This Has All Happened Before...

What is it about the glut of apocalyptic-end-of-the-world and/or zombie shows that all depict a remnant of humanity struggling to survive lately?  I believe that it says something profound about humanity itself.  I believe they are a sub-conscious reaction to just how serious the human plight has become.  Many of them, I've only made it through just a few minutes' worth before turning off because of just how vile and graphic they were.  Accordingly, I will use one that I felt portrayed a rather accurate sense of reality when it comes to the human condition:  A four year remake of the 80's TV show "Battlestar Galactica" which aired in the mid 2000's.

Simply put, the "12 colonies" of humanity are destroyed by a race of conscious "machines" (the Cylons) that they created.   A recurring theme is in the moral depravity of mankind, the futility and lip-service-only of their polytheistic religion, but above all, that in their "Scriptures" there is a passage which states "This has all happened before and it will all happen again."  The interesting twist comes in the "Cylon" religion, which is monotheistic, and eventually leads to a "sort of" expression of God's love for humanity, rather than vengeance.  It would appear that within the show, indeed history has repeated itself many times, with the conclusion coming to 21st century earth, perhaps leaving the viewer with the question:  "What are you going to do to prevent history from repeating itself once more?"  It was Winston Churchill (likely paraphrasing Spanish philosopher Santayana) who said in essence that 'those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it.'

The Book of Ecclesiastes also says something of the sort.  As the teacher ponders the meaning of life and the purpose of humanity, he states "What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun."  (1:9)  It seems that roughly 3000 years ago, he too recognized that indeed:  those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it.  And what was one of the underlying causes of Israel's downfall in the Old Testament?  Moral relativism, which led toward the nation being apathetic toward God.

Recently on a Lutheran online forum, a discussion was begun over an op-ed piece from the New York Times by David Brooks.  In that discussion, the author was criticized by some, and regardless of what you may or may not think of him, his point is spot on:  America needs to reassert a strong sense of morality - before its too late.  It would seem that history is indeed repeating itself once again, and if we have failed to learn anything from it, we are about to repeat it.  In other words, as the moral fabric of this country crumbles (and granted it has needed several "correctives" already in its history), the country itself crumbles as well.

In the end, the message of the remade "Battlestar Galactica" is a critical one for us:  history is about to repeat itself once again, and are we doomed to let it do so?  Or are we going to learn from our own past and recapture our moral and spiritual compass of days gone by?   It was the French observer Alexis de Toqueville who famously observed "Upon my arrival in the United States the religious aspect of the country was the first thing that struck my attention; and the longer I stayed there, the more I perceived the great political consequences resulting from this new state of things. In France I had almost always seen the spirit of religion and the spirit of freedom marching in opposite directions. But in America I found they were intimately united and that they reigned in common over the same country."  (Democracy in America, 1831)

We are indeed at a crossroad.  It is equally true that there is nothing new under the sun.  So we will either have another moral and spiritual awakening and renewal, or the world will plunge into a darkness not seen since the middle ages.  Where will we go from here?