A For Real Update

I have just finished reading the book Farnham's Freehold by Robert Heinlein. It is a science fiction novel which describes a family catapulted 2,000 years into the future by nuclear war. There they discover that the cultural roles have reversed. "Whites" have, by their own self-immolation, become the subservient culture to the dominant "Black" culture. I will not give away any more details because it is a good story which you should probably read.

When it was published in 1964 it was, to be sure, a controversial book. It seems to me to be controversial for both sides of the racial divide. White people would be offended by its portrayal of white people as the property of others, while Black people would possibly be offended by the assertion that, given power, they will be no more humane than white people were.

The question of power is central to the understanding of the author's point. It is not about race, it is about power. Power is the dividing factor in human relationships. It is the thing which makes its posessors strive for more, and those who lack it to fight for it. Once again, it is not about race, but about the attitudes of power. Power corrupts those who posess it as surely as people die and governments levy taxes.

Jesus Christ laid aside his power and priviledge and became the lowest of humanity. He laid aside his divinity to become a slave, and he calls us who claim to follow him to do the same.