The More Things Change...

An Old Saying

There is an old saying that reads: “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” Another old saying is meant as a warning about the repetition of man and reads: “Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” Both of these sayings are very true, but not necessarily for the reasons that the original coiners intended.

Cycles of History

It is true that history is a cyclical structure with seemingly repetitious events and conflicts between peoples and nations. Some have even taken this “cycle” to a proposed science that views history in “generational” cycles and synthesizes world events down to different “turns” of the same cycle again and again.

While the repetition in world events and history can be seen with mild variation, the true unchanging nature of the world is not between peoples or nations, but between man and God. Solomon wisely once said:

That which has been is that which will be, and that which has been done is that which will be done. So there is nothing new under the sun.
Eccl. 1:9 (NASU)

Of course Solomon was not describing technologies or innovations of man. He was instead describing the “wisdom” of man.

Man’s Search

Throughout history, man has sought after “new” and “different” ways of discovering meaning for life, purpose for being, and most importantly, explanation for existence without the need for acknowledging God. Of course, this pursuit has always failed, for without God none of these things actually makes any kind of sense.

Once such a pursuit is distilled into this fashion, the universal problem of sin and man’s obsession with it becomes the more obvious motivation behind many of man’s actions in any century. While the parameters change, technologies improve, the understanding of the natural world and scientific discovery grow, the pursuits remain the same. What real differences in a spiritual sense separate ancient idolatry from modern spontaneous generation theories such as the “Big Bang” or evolutionary theory?

The Simple Truth

The truth is, no matter how much we learn, discover, and create, as long as man continues to reject God as the moral center and guide for his life, nothing in the world will ever really change.