Amazing Accomplishments; Unintended Consequences

We have unleashed the power of the atom, caged the mighty Mississippi and built towers that reach into the clouds. Humanity has an incredible ability to create, engineer and work to solve problems. But do impatience and pride get in the way of seeing the unintended consequences?

When the ingenuity of man meets the forces of nature, watch out!

We’ve sent men to the moon and to the depths of the ocean. We’ve turned deserts into farmland. We’ve created cities of unimaginable scale, yet found ways to deal with the mountains of garbage and rivers of sewage they produce.

And when rivers’ regular rampages threaten our progress, we build massive flood-control projects to turn floodplains into cities and farms.

Mastering the Mississippi?

In the midst of another year of epic flooding along the Mississippi, which drains 41 percent of the continental United States, Time magazine published an article titled “Who Controls the Mighty River?” (Michael Grunwald, May 23, 2011, edition, pp. 24-29). The article gives a history of the destructive floods and the audacious efforts of the Army Corps of Engineers to tame this massive river system. And those hundreds of miles of levees have been amazingly effective over the years.

“But their effectiveness has had perverse consequences, reducing the small levee failures in rural areas that once served as involuntary relief valves for the river in flood. Bigger and better levees have also attracted more intense agriculture and development in the floodplains behind them, so there’s much more in harm’s way. And the conversion of wetlands and prairies into tile-drained farms and asphalt exurbia has increased and accelerated the runoff pouring into the river and its tributaries, diverting even more water into the [Mississippi]” (p. 27).

Mark Twain, that bard of the Mississippi, wouldn’t have been surprised by this irony. He was always skeptical of man’s ability to tame the river. “The Mississippi River will always have its own way,” he believed. “No engineering skill can persuade it to do otherwise.”

But now, with the tiger by the tail, what can we do but continue to shore up the flood-control infrastructure we invested so much in?

Fail-safe?

This is just one example of humanity’s belief in our own ingenuity and wisdom. Throughout history, we have always accepted that if we can do something—even if it stretches to the limits of our knowledge and past our foresight—we should.

We found out how to split the atom and learned to use it to make bombs and electricity. But even if all the fail-safe practices are used flawlessly, do they really protect against a black swan tsunami or a determined terrorist? When the radiation can poison an area for centuries, do we really know enough to insure the safety of future generations? Yet now, how can we put the nuclear genie back in the bottle?

Skyscrapers are engineering marvels, built to withstand high winds and even earthquakes in some areas. But who knew they would be tempting targets to terrorists?

Towering pride

The race to build ever-taller skyscrapers throughout my lifetime reminds me of a much older story. Consider the human pride of the builders of the Tower of Babel, who said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves” (Genesis 11:4).

The Creator God, who made humanity with this ingenuity and creativity, knew that their pride and greed and impatience were outstripping their wisdom and foresight. He said, “Now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them” (verse 6). In light of the danger, God intervened to slow down human “progress.”

Could it not be said today that “now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them”? The Bible warns that we are rapidly bringing destruction on ourselves.

I am not advocating a neo-Luddite, abandon-all-technology approach. Many of the attempts to protect ourselves from nature have had wonderful benefits in saving lives and improving the quality of life with acceptable side effects and consequences. I’m warning about when our pride and cockiness blinds us to the dangers of our own making.

Taming the heart

Actually, our record in the struggle with nature has been much more successful than our record in dealing with each other. Humanity’s interpersonal problems—from family fights to world wars—are far tougher than any engineering problem. When trying to broker peace between two warring factions, the opportunities for unintended consequences increase exponentially!

Hatred in the human heart is much more difficult to tame than the power of the atom or the mighty Mississippi.

But God does have a plan to bring peace. And in God’s plan there are no unintended consequences. He can turn bad into good, turn adversity into character and turn obstinate human hearts into loving, peaceful servants.

Learn more about God’s plan and the peaceful and prosperous Kingdom of God He will set up in our fascinating new booklets: The Mystery of the Kingdom and Holidays to Holy Days: God’s Plan for You.

Mike Bennett coordinates the Church of God, a Worldwide Association, blogs. Feel free to comment on this or other blogs at www.Facebook.com/cogwa.