Dear church,

Censorship seems to be a big topic these days. Voices emerge and are unliked by those who control the levers of the media. And those unliked voices are silenced. They are swept away. 

And one side cries out, “This is not fair!” 

The other side only shrugs. They say it is important to silence these unliked voices because these voices are offensive to the people who matter the most and these voices speak against the national and global narrative that matters the most. These voices, in short, are dangerous. 

A great human project is underway. Millions of people are coming together to work this project, to build a better world, a more loving world, a more tolerant world, a safer and more sanitary world, a world with fewer risks, a world that is more equitable, a world that leaves no one behind, a world devoid of the need to work, a world devoid of gender differences, a world where everyone sees things the same way. 

You get the picture. And, frankly, some voices are just standing in the way of that. And those voices must be silenced. 

So we are told.

And we can see the efforts by humanity as it tries, in fits and starts, to build the Tower of Babel all over again. 

But not everyone, it seems, is interested in the construction project. And the architects of the tower are furious about that. “Can’t you see how great it’s going to be?!”

And so those who don’t care for the project are silenced. And those who might have the world embark on some other, alternative project are silenced as well. And we can see God’s wisdom in confusing our languages and creating new cultures. If somehow everyone launched into the work of the tower, the sin would be overwhelming. 

We know we are to love God and love our neighbors. We cannot have the second without the first. Without the proper love of God, we embark on human pursuits as we try to love our neighbors. We build towers for the “love” of humanity. Usually, it turns out not to be love at all. It typically is only a project of power and greed. Something like communism comes to mind.

And so God scattered us. He confused our languages. He gave us our cultures. 

Now what? The work of tower-building will continue, haltingly, of course. Sinful humanity can’t help itself,

But God has provided a Deliverer. It’s not through human effort or ingenuity we are saved from all of this. It’s not by a great “tower” project of human strength, where all of humanity gets together and wills its way to freedom.

No, we are delivered by a single, humble child born in a nowhere place. There is one family, one nation, through which the whole world is delivered, even in their different languages and their different cultures. 

So we can quit building the tower.

Chris