In Conclusion....

I found the article “Conclusion: Two Futures: A.F. 632 and 1984” to be very interesting. The comparisons and similarities to Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World and George Orwell’s 1984 helped me better understand the respective societies of the two dystopias.

Some of the key points in A.C. Ward’s article concern the efficiency and stability of the societies represented in the two novels. Ward claims that Huxley’s society is both more efficient (“The political system envisioned by 1984 is simply not efficient, and, all other things being equal, efficiency leads to stability as inefficiency leads away from it.”) and stable (“The lust for power can be equally well satisfied by inflicting a humiliating pleasure rather than a humiliating pain; and the power of pleasure has the advantage of being more stabilizing.”) than the society presented in Orwell’s book.

I agree whole-heartedly with Ward’s assertion. Orwell’s society is incredibly inefficient on many levels. The most obvious inefficiency is cost; telescreens would cost millions to both research and produce, and to keep them running - and pay people to monitor and run them - would be incredibly costly as well. The cost to brainwash an entire society would be astronomical. Additionally, the impossibility of brainwashing our society is quite possible. Our society is too educated, too large, and too intelligent for such brainwashing to occur without incredible protest. Such an undertaking would be drastically inefficient, and would cause so much instability that an attempt would be promptly stifled.

As it is, our society is already strikingly similar to Huxley’s dystopia. Pleasure is the focus of Huxley’s dystopia, and it is also the focus of many American lives, with amusement parks, casinos, restaurants of every kind, and prostitutes readily available. All the American government has to do is loosen the reigns on our society a little more (in terms of sexual conduct specifically) and deny the existence of God. This could be easily done through internet protocols through TV programming, and through public education.

One of the most powerful quotes in the entire article states:

“In both cases, man must be intoxicated. For Orwell, the most potent intoxicant is power; for Huxley – at least at the time he wrote Brave New World – it is sex. But for Orwell, as for Huxley, only a state that takes the ultimate intoxicant into prime consideration can achieve stability. The choice of power leads to a stability based on repression; the choice of sex, to a stability based on license. The final aim is the same; only the means are different.”

This quote was extremely powerful to me, because thoughts of this nature had gone through my head as I was reading both of these novels. Both novels share the same cornerstone: repression of human rights. When Ward brought up the subject of plagiarism with regard to the authors of these novels, I thought, “Who cares?” Either way you go about it, a dystopia will end up repressing basic human rights. Even though similarities abound in these novels, the final aim is achieved through different means. The end is always the same in a dystopia; the means to the end is where the contrasts abound. These contrasts are irrelevant in the big picture; eventually all that will be left is a few people basking in infinite power as the rest of the society lives in complete ignorance to the truth.

Though these dystopias are frightening and difficult to read at times, their purpose is quite profound: to “help to prevent something from happening.” If we take anything away from these books, I hope that we at least grasp that concept – for the reality of a dystopia could be on our very doorstep.

Christianity

Christianity has always been a part of my life. I was born and raised in a Christian family and I’ve attended church for as long as I can remember. Yes, Christianity was something that was fostered and encouraged throughout my childhood, but there are many “merits” of this faith that convinced me on my own personal level to commit myself to this worldview and lifestyle.

I could probably write a twenty page paper on my Christian faith. However, for time concerns, I will attempt to be concise.

I am a Christian first and foremost because of Christ. The word “Christian”, when broken into its Latin roots, translates to “Christ-like.” Jesus Christ is God’s Son who saves all of us from our sins. Ever since Adam’s fateful disobedience to God thousands of years ago, the earth and all within it have been cursed by sin. This sin, which is inherent in all human beings as a result of Adam’s sin, separates us from God and condemns all of us to hell.

However, this is where Jesus comes in. God loves us, and He sent His son to save us from His own wrath that was our due because of our sins. He came down to the earth, was crucified, and bore the penalty of every sin that you and I have committed. Through this amazing act of love, each of us is forgiven of our sins and can have eternal life in heaven when we die. After three days in the grave, God raised Him from the dead, and shortly thereafter, Jesus ascended into heaven.

A Christian is someone who believes this story, and, out of love, adoration, and thankfulness, tries to be more like Christ (hence the word: “Christian”) and heeds His teachings. I am a Christian because of Jesus’ sacrifice for me. He has forgiven me and given me eternal life. Because of this fact, I can live right now as a young man with hope, peace, and joy, because I know that this life is temporary and my eternal destination is secure. Jesus gives me something to look forward to when things in this life seem grim. I have a purpose in life: to worship the one who saved me from eternal damnation. On top of that, I can have a personal relationship with God; the one who created the heavens and the earth and all within them. For these reasons and many others, I am a Christian.

Many of you may not buy into this whole Christianity idea. In most of my experiences, it is not the merits of Christianity that are questioned, but rather the fundamentals of Christianity itself. It may seem just too strange and too intangible. You may ask: “Prove God exists,” or “Prove the Bible is true.” I can answer both of these questions with questions: “Prove you’re not going to blink in the next twenty seconds. Prove you won’t stop breathing at this instant. Prove you won’t die in the next year.” Do you get the idea? There are a lot of things in life that require us to rely on faith. You have faith that you won’t die in the next year and that you will continue to breathe as you read this blog. The accuracy of the Bible and the existence of God are no exception.

Nevertheless, there is astounding evidence for the accuracy of the Bible. Various historical documents from ancient times recount the same events that are written in the Bible. Archeological expeditions have revealed exquisite accuracy in the documentation of events and geographic locations that are mentioned in the Bible. The accuracy of the Bible is indisputable for these reasons (among others of course).

The astounding fact is that the Bible was written in a period of time that spanned over thousands of years by kings, physicians, tax collectors, farmers, fisherman, singers, and shepherds. Yet, the marvel is that the Bible is cohesive, and it all points to the same person: Jesus Christ. Such a book could not have been written without divine intervention; the Bible proves the existence of God.

God’s existence can be shown in many other ways. The natural world screams of a creator. The complexity of a cell, the intricacy of our DNA, and the earth, stars, galaxies, and beyond are much too incredible to have been created merely by chance. There are thousands upon thousands of variables that would need to be perfectly balanced with each other if life were to occur with a big bang and through evolution. The theoretical probability was calculated by some scientists, and the probability was smaller than 1/googleplex, which is essentially zero. This proves that we could not have been created merely by chance; God most certainly exists.

As I conclude, I want to ask you a question: “Where are you going when you die? Heaven or Hell?” We all have the ability to make decisions in this life, and our decisions will determine the answer to this question. Will you acknowledge your sinful life, ask Jesus for forgiveness of your sins, and give your life to Him? Or, will you continue to live as you always have? Think about it.