The world we live in is currently facing some of the most trying dilemmas it has ever faced. We live in some of the ugliest times for humanity, yet often in the United States, in the west we end up feeling like we live in a bubble... In a place where such backwards things as warfare are far behind us.
Of course that isn't true. But sometimes our leaders like to pretend we've become superior to our corporate history as humans. Have we?
One of the things that I've come to deeply appreciate about Christianity is it's uncanny ability to pinpoint the truth. And it's the very unpopular truth. Let me tell you a secret: I love being on the side of the undesired truth. I've always gravitated towards that. For some odd reason, fighting for a lost cause appeals to me.
It reminds me of Steve Turner's poem called "The Modern Thinker's Creed." Have a look:
"We believe in Marx, Freud,and Darwin We believe everything is OK as long as you don’t hurt anyone to the best of your definition of hurt, and to the best of your knowledge.
We believe in sex before, during, and after marriage. We believe in the therapy of sin. We believe that adultery is fun. We believe that sodomy’s OK. We believe that taboos are taboo.
We believe that everything’s getting better despite evidence to the contrary. The evidence must be investigated And you can prove anything with evidence.
We believe there’s something in horoscopes UFO’s and bent spoons. Jesus was a good man just like Buddha, Muhammed, and ourselves. He was a good moral teacher though we think His good morals were bad.
We believe that all religions are basically the same-at least the one that we read was. They all believe in love and goodness. They only differ on matters of creation, sin, heaven, hell, God, and salvation.
We believe that after death comes the Nothing Because when you ask the dead what happens they say nothing. If death is not the end, if the dead have lied, then its compulsory heaven for all excepting perhaps Hitler, Stalin, and Genghis Kahn
We believe in Masters and Johnson What’s selected is average. What’s average is normal. What’s normal is good.
We believe in total disarmament. We believe there are direct links between warfare and bloodshed. Americans should beat their guns into tractors. And the Russians would be sure to follow.
We believe that man is essentially good. It’s only his behavior that lets him down. This is the fault of society. Society is the fault of conditions. Conditions are the fault of society.
We believe that each man must find the truth that is right for him. Reality will adapt accordingly. The universe will readjust. History will alter. We believe that there is no absolute truth excepting the truth that there is no absolute truth.
We believe in the rejection of creeds, And the flowering of individual thought.
If chance be the Father of all flesh, disaster is his rainbow in the sky and when you hear
State of Emergency! Sniper Kills Ten! Troops on Rampage! Whites go Looting! Bomb Blasts School! It is but the sound of man worshiping his maker."
You can read through something like that and think yeah, that is how our culture tends to think. "Man is essentially good, it's just his behavior that lets him down."
Looking back at how I felt, how I thought living in that materialistic psycho-therapeutic materialistic mindset, I realize how oppressive it was. Everything they were telling me about filling out resumes, working a high paying job, coping mechanisms, anti-depressant medications, as I dealt with increasing depression in my early teens... everything they were telling me well defined the material American society I lived in. The oppressiveness was that something utterly and completely essential was missing, there was a giant vacuum in the middle of all of it.
There was no way to describe what was missing to them, the doctor, the therapist, the student counselor, or family members. They had very well placed the various areas and ideas of the consumer man and it all fit together so well, yet it was crumbling; just beneath the surface was the lies, the dead bodies, the suicide attempts, the drug addict world, and the child sex slave industry, quietly and conveniently ignored when discussing the essential good of man.
So let's step into today, United States, April 24th 2014. I read recently that Stone Cold Steve Austin has come out saying gay marriage is ok, because Stone Cold says so. The culture applauds, on their feet, cheering. No surprise there. The front-man of a Christian band called Jars of Clay has come forward now in support of gay marriage. No doubt the country will welcome him with record sales and open arms.
Once again hardly anything of interest. I don't even want to talk about gay marriage. I really don't. I mean look at the incredible challenges facing our world. Entire continents of people starving. We've got the middle-east on the brink of explosion in the divide between the Arab nations and Israel and her allies. The sex slave industry, poverty, unemployment, drone wars, the European economies collapsing and we want to talk about tolerance and gay marriage?
No, we Christians want to talk about how awesome Jesus is! But they hit us with the question in the mainstream media, time and again, "What do you think about gay marriage?" And why? Because once we stand by the conviction of believing the Bible, they've pigeon-holed us as intolerant. So for the rest of the interview no one can hear anything about how wonderful Jesus is, because they've labeled us first off.
It's important for another reason though. If culture, people, opinion, even scientists or sociologists can prove that gay marriage is good and right, they've just proved that God, the Bibles, Christians no longer have the moral high ground. They will continue this line of attack. Though when getting down to the actual facts, we know it's not actually a moral good. But, if enough people think it is through clever arguments, it will have a similar effect. Perhaps the great advantage is, in the backdrop of every unredeemed soul is the desire to dodge the God question, and this is simply the latest way to dodge it, dismiss it, invalidate it, and declare it morally bankrupt. Fighting that urge in the human heart is not an easy task.
Ricky Gervais has taken to teaming up with Richard Dawkins to bash the Bible, and point out that the Bible is full of intolerance, hatred, bigotry, sexism, and misogyny. I actually feel personally responsible for this one. I had taken an interest in Ricky Gervais, and I took to tweeting to his twitter account about Jesus Christ, and finding faith, and how it might help him and so forth. Then I see a month later he's teamed up with Richard Dawkins and the new atheists. I have no idea if it's just a coincidence, or what, but in any case there it is.
I also like to occasionally check in on the latest developments in law and government. Of interest, Princeton University recently released a study indicating that the United States of America is no longer officially a democracy, but now more closely resembles an oligarchy. An oligarchy is where an elite group of influential individuals controls the course of the nation. In our case it's generally bankers, mega-corporation CEOs, industry leaders, and so on. If you'd like to read the full story click here.
So Christians friends, seekers and brothers and sisters, that is where we are at in developments today. What are your thoughts? How should we respond as Christians in a rapidly atheistic nation?
So let's step into today, United States, April 24th 2014. I read recently that Stone Cold Steve Austin has come out saying gay marriage is ok, because Stone Cold says so. The culture applauds, on their feet, cheering. No surprise there. The front-man of a Christian band called Jars of Clay has come forward now in support of gay marriage. No doubt the country will welcome him with record sales and open arms.
Once again hardly anything of interest. I don't even want to talk about gay marriage. I really don't. I mean look at the incredible challenges facing our world. Entire continents of people starving. We've got the middle-east on the brink of explosion in the divide between the Arab nations and Israel and her allies. The sex slave industry, poverty, unemployment, drone wars, the European economies collapsing and we want to talk about tolerance and gay marriage?
No, we Christians want to talk about how awesome Jesus is! But they hit us with the question in the mainstream media, time and again, "What do you think about gay marriage?" And why? Because once we stand by the conviction of believing the Bible, they've pigeon-holed us as intolerant. So for the rest of the interview no one can hear anything about how wonderful Jesus is, because they've labeled us first off.
It's important for another reason though. If culture, people, opinion, even scientists or sociologists can prove that gay marriage is good and right, they've just proved that God, the Bibles, Christians no longer have the moral high ground. They will continue this line of attack. Though when getting down to the actual facts, we know it's not actually a moral good. But, if enough people think it is through clever arguments, it will have a similar effect. Perhaps the great advantage is, in the backdrop of every unredeemed soul is the desire to dodge the God question, and this is simply the latest way to dodge it, dismiss it, invalidate it, and declare it morally bankrupt. Fighting that urge in the human heart is not an easy task.
Ricky Gervais has taken to teaming up with Richard Dawkins to bash the Bible, and point out that the Bible is full of intolerance, hatred, bigotry, sexism, and misogyny. I actually feel personally responsible for this one. I had taken an interest in Ricky Gervais, and I took to tweeting to his twitter account about Jesus Christ, and finding faith, and how it might help him and so forth. Then I see a month later he's teamed up with Richard Dawkins and the new atheists. I have no idea if it's just a coincidence, or what, but in any case there it is.
I also like to occasionally check in on the latest developments in law and government. Of interest, Princeton University recently released a study indicating that the United States of America is no longer officially a democracy, but now more closely resembles an oligarchy. An oligarchy is where an elite group of influential individuals controls the course of the nation. In our case it's generally bankers, mega-corporation CEOs, industry leaders, and so on. If you'd like to read the full story click here.
So Christians friends, seekers and brothers and sisters, that is where we are at in developments today. What are your thoughts? How should we respond as Christians in a rapidly atheistic nation?
