The Metaverse. The Tower of Babel. What do these two things have in common? I suggest the former is a present attempt at the latter.
The Genesis 11 story of the tower of Babel is a story of people who try to build a tower to the heavens to make a name for themselves instead of a) believing that God would not flood the earth again (they make it waterproof, 11:3); and b) spreading out across the earth, as God commanded in chapter 9. This story is likely true and an archetypal story, illustrating what humans attempt to do at every opportunity. We want to live in and create the world our way.
I think the Metaverse is a digital attempt to do this very thing. Listening to the podcast episode with Lex Friedman and Mark Zuckerberg discussing the Metaverse, it seems to be an attempt to create an alternate, fantasy world, ruled by the 'meta-gods,' in which you will be able to experience a substitute reality. You can be anything you want to be, as long as it is approved by the gods. Buying, selling, owning 'property,' all available. I was slightly horrified to hear them developing clothing for a virtual world. Modern day bricks and tar (Gen 11:3).
I spent the early couple of months of this year researching and writing a graduate paper on the resurrection of Jesus, specifically countering the arguments of some scholars that it was simply a hallucination. Each time I am deeply embedded in studying a Biblical topic, I am reminded of just how important physicality is to humanity. We are embodied people, living in a very physical world, surrounded by matter, all of which God made. We are meant to be in the physical presence of one another--it's why absence can be difficult, and unsurprising the lockdowns of the last couple of years have had such a devastating impact on people. There is no substitute. If there is any question on this point, the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Jesus should end the debate. For if Jesus could have come via Zoom, or as a mirage, or in 3D, or on a Metaverse-like platform, don't you think that would have been a lot easier for him? Quite the contrary, it was absolutely necessary for Jesus to come in the flesh. Not only to redeem what we are now, but to embody what we will be like!
Of course this physical world is a tough place, full of pain, suffering, and an existence that would perhaps be easier to fantasize away in a virtual world. But that isn't how we are made. We are made for this world, though fully restored one day. Jesus will not return to "take us away" from the world, but to restore all things--heavens and earth. The final chapter of the Bible (Rev 22) shows God coming down to dwell with His people, just as He did in the early chapters of Genesis, when it all started. One of the incredible gifts that God has given us is our physicality. The union of spirit and body will continue forever--Jesus, after all, exists now and in eternity as our embodied Savior.
We are not designed to escape, but rather to be in the world. Jesus is not Meta. And neither should we.
