A Chosen Generation?…

February 27, 2005 | 1:32 AM

I’ve heard a few times this phrase, “I really believe that God is raising up this generation or the next to do great things.” Sometimes I go along with it and believe, for myself, that God really has chosen this generation (my generation) of college students and youth- those born 1980 and later- to complete the mission He set before us 2000 years ago. Other times I feel very self-centered to believe that God would choose us to fulfill this mission. It seems that the call has always been to spread the Word to all the nations, since Jesus offered it 2000 years ago. So why now and not all the generations before? Some have claimed the World in the name of God but they were in err- the world was bigger than they knew. So why our generation? Why is ours so vocal and adamant about finishing the job, so arrogantly (assuming we will do what our predecessors did not)? I can’t say for sure.

This is what I do know. This is the communication age. We’re not in the modern age or the postmodern age, we’re in the communication age. There are few things I understand better than the growing interconnectedness of this world we live in. I was a communication major in college. I study it. I watch it. I am a product of it. The following is what I see, so follow along to the end.

Since the beginning of humanity, we have gathered together. Built within us is a desire to become one unit- a tribe of humanity. As populations grew, cities were built. The more people, the larger the cities became. When people live next to each other, on top of each other, underneath each other, no escape can be found from the different ideologies. In the beginning there were few, these were the First. As groups of individuals, perhaps driven away due to fighting (we have been at war since the beginning, but that is another story altogether) they traveled from the Origins and settled together their ideas became homogenized. Unique civilizations developed, but still the needs, the thoughts, the foundations of the First were retained. The foundations of humanity cannot be escaped, no matter the ideology. The point is this- as people gathered, ideas were shared whether by choice or not. And so these villages, which grew to be towns, which grew to be cities, which grew to be megacities, became centers of exchange- trade, yes, but also of ideas- and therefore became centers of change.

All this is to say that at no time on this Earth since the First lived in the Origins has humanity been so closely linked in its ability to exchange ideas. Humanity has been drawn to urbanization and liberalization (if to stay the same is conservatism, then to change is liberalism) since the beginning, and today it is being achieved at a speed never seen before. This is an age where ideas are shared so quickly and openly that whether by choice or not, ideas will be shared. This means ideas will be challenged. Perhaps this itself is why the First were forced from the Origins.

Democracy and openness has found its way into Afghanistan and Iraq by force. It has seeped its way into Saudi Arabia and Egypt by other means. The gospel cannot be stopped in China, so the government has forced believers to meet in numbers of 15 or less or risk being raided and jailed. Change is inevitable. Communication is the one constant at the center of all change. But what is the point I’ve tried to make?

At no point since the First has an opportunity to communicate to all humanity existed. Today it is still not possible. But the day is coming. Soon. How soon? Probably in this generation or the next. Maybe the one after that. I see no reason for the communication to slow down. It seems as if since the time of the First to now all of time has been accelerating to this point that we would, indeed, be capable of spreading the gospel to all nations and all peoples everywhere. We are told by census people and by government agencies that the population of this planet will peak in this generation. It will never get larger. Then it will steadily decrease until it levels out. And as the world becomes WiFi and Internet ready, as the nations connect to this global communication, this global forum, this global city… perhaps this is the time. Perhaps we are the generation. Certainly it can’t be any easier than now. Certainly it won’t get any harder. Except maybe in the hearts of those who continue to hear nothing of God’s love. And still I feel no closer to an answer than before. Why are we the chosen generation?

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