Bad Belief Systems You Must Lose if You Want to WIN - Part 18 Utopianism

We all search for a little heaven on earth, but so far, no one’s found it. We want to live in a place where we are safe, comfortable, and content, but it won’t be found on this planet.

Some claim the earliest Christians were utopian socialists because they had “all things in common.” (Acts 2 – 5) What those early believers did was what Christians around the globe have done – help the needy. But they did not impose a “thou shalt” command to sell your possessions and share them with others. Jesus didn’t tell his disciples to create a perfect world; he told them to be salt and light in a tasteless and dark world. No utopia in Jerusalem.

The Pilgrims wanted to create a utopia in the New World but soon discovered it doesn’t work, even when managed by highly motivated, godly people. No utopia in Massachusetts.

Fidel Castro, who called himself “a socialist, a Marxist, and a Leninist,” told his people that Cuba would become safe and prosperous under his care. Today Cuba ranks at or near the bottom of the 32 countries in the Americas region. The Cuban economy has been at the bottom of the repressed category since the inception of the Index in 1995. No utopia in Cuba.

Some at Woodstock (1969 festival) wanted to create a utopian society. But instead, they got strung out on drugs and left the lovely countryside where they congregated littered, filthy, and ugly. Look up the pictures on Google. No utopia at Woodstock.

The problem with utopianism is that it is tempting! We want to believe in the goodness of all people. We want peace, love, and joy to prevail in our neighborhood and around the world. People long for utopia, but whenever a utopian idea (such as utopian socialism) has been fully implemented, the result is a loss of freedom, security, and opportunity.

The word “utopia’ is used to describe a perfect imaginary world. It comes from a Greek word that means “no place” or “nowhere.” Which explains why the only place utopia succeeds is in novels and in the hearts of all who fantasize about a life without danger, stress, or conflict.

The yearning for a perfect society has a human problem: everyone doesn’t fit in. Anyone whose been to a big family reunion knows that. The danger rises when those who market the dream come across those who don’t agree with it. What do you do with the misfits? Too often, the answer has been, you kill them – at least that’s what’s happened in countries all over the world. Peruvian journalist, college professor, and politician, Mario Vargas Liosa, observed, “…any attempt to achieve social utopia is bound to catastrophe.”

You can create a good society, but not a perfect one, “for all have sinned.” You can be salt and light, and that will help, but utopia is a dream that’s always somewhere else.