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Collectivism

Gen 11:6 And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.

In the course of human events God directly intervened to limit collectivism. It is true that a collective can accomplish more than a single person, however, God wanted us to rely on him individually and not be diverted towards our collective efforts. He made an exception in order to make a nation out of Israel to be used to bring the knowledge of God to the whole world. However, the Old Testament is almost a perpetual story of how the nation continually disappointed God.

Satan has made use of collectives as he sets the course of the world (for now and insofar a he is allowed by God). His ambitions are described in Isaiah 14 to rule the world. To do this he needs to leverage his influence through collectives. He has used the collective enterprise of Western Civilization to develop the technological tools he needs to attempt to control the world. Now that this end is in sight one might think he is having us in the West destroy ourselves so that we would not represent a potential obstacle to his plans for control.

Public education was perhaps Satan’s greatest accomplishment towards collectivism. Children become shaped to take their place as willing components in a collective largely because of their school experience. Parents come to see “education” as they key to their children’s potential success in life. There are some “successes” to be had in collectivism. A few at the top can have larger incomes and more comfortable lives just as on a plantation field slaves could aspire to be house slaves.

Consider what economic collectives accomplish. There are no more mom and pop hardware stores, grocery stores, or pharmacies. Even doctors and dentists have been forced to collectivize. The family farm is more of a myth today as the modern equivalent of share cropping has emerged with those bidding for an opportunity to farm themselves becoming almost collectivized.

As bigger corporations purchase smaller ones, we are all being brought into one big collective that might be seen as when corporations more completely merge with the government. There are several effects of collectivization. Relationships become superficial and even infrequent. People become more dependent. A circumscribed life promotes less maturity. People become lazy and more self serving. Most bureaucracies in history can show the detrimental effects of collectivization.

Christians have often allowed their assemblies to become organizational systems run in almost mechanical ways with programs, events, lectures, and other scripted activities. The individual, while often cajoled on to some greater effort, is seldom engaged as an individual by someone who cares about them personally. This is perhaps one reason why so many are not interested in Christianity, because they see it as an activity rather than something transformational.

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