City tales

Helping to shape the future of the world's cities is an increasingly important Christian calling | Marvin Olasky

A young reporter's draft of a WORLD story last month concluded, "Saddened by his own fate, he hopes that his organization's future may yet turn." I told the writer to drop the fatalistic language. The ancient Greeks wrote of doom-laden "fate," but those who read the Bible know that futures do not turn. God and people turn them.

That's the way it is with cities. People, some working to serve God or their neighbors, can make cities much better places to live. Others, working to serve themselves and their victims' short-term pleasures, can make cities hallways to hell. Both the biblical depiction of cities and our own eyes tell us that a city can go either way.

The Bible has many anti-urban passages. The first murderer, Cain, founded the first city, Enoch. God ended the Tower of Babel building project and destroyed Sodom. Pharoahs forced Israelite slaves to construct the Egyptian cities of Pithom and Ramses. Later, Jericho miraculously fell but Philistine cities remained strong. The prophet Hosea condemned urban corruption and said God would return Israel to wilderness. Invaders from the cursed capitals of Nineveh and Babylon served God's purposes by punishing Israel. The New Testament describes Babylon as a harlot and Rome as the beast of the sea.