Is Mankind Always Progressing?

Yesterday's post was actually brought about by a discussion with family a couple of weeks ago. Mankind thinks that we are at the current peak of human development, but we are really at the peak of human degeneracy.

It is tough to think that we really aren't the smartest we have ever been, with all of our computing power, rapid transit to any spot on the globe, etc. You could sum up the difference between progressive thought and Christian thought in this: progressives think man is always improving, and Christians (should) think that man has been degenerating since Adam's fall in the Garden of Eden.

Think about this idea: God created man in perfection! Let it sink in for a while. Perfection! Man was originally created to be perfect, and with a free will. Man was never destined to die, get sick or weak, or work with exhausting labor. Adam's intelligence had to have been off the charts when compared to any modern man. Consider that God gave him the task of naming the animals, and it would have been a logical, orderly system of naming, not just a random thought process. Then take into account that after Adam sinned, he eventually died at the age of 930. Think about how much you learn from infant to senior citizen during our current lifespans. Now multiply that by a factor of 10+, which is being conservative since learning isn't a linear process, but more exponential.

It is quite possible that Adam's descendants had the strength, skill and intelligence to create things that would blow our minds. As the generations passed and life spans became shorter, especially after the Flood, we became "stupider". You can see a small example of this in just the past 1500-2000 years. The Roman and Greek empires were technologically advanced for their time, but when the "Dark Ages" appeared, people could barely figure out how to survive day to day. This was the time when the Black Death and other epidemics wiped out masses of people. Superstition and an apparent lack of intelligence was holding back much progress. Yes, I am making a simplified analogy, but you get my point.

I remember, from Art History classes in college, our discussion about Egyptian art and technology. The pyramids of Giza are built so precisely that no modern technology could reproduce it that accurately. How did they do it? We still don't know for sure, except that slaves were used for laborers. There may have been a continuing knowledge of mathematics and construction that has been forgotten since then. Maybe the knowledge was lost when the Library at Alexandria was destroyed. It was said to have contained the combined human knowledge of millenia and it was all destroyed. I have a feeling that God had a direct hand in its destruction to keep man from getting too prideful again. It happened at the Flood and Babel. It is a recurring theme of ups and downs in man's history, but it is still a steady progression downhill.