Utopia's Problem

"For there is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin."

Ecclesiastes 7:20

History is littered with examples of well-intentioned people who believed they could create utopia, a sort of "heaven on earth."  I find the definition of "utopian" in Webster's 1828 edition to be most revealing:  "ideal; chimerical, fanciful; not well founded."  There is no possible way to usher in utopia through force.  Governments and religious groups who have attempted this have only ended in death and disaster.  Utopia cannot be obtained through any human means, for all humans are flawed and fail.  Even when we obtain the thing our heart desires, we become dissatisfied.  King Solomon personally understood this fact:  Ecclesiastes 5:10 reads, "He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver; nor he who loves abundance, with increase. This also is vanity."

Education is not the answer for our ills.  If they were honest, most or all of university graduates will admit they cheated at some point in their lives.  Doctors, lawyers, and politicians are convicted of crimes motivated by greed and jealousy, just like the members of a drug cartel.  Poverty is not the problem either.  Give a man money and it does not solve the poverty of his soul.  The old saying rings true for horses and men alike:  lead them to water, but you can't make them drink.  If we can't agree on eating the same thing for lunch, what would compel a man to believe he can create a civilization built entirely upon unity, peace, and love?  Man does not possess these qualities naturally, nor are they cultivated over time through effort.  Grouchy old men grow into grouchier older men.

But man himself is not utopia's chief problem.  The unconquerable opposition of the utopian dream is that God is excluded in man's plans.  Utopia does not take the spiritual realm into account.  Man is deceived to believe he can transform the hearts of men from wicked to righteous by external means.  Even Christians know well that even when our souls are born again through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, we still must contend with the flesh, Satan, and temptations of the world!  God has brought peace to the world through Jesus Christ.  When He was born, angels sang out to shepherds and to all who would hear believing:  "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill towards men."

If anyone could have brought peace on the world, it would have been Jesus.  But He spoke in Luke 12:51, "Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division."  The world is sold under sin, so peace can never be made on this earth in the current state:  there is not a just man on earth who does not sin.  To say peace and sin can cohabit would be like suggesting a wild Bengal tiger could live together peacefully with a young goat in a cage for their whole lives.  At some point, instinct would simply take over and the tiger would kill.  Sin is like that tiger, having ravaged the world and twisted the minds and souls of every man.  It is only a matter of time before that tiger does damage on those who would tame it.  There can be no peace until the world is cleansed of Satan and his demons.  There can be no peace until the world is wholly reconciled to God through repentance and faith.  There can be no peace until there has been divine justice.  There will be no peace until Jesus Himself returns in power, subdues the nations under His feet, and establishes His eternal rule.  Being righteous, holy, and just, Jesus does not act out of the vain, greedy, selfish ambitions that often fuel men.

The longing for utopia is actually a longing for Christ.  In Christ we find all the qualities that make us believe utopia is even possible.  There is no love, life, truth, peace, or unity apart from Him!  Utopia is not well-founded because it makes man's goodness the foundation.  Those who hear the words of Christ and do them He likens to a man who builds his house upon the strong foundation of bedrock.  He is the One we should build our lives upon because storms will come, not upon the fantasies of fools who say in their hearts, "There is no God."