September 11th 2001 and False Gospels
Lee Gatiss
For the last couple of months (this article was originally written in November 2001) the world has been reflecting on the devastating events of 11th September in New York and Washington. The varied responses from around the world, and the competing plans to solve the present crisis have been quite revealing. They show us the world’s agenda for change, the modern diagnosis of our greatest problems and a “gospel” – a plan to sort it all out.
According to a report from the Press Association, for example, the Beatles' guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi is hoping to use transcendental meditation for world peace. The Indian mystic says all he needs are some "American billionaires" to build his antidote to global terrorism. He is summoning 40,000 yogis in India, trained in meditation and yogic flying to create a spiritual force field. In his first public statement for seven years, he said the "peace-loving billionaires" would donate $1 billion to build housing for the group and pay their expenses while they meditate for harmony and world peace.
It is reported that he said: "Today, I'm challenging America. If I had the support of money, I have all that is needed to ... completely stop all this violence." The Yogi apparently believes that if enough people gather to meditate and 'fly' - hopping in a seated, lotus position - they will create a force field that can repel hatred and spread happiness in the world's collective consciousness. His solution, his “gospel” is money and yogic flying.
It is easy for us to laugh at such a preposterous idea. It is harder to laugh, in Britain anyway, at Tony Blair’s “grand scheme” for sorting out the world. Here are a few extracts from Tony Blair’s speech to the Labour Party Conference on 2nd October 2001, just weeks after the terrorists struck:
“There is a coming together. The power of community is asserting itself… We can't do it all. Neither can the Americans. But the power of the international community could, together, if it chose to… The state of Africa is a scar on the conscience of the world. But if the world as a community focused on it, we could heal it… What is the answer to the current crisis? Not isolationism but the world coming together with America as a community… What is the answer to Britain's future? Not each person for themselves, but working together as a community...”
“Today,” the Prime Minister said, “humankind has the science and technology to destroy itself or to provide prosperity to all. Yet science can't make that choice for us. Only the moral power of a world acting as a community, can.” (I have added the italics for emphasis).
So what is Tony Blair’s “gospel”? Not money and yogic flying, but “community action”, and a judicious application of “technology.” This (apparently) is what will sort out the world’s problems. It is the same gospel as preached in the TV series Star Trek – technology is the answer to all our problems, if only we work together.
Unfortunately, such a solution can only work in a science fiction universe. When it comes to the brute facts of our present reality, we cannot be so confident that a little more education, a little more technology, and little more community spirit will be enough to overcome all our ills. For there is a poison at work within humanity itself, a ”virus” more deadly than anthrax which has eaten away at the morality and decision-making capabilities of every one of us. The Bible calls it “sin.”
Sin is rebellion against God and his governance of the world. By its very nature, it scuppers all our attempts to “work together as a community” in a perfect way, because it introduces self-interest, suspicion, fear, greed, and a host of other contaminating ingredients into our plans and actions. Not only that, but sin is actually part of our real problem – not terrorism, or poverty, or political instability, or lack of education. Technology, however advanced it may become, cannot touch sin, and no weapon of war can be “smart” enough to destroy it.
Some hailed Tony Blair’s speech as a “utopian vision of the future”. It is worth remembering that when Sir Thomas More invented the name “utopia” for his version of the perfect world, he did it with a grand sense of irony. Sir Thomas knew about sin: ‘Utopia’ is ancient Greek for ‘No Place’! A world where there is (to quote the Gospel according to Blair) “hope amongst all nations of a new beginning where we seek to resolve differences in a calm and ordered way” simply cannot exist while sin is still rampant. It is a ‘No Place.’
So is there no hope at all? “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” (1 Peter 1:3). Yes, there is hope for a violent, confused, and messed-up world. The politicians claim that “It was the events of 11 September that marked a turning point in history, where we confront the dangers of the future and assess the choices facing humankind.” But they have got the date wrong.
The turning point for the world happened 2000 years ago, when the Son of God died on a cross for our sins, and rose again as the firstfruits of the new creation. It was then that the world acted together as a community – to crucify the Lord of Glory himself! It was then that the world changed forever, not on September 11th 2001. The cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ dealt once and for all with our greatest problem: sin, and the judgment it inevitably incurs from a just God. The choice facing humankind in the wake of those truly earth-shattering events is huge: will our rebellion against God continue, or will we bow in submission to King Jesus and so enter his perfect new world?
This is a manifesto for radical change, a vision of the future to inspire hope, and a realistic assessment of our true world crisis. Let’s not be fooled by false gospels, but embrace the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ.
