Have you ever read the book Animal Farm by George Orwell? Well, if you haven’t, I’ll give you a very quick run-down.
At the start of the book, there is a farm–Manor Farm. The animals on the farm are dissatisfied with their lives because living under the farmer–Mr. Jones–is laborious and meager. They are not fed well, they work all the time and feel oppressed having no control over their lives. Riled to rebellion by an old pig, Major, the farm animals throw out their wicked farmer and his wife and take over Manor Farm. They rename it “Animal Farm.” They decide that all animals are equal. They will share everything equally and work only as much as they have to in order to feed themselves and keep up the farm. They want nothing to do with humans or their ways–humans are to be hated.
But, very quickly, the pigs set themselves up as leaders and see themselves as smarter and better than the other animals. One pig, Napoleon, emerges as the head leader. He sneaks extra food for himself, doesn’t really work, and justifies this by saying he’s the brains behind the operation, and, in time, becomes a tyrannical, oppressive leader. In fact, under the pigs, the animals are actually worse off, because if they dare question Napoleon, they will be executed.
At the very end of the book, the pigs walk on two legs, live in the farmer’s old house, drink beer, and collaborate with humans; all things that were not allowed immediately after the rebellion. At the end of the book, the pigs are having a party with some humans in the farmhouse. The other farm animals sneak up to the window to see all that is going on. The very last sentence of the book says, “The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.”
The pigs had turned into the very thing that they started out saying they hated.
Lately, in our country, we’ve had groups of people screaming about all the injustice in our nation. And, yet, many of these same people are going around unjustly looting, burning homes and businesses, and harassing people. Or, there are people supporting those that are doing unjust things. You are not justified in being unjust over here just because you don’t like an injustice over there. You become exactly what you say you hate.
(And, yes, I know and am aware that there are people talking about injustice who are not engaging in criminal activity. I am not referring to those people.)
Lately, we’ve had people tell us that this country is awful and horrible for all its racist ways. For months now, we’ve heard people telling their stories of segregation and not being treated equally because of their race. “We shouldn’t be divided,” they say. Yet, all over the country, we are seeing universities, sports teams, and organizations implementing programs that segregate by race. They are doing exactly what they said they hated.
Seattle, in early summer, saw blocks of its city streets taken over by rioters claiming to have set up their own country, Chaz (Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone). The inhabitants were against everything this country stands for and see America as being oppressive and encouraging inequality. They hate the police and all their “oppressive ways.” Curiously enough, though, the rioters took over the area and basically terrorized business owners and customers there. All this, while many were wielding guns and there were even a few murders. In essence, they became oppressive, terrorizing “law-keepers,” the very thing they said they hated.
Recently, I have seen many Christians joyous over the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. While I vehemently disagree with Justice Ginsburg’s pro-choice beliefs and legislative practices, we should not relish in the death of another soul. In fact, I hope she had a major conversion before her death and realized the wrongness of abortion and her role in legislating it from the bench. If we say we don’t like her because she wasn’t pro-life but then are delighted when she dies, we become exactly what we say we hate.
Mainstream feminism has told us that masculinity is toxic. Then they turn to women and say, “Everything that is ‘traditionally’ feminine is bad. It oppresses you and leaves you trapped in the patriarchy. To make it in this world, we have to throw off the shackles of femininity and be more like men.” But, wait? Isn’t masculinity toxic? To really be a woman you have to be more like a man? Aren’t you trying to mimic the thing you said you hated?
If you hate injustice, don’t do unjust things. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” is a good maxim to live by.
If you hate unjustified violence, don’t perpetrate unjustified violence on others.
If you hate our culture of death, don’t applaud the death of someone, especially if they have mortal sin on their soul.
If you don’t like guns or police officers carrying them around, don’t carry them around yourself and use them on people.
If you don’t like segregation, don’t call for segregational policies.
If you don’t like racism, don’t treat ANY race with contempt or hatred.
If you don’t like being lied to, don’t lie yourself to press an agenda. The end doesn’t justify the means.
If you don’t like people ignoring science, then don’t ignore science yourself when it doesn’t fit your narrative.
We have to be consistent in our thoughts and actions. We must strive to be people of integrity. If we try to change injustices that we see but our lives are riddled with corruption and deception, we do more damage than good.
Christ teaches us that we cannot really affect change if we are joyless, hateful people. To change the world in a positive, fruitful way, we must be people of integrity, honor, and goodness. We can’t play sneaky games and spread lies just to push something we believe in. We can’t let power corrupt us. Above all, we must model a witness of Christ–firm, merciful, truthful, compassionate, encouraging, engaging, and charitable.
At the end of Animal Farm, the animals are undeniably worse off under the rule of the pigs. In an effort to “tear down the system” and replace it with a more equal and just society, the pigs end up setting up an even worse society to live under. They not only become like the humans that they hated, but they become the absolute worse version of a human–full of pride, corruption, greed, and wickedness. Drunk on power, they completely lose sight of what they were supposed to strive for–equality in dignity for all animals, freedom, and just practices.
This is what happens when man thinks that he can fix anything apart from God. When we refuse to humble ourselves and seek guidance from Christ, we will inevitably fall short, if not miss the mark completely, of our intended goal.
