe the religious direction of the neopagan, secularized, self-interested man and the cultural impact in this regard. Romans 1 is parallel to 2 Thessalonians 2 and 2 Timothy 3.

Looking at modern, post-Christian and even anti-Christian culture, it can be said that its evils and disasters arose precisely because of the potential offered by science and technology.

The modern forces of science and technology are very threatening, and for that reason demonic.

The Bible shows us why they are demonic: today's culture not only rejects God's revelation as seen by the works of His hands, as occurred in the pagan culture described in Romans 1, but it also rejects the revelation of Christ.

Just as the rejection of creation as revelation brought disastrous consequences for the pagan world, so the present rejection of creation and the incarnate Word has caused the multiplication of evil.

The intensification of evil is made possible by the formless forces of science and technology

Why? “For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen!” (Rom 1:25; cf. 2 Thess 2:10,11).

In light of this prophetic word we see why our culture can be called the Babel culture of the end times. It combines sin, apostasy, idolatry, and lawlessness with science and technology.

Therefore, we can deal with the dangers inherent in the lawless forces of science and technology, and with the destructive corruption of life and society. The culture of Babel is always one of confusion.

Observers only of the lawlessness of life and society, ignoring the lawlessness of science and technology, will not recognize the deep spiritual force that unites the spiritual disintegration of our times.

But those who take note of the deep spiritual unity, observing also the revelation of divine wrath against all apostasy and lawlessness, will know that God gave man over to decay and blindness (Rom. 1:18, 28; 2 Tim. 3:9).

Through the culture of Babel, man tries to erect a counter-creation

Their efforts shine like gold, and science and technology promise an escape from divine judgment. However, appearances can be deceiving. As a countercreation, Babel carries the seeds of its own destruction, and will effect its own judgment and death.

In the field of forces of science, technology, economics and politics, nuclear weapons appear. Defense policy can only be understood in the context of the forces of science, technology and economic interests.

When we look at the whole context, we begin to see that world events are drawing man into a vortex of evil and death.

Who can escape the thought of nuclear war? Demonic powers would then be revealed in all their strength (Eph. 6:12); humanity would have to face the consequences of the law of sin and death (Rom. 8:2).