China - Wow!

I watched most of the opening ceremonies at the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing last night. Did you? Wow! What a display of technology, pomp, and human achievement! Is there anything that Mankind cannot do? It seems as though only a lack of monetary resources can prevent us from doing anything that we want. One wonders what form the 21st century Tower of Babel will soon take.

Two thoughts immediately came to my mind last night. The first was the thought of just how the world is constantly being inoculated against the reality of evil in our collective society. How many more proclamations of peace and human reconciliation will be uttered forth every two years (summer and winter games) before we understand that it isn’t going to happen? It must have been a little embarrassing to the commentators when they were forced to recognize the wonderful peace efforts of the Russian army currently unfolding in the contiguous neighboring country of Georgia. When a country paraded before the cameras, one wondered whether they were forced to admit to previous mass-murders and genocide by that same country, or whether they wanted to say even more but were prevented by the enormity of the moment.

The second thought followed from the above observations. My thoughts sent me back to 1984 when the Winter Games were being held in Sarajevo. Same thing; different time. To those of you who recall those games, you may remember how the same utterances of peace, unity and human interaction were being proclaimed. How we marveled and celebrated the interaction of the athletes from different countries. The barriers were down; we simply needed to follow the liberating affections of those athletes. We will follow their examples and supersede the limitations and barriers that political entities set up to cause division. Just look at these athletes and the good will of the countries being represented. We can reason with each other. We can reason with Islam, Jihadism, Russian expansionism, racists, international intrigue, nationalism, anti-Semitism, etc. etc.
Why just look at the athletes. Peace is so simple.

Now why did my mind go to Sarajevo? Never has it been otherwise. At every Olympic event the same platitudes of peace and human cooperation are uttered. Again, why Sarajevo? Well, for those of you who do recall those games, you may also recall that within one decade of those same games, there was invented a term known as “ethnic cleansing”. Mass murder and butchery smothered that town and the surrounding areas. So, if peace is so simple, why isn't it happening?

Here’s a thought: The two most populated countries in the world are China and India. Are you aware that both are growing economically and technologically at a phenomenal rate and that they both are expanding their military might at an accelerated rate as well? How many times, embedded in those opening ceremonies, did China, the host country, imply a new spirit of cooperation with the other countries of the world? Did you believe this?

I’m not sure how to conclude this. Let me simply say that Rev. 16:12 came to my mind. Let’s continue to observe world conditions as they unfold - but with a little more skepticism, - please?