If you are a Trekkie you will recognize this traditional Borg greeting: “We are the Borg. You will be assimilated. Your biological and technological distinctiveness will be added to our own. Resistance is futile.” Believe it or not, I thought about the Borg and their “mission” during a Bible discussion group last night in the book of Daniel.
Because they were young and handsome Israelite nobility, Daniel and his friends were captured in Jerusalem and herded back to Babylon to train for the service of powerful King Nebuchadnezzar. The Babylonians choose the best and the brightest of the Hebrews. But before they could serve King Neb they had to be indoctrinated in all the ways of the Babylonian culture.
It was an intense three-year program. They had to study the language, religion, and literature. They had to eat like the Babylonians. They were even given Babylonian names. The Babylonians goal was to turn these Hebrews into Babylonians. To turn these people of God into people of the gods.
“Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.” That’s what the Babylonians said to Daniel and his friends. But God had other plans. (If you don’t know the whole story, read the first few chapters of Daniel.) Daniel and his friends resisted assimilation and obeyed God. And God miraculously delivered. From a fiery furnace. And from the mouths of a bunch of hungry lions.
Our mainstream culture today is far from what God wants for the lives of His children. Yet, everyday it reaches out to assimilate us. To bring us around to its way of thinking and doing and being. Are you being assimilated or do you resist? Resistance is not futile. God calls His children to live lives of distinction. Holy lives. Set apart to bring Him glory.
Clever, insightful and challenging!