Semiconductor Toes
December 31st, 2008Get Ready
Here is my Christian crazy moment of the day.
In the book of Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar dreamed of a giant statue. The head was of gold, the chest and arms were silver, the belly was brass, the legs were iron, and the feet were iron mixed with clay. The different ingredients represented kingdoms which were to come. The gold represented Babylon, the silver represented the Medes and Persians, and so on. Many Christians think the iron represented Rome, and that “Rome” includes the modern West.
Here’s an idea which has been rolling around in my head for a long time. Is it possible that the mingled iron and clay represent the age of technology? After all, electronics are made from metals mingled with non-metallic minerals like silicon, which are found in soil. Clay is soil.
It’s also interesting that the materials degrade as time passes, suggesting that humanity itself deteriorates. Maybe our inventions and conveniences and wealth have made us soft and less virtuous than our forebears. Surely, we know less about God, since we are farther from creation.
December 31st, 2008 at 9:56 PM
Here’s a depressing thought: A couple of years ago I read of a scientist who was convinced that the Y chromosome was degrading, to the point that he calculated that there would be no male humans in approximately 200,000 years.
Of course, scientists have said a lot of goofy things over the years, but it’s odd how that ties into the idea that mankind is deteriorating, an idea that reaches back (at least) to the Greeks.
Every generation, without fail, has considered itself to be better than the next, and groped vainly for the lost glory of preceding generations. Maybe there’s something to it?
January 1st, 2009 at 1:17 AM
I can’t ignore an extension to your theory regarding the clay and iron feet symbolism. As the feet represent the base upon which the rest of the body stands, what happens to said body once the feet deteriorate too far? Something not pretty, I think.
January 1st, 2009 at 4:24 PM
The theory of evolution posits continued positive progress. Secularists take a similar view as to the arc of mankind’s nature. The evidence doesn’t erally support either (and the Bble frequently talks of periods of downward moral arcs – with a big one at the end of the age).