Are you civilized? Do you feel like the human race is making progress, mostly in the right direction? Are you positive about the future of human civilization? 

Here is a pessimistic, negative opinion about human progress:

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The news can be depressing. Right now there is at least one war in the Middle East, but that’s no surprise. There always seems to be something to fight about in that part of the world.

So, where you live; are things getting better? Is society moving on to better things?

There is a large amount of pessimism in most places. If we believe in human evolution, we should be progressing to greater and better things.

Even if we make mistakes, in Darwinian thinking, we have a system called the survival of the fittest, which means that we can learn from our mistakes and do better things, next time. The people who can’t keep up, and can’t get it right, will probably become extinct, according to that theory.

I have friends and neighbors who complain and get negative about things that are happening around them. They don’t feel positive about the younger generations, including their own children and grandchildren. They talk about real estate prices, and politics, and sometimes someone mentions COVID. Remember that time with masks, and vaccines, and travel restrictions?

And how do young couples get married, and stay married, and have children in these times?

Let’s skip the details here. We all have conversations about those negative things.

I’m writing as a Christian, and I like to stop and think: There is a God [yes – no], We have hope [yes – no], Things will get better [yes – no]. Etc.

So, let’s move on from the questions and find some answers.

Do you have “feet of clay”? That means do you have a character weakness which could ruin your life? It’s an old expression, from an old Bible story.

Imagine a handsome metal statue, well made and impressive to look at, but the feet are “made of clay mixed with iron.” If the feet give way, the whole statue will fall and it will all be broken, from the head to the feet.

That is God’s picture of us.

The man Daniel, who was lowered into a den of lions, interpreted a dream or a vision from God that was sent to the Emperor Nebuchadnezzar, in ancient Babylon. The feet of a huge and impressive statue were made of iron mixed with clay:

The story is in the Bible book of Daniel and chapter 2, and it is interesting reading.

In that Bible story, we have God’s version of human evolution. Gold … Silver … Bronze … Iron … Clay Mixture. The oldest empires were made of beautiful but soft metals.

As history progressed, the metals became stronger, but less beautiful. Iron is not used in jewellery, the way gold and silver are, but iron makes better weapons and machines.

Daniel’s picture is clear, human societies are becoming more powerful but less beautiful.

In our time, at the end, the clay mixture will be weak and breakable, and the whole history-statue will collapse. 

If you want God’s answer to questions about human progress, there it is.

We are becoming less beautiful but much more powerful. At the end, human corruption (clay) will bring us to the end of history. After that, a power from heaven will destroy our progressive and historical cultures, and save us. 

Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face and paid homage to Daniel, and commanded that an offering and incense be offered up to him. The king answered and said to Daniel, “Truly, your God is God of gods and Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this mystery.” (chapter 2, verses 46 and 47

This picture of human beings and their progress in history, tells us that humans don’t have the integrity to progress to always progress to better things. In the end, we will have great power, but we will also be morally corrupt, and God will send a force from heaven, to stop us. 

Our greatest progress will end in a disaster, and God will take it from there.

This old story tells us about us; power is not progress. We are not getting better, with all of our new inventions.

So, back to the first question: Are you civilized?

We need God to step into the news, and modern history. We need to be better, and that quality comes from God.

This is a great lesson, from an old story that most of us have missed.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and earth had ceased to exist, and the sea existed no more.  I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, made ready like a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying: “Look! The residence of God is among human beings. He will live among them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death will not exist any more, or mourning, or crying, or pain, for the former things have ceased to exist.” (Revelation 21, verses 1 to 4)