“Only fools say in their hearts, ‘There is no God.'” [Psalms 14:1 NLT]
Tag: God. culture
Two Opposing Worldviews Cannot Coexist
The most important of all life’s decisions is the acceptance or denial of the existence of God and recognition of His active presence in the life of anyone accepting Him. It is a critical decision, because in addition to eternal consequences, the choice becomes the driving force of the present life. The unbeliever tends to live for the benefit of self, within few moral/ethical constraints. The believer matures by learning the importance of serving others, adhering to God’s moral standards as an expression of love, and knowing that focusing on the needs of others inspires the richest possible life experience. God’s moral standards require continuing progress along the lifelong journey to maturity, a journey where an individual should become substantially more humble, forgiving, merciful, and longsuffering, while developing a servant’s spirit.
In contrast, mankind’s own evolution-rooted standards incites a drive toward the opposing view, including selfishness, scorn, vengeance, impatience, and a demanding spirit. Although there are more polite terms for these seemingly negative values, they are all provoked by an unhealthy form of pride. The contrast between the evolutionist/secular view and the Christian view could not be greater. Consider the Table 6.1 comparison between the two views.
The evolutionist/secular humanist view appears to provide a path to a strained conclusion that God does not exist, evoking the post-modern conclusions that there is no objective truth and therefore no overarching values that apply to all people. Essentially, man becomes his/her own god, scorning religion and depending on the authority only of self, evoking decisions rendered primarily for the benefit of self. The absence of values anchored to incontrovertible virtues prompts severe criticism of the traditional Judeo-Christian American culture. One casualty of the loss of a stable culture is the replacement of commonly held values with extreme tolerance, which is indistinguishable from indifference. The absence of moral responsibilities combined with the perception that life is absolute and absolutely short elevates a prideful and extreme pursuit of wealth. With the public distracted by materialism, the self-proclaimed elite are able to pursue, virtually unhindered, their perception of a utopia that they believe can only be achieved by total government control of all people, except the elite themselves. Note the tendency of the U.S. Congress to exempt themselves from many pieces of legislation.
The Judeo-Christian view is that God is the Creator of all things and all life. He is personally interested in every individual. Since God is truth, objective truth is derived from Him and the study of His Creation. As such, the Christian depends on the authority of God, rather than self, recognizing that American exceptionalism arose from Judeo-Christian tradition. That tradition produced the best quality-of-life and the highest standard-of-living in the world. There is no other explanation. A Christian values faith and love above all else, keeping a healthy and balanced perspective of materialistic pursuits. He/she recognizes that God provided moral limitations for the benefit of people not to control them. Moral limitations are a safe harbor leading to reduced stress, the full richness of the human experience, stable families and a cohesive culture that is readily sustained from generation to generation. God has already created paradise in the Garden of Eden and in Heaven. Mankind’s own failures have caused the problems in between. The Christian’s life focus is on serving others and maturing by growing in godly character. Finally, the Christian seeks wisdom, noting that the Holy Bible and the clergy are reliable points of reference, not government leaders.
Despite the extreme and life-changing importance attached to the choice of a world view, many people drift toward a view without serious consideration of the alternatives. Although the choice is the most influential driving force of life, many people simply yield to cultural pressure institutionalized in the public education system, moving gradually toward an evolutionist/secular view. Even many people claiming to hold the Christian view do so on a somewhat shallow level bending to the winds of cultural decline as a matter of practical living. God’s view is clear, but often misunderstood, because modern Christians tend to limit God’s Word, the Bible, by depending on detailed analysis to mine a new nugget of wisdom (zoom in). However, God’s view is holistic (zoom out). Rather than viewing God’s Word from the “bottom up,” Christians must learn, insofar as possible to also appreciate in a pervasive way, the wholeness of God’s Word, as He views it.
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Do People Ask YOU About Your Faith? Why? When?
Recently, I was reminded that Christian leaders encouraging believers to share their faith often cite 1 Peter 3:15, which reads, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” [NIV] The context of the presentation is usually an effort to persuade believers to ask a clever question, which will turn the conversation in a spiritual direction.
However, the Scriptural context is always being ready, when someone, usually an unbeliever, asks the believer about his hope. Do people ask YOU about your hope? Why or why not? The sense of the Scriptural passage is that the hope must be visible or no one would be inclined to ask.
How does hope become visible? 2 Corinthians 6:17 echoes the same thought, “Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord.” [NIV] Being separate indicates visibility; hope clearly means visibility in a positive, attractive, and encouraging way.
But today, many in the body of Christian believers are largely invisible—lost in the crowded background culture. We look like everyone else. We dress like everyone else, within limits of modesty. We talk like everyone else, but usually choose to avoid profanity. We socialize like everyone else, but avoid certain movies or particularly sinful places. However, what we don’t wear, don’t say, or places we choose not to go are negatives, which are essentially not visible. Yet, we are known as a people who aspire to live life on a higher plane. When the higher plane is not visible, the result is the common accusation that we are judgmental, narrow minded, dupes.
The vital question remains, “How are we to be separate and visible in a positive or desirable way?” Matthew 7:20 is a big help, “…by their fruit you will recognize them.” [NIV] What fruit? The fruit of godly character and the fruit of love, which is the fruit of the Spirit!
A previous blog demonstrated that love is spiritual energy and that ALL love comes from God. God’s infinite love passes through the prism of YOU and me, to the extent that it is not hindered by the interference of our pride, separating love into its components, which are humility, forgiveness, mercy, longsuffering, and a servant’s spirit. We grow and mature by actively and routinely choosing to be humble, forgiving, merciful, longsuffering, and being a servant to others. These are the actions that become visible in our culture, when we exhibit them as a lifestyle.
But there is more, much more. Our character and visibility grow as we encounter opportunities to be humble, forgiving, merciful, longsuffering, and a servant to others. Character growth allows us to experience one of God’s most incredible promises, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” [Galatians 5:22 NIV] All the time, during and in between character-building events, we are privileged to experience, express, and exhibit the pervasive overwhelming fruit of the Spirit.
Now, that’s positive, endearing visibility. The fruit of the Spirit creates a glow and spiritual allure unlike anything else. That’s when people will ask us about the hope that we have. That’s when YOU must, “Always be prepared to give an answer…” What do YOU think?
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“Mothers constitute the only universal agent of civilization. Nature has placed in her hands both infancy and youth. The vital interest of America hang largely upon the influence of mothers.” T.W. Shannon
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Dad and Mom Are Superheroes
Both the Old and New Testaments summarize the Ten Commandments into just two. “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” [Matthew 22:37-40; Deuteronomy 6:5; Leviticus 19:18 NIV] Both commandments represent ultimate love characterized by extreme giving. The first is a vertical love of God; the second is a horizontal love of others.
Consider how those two commandments uniquely apply to marriage. Scripture explains the marriage relationship:
Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear (reverence, awe) of God. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the savior of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. [Ephesians 5:21-28 KJV (emphasis added)]
A husband must give himself for his family so they may become as perfect and blameless as is humanly possible. In essence, the husband and wife are mutual givers, but there is more, much more.
The earthly marriage is a representation of an eternal relationship with God. The Lord is illustrated scripturally as the bridegroom coming for his bride, the worldwide body of believers. “Let us rejoice and be glad and give him (Messiah) glory! For the wedding of the Lamb (Y’shua; Jesus) has come, and his bride has made herself ready…blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb…These are the true words of God.” [Revelation 19:7&9 NIV] The Bible further clarifies that the apostle John, “saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” [Revelation 21:2 KJV]
Scripturally, the order of the universe is that the Lord is the bridegroom and the body of believers is the bride. Of course, in any earthly marriage the man is the bridegroom and the bride is the beautiful woman spectacularly dressed in a white wedding gown walking down the aisle to meet her man. But in a larger sense, the bride is not just the woman at the ceremony, the bride is the woman and by extension the children she later produces, often referred to as the fruit of her womb. The husband is required to love the wholeness of his bride, i.e. the wholeness of his family, even as the Messiah also loved the church, to the point of the husband’s own death if necessary.
Fallows magnificently explains, “The husband is the ‘house band,’ the earthly giver of life, uniting the divine with the human in the supreme function of fatherhood.” The wife is ‘the weaver,’ shaping and coloring in the prenatal and postnatal influences of sacred motherhood the destinies of her offspring.” “As the “earthly giver of life, uniting the divine with the human,” the husband/father becomes the role model for “the first and greatest commandment” to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”
As the “weaver,” the wife/mother is the connection between the past and future generations of her family, but also the past and future generations of the culture. She is the role model for the second summary commandment to ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Shannon clarifies,
Mothers constitute the only universal agent of civilization. Nature has placed in her hands both infancy and youth. The vital interest of America hang largely upon the influence of mothers.” The queen that sits upon the throne of home, crowned and sceptered as none other ever can be, is—mother. Her enthronement is complete, her reign unrivaled, and the moral issues of her empire are eternal. “Her children rise up, and call her blessed.” Rebellious at times, as the subjects of her government may be, she rules them with marvelous patience, winning tenderness and undying love. She so presents and exemplifies divine truth, that it reproduces itself in the happiest development of childhood—character and life…An ounce of mother is worth more than a pound of clergy.
The complementary responsibilities of the husband/father and the wife/mother are awesome and readily illustrated by The Cross of Family Life, which of course resembles the iconic ancient cross used for crucifixion. Although the old Roman cross was a notorious instrument of extreme torture and ultimate sacrifice, for Christians it is also a symbol of incomparable love. The Lord’s amazing self-sacrifice was an expression of his infinite love for all mankind for all time. Similarly, The Cross of Family Life is a representation of the parents’ many daily sacrifices as an expression of their love. As an expression of God’s infinite love, Dad and Mom routinely set aside their own desires as an expression of love for each other, the children, and the larger culture.
Sadly, far too many dads in modern America fail to carry out their God-assigned, high- priority, family responsibilities, either due to a lack of holistic understanding, the powerful lure of excessive materialism or both. Far too many moms fall short by not being there and available for raising the children. Together, such parents effectively sacrifice their children on the altar of the false god of materialism. However, when Dad and Mom lovingly and enthusiastically bear The Cross of Family Life, the results can be deeply heartwarming and sometimes even breathtaking. When they do not, the results can range from troublesome to tragic.
Some time ago, I devoted seven years to meeting virtually all the needs and providing around-the-clock care for my terminally ill late wife. She endured a neurodegenerative condition similar to Alzheimer’s disease. After her passing, a well-wisher said. “You really sacrificed a lot during those years.” I thanked her and replied that it did not seem like I sacrificed anything. Providing total care was more important than anything else I could have been doing during that time. It was a monumentally life-changing experience that has had long-term impacts on me and those around me and will continue to do so far into the future.
Together, fueled by God’s infinite supply of love, Dad and Mom become virtual super heroes, an incredibly awesome team stabilizing God’s brilliantly designed family and the national culture as a whole. A child forms a vertical relationship with God, primarily, though not exclusively, through the role model of the father; a child forms horizontal relationships with others within and beyond the family primarily, though not exclusively, through the role model of the mother. The complementary combination produces godly character in the child. The actions of role modeling build character in the parents. The character of every family member extends outward to the community and the nation.
That is God’s grand design for Dad and Mom. What incredible superheroes!
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Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. [and] …love your neighbor as yourself.
Deuteronomy 6:5 & Leviticus 19:18/Matthew 22:37 & 39/Mark 12:30 & 31 NIV
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All Love Comes from God
Significant spiritual growth occurs only to the extent that a Judeo-Christian believer routinely serves the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of others thus growing in the character, by becoming increasingly humble, forgiving, merciful, longsuffering, and serving. That is God’s will for YOUR life.
As a child, did you ever play with a glass prism? It is a small wedge-shaped piece of glass with two triangular sides and three rectangular sides (one is the base). When sunlight or white light from any source is passed through the prism, the light is separated into its components revealing all the colors of the rainbow.
Scientists have demonstrated that all physical energy originates from the sun. Fossil fuels, for example, were once plants that absorbed solar energy through a process called photosynthesis. The plants used the energy from sunlight to combine water and carbon dioxide, producing glucose (a form of sugar) and oxygen. Large masses of dead plants exposed to elevated temperatures and pressures deep within the earth eventually became the crude oil and natural gas that are burned today to produce energy. Even the energy that supports our own life arises from the plants we eat or the animals we eat that have themselves fed on plants. Hence, we “burn calories” to release the energy that supports all body functions.
In contrast, love is spiritual energy. Just as the sun is the source of all physical energy, God is the source of all spiritual energy, because “…God is love…” [1 John 4:16 KJV] and “…love comes from God. [1 John 4:7 NIV] Similarly as light (physical/electromagnetic energy) is separated into its influences—a rainbow of colors—when the light passes through a glass prism, God’s love (spiritual energy) is separated into its influences when it passes through the prism of you and me.
The graphic shows how God’s infinite love is expressed through people. The components of love are expressed as attitudes and specific acts of humility, forgiveness, mercy, long-suffering, and a servant’s spirit. Collectively, the growth of those influences in each person’s life moves him/her toward the perfection of godly character, i.e. maturity. Multiple actions that spread God’s love in turn produce the fruit of that Spirit of giving, including love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Sadly, the prism of our life is not as clear as the glass prism we played with children. The prism of your life and mine is a bit fogged by the pride that becomes a barrier to the free flow of God’s love through us. That pride is our insistence on doing things our way instead of God’s way; it’s our personal war with God. It is pride that interferes with or obstructs efforts or even desire to be humble, forgiving, merciful, longsuffering, and having a servant’s spirit. Maturity is a lifelong process of overcoming pride. It is as if we hear God saying, “Get you pride out of the way and let My love pass through!” What do you think?
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Biblical and Evolutionary Worldviews Cannot Coexist
Evolution, also known as scientific naturalism, is a faith system that underlies secular humanism. According to The Humanist Manifesto 2000, “The unique message of humanism on the current world scene is its commitment to scientific naturalism.” In 1961, the Unites States Supreme Court declared, “Among religions in this country which do not teach what would generally be considered a belief in the existence of God are…Secular Humanism, and others.” MacArthur observes that,
Religion is exactly the right word to describe naturalism. The entire philosophy is built on a faith-based premise. Its basic presupposition—a rejection of everything supernatural—requires a giant leap of faith…The notion that natural evolutionary processes can account for the origin of all living species has never been and never will be established as fact. Nor is it “scientific” in any true sense of the word. Science deals with what can be observed and reproduced by experimentation. The origin of life can neither be observed nor reproduced in any laboratory. By definition, then, true science can give us no knowledge whatsoever about where we came from or how we got here. Belief in evolutionary theory is a matter of sheer faith. And dogmatic belief in any naturalistic theory is not more “scientific” than any other kind of religious faith.
Even Charles Darwin remarked, “I was a young man with unformed ideas…to my astonishment the ideas took like wildfire. People made a religion of them.” A century later, Whittaker Chambers added, “Humanism is not new. It is, in fact, man’s second oldest faith. It’s promise was whispered in the first days of the Creation under the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil: “Ye shall be as gods.”
Consider the practical implications of the two opposing worldviews expressed in Figure. The dichotomy of the two worldviews is clear. The evolution dominated worldview isolates the individual as a temporary, purposeless, and insignificant fragment of the universe dedicated to self-centered survival, a self-indulgent life and promotion of self-interests. It is a view that evokes all the characteristics on the left side of the Figure. Civilization eventually dissolves into chaos, which is soon overtaken by totalitarianism, personal freedom is lost and the individual is controlled by others. Ultimately he/she dies—that is the end—there is nothing more.
In contrast, the Judeo-Christian worldview recognizes the uniqueness of a person made in the image of God and assigned the dual purpose of loving Him and loving others. “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[Matthew 22:37; Deuteronomy 6:5 NIV] This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ [Matthew 22:39; Leviticus 19:18 NIV] All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” [Matthew 22:40 NIV] The Judeo-Christian worldview considers life as sacred to be honored and protected. The focus is on self-sacrifice, giving, and meeting the needs of others. Culture (civilization) is strengthened and personal freedom is maximized and guaranteed by a limited representational government. Ultimately, his/her eternal life is the supreme joy of being forever in the presence of the Creator.
Which do you prefer? Is it the frantic and frenzied high-stress short-term hedonistic pursuit of pleasure and avoidance of pain ending in annihilation (death)? Or is it the orderly, joyful satisfaction of meeting the needs of others, sharing life in a network of many others holding similar views, relishing the ultimate joy of sharing eternity with God and others in a place called Heaven? The choice should be an easy one, don’t you agree?
There is no evolutionist that perfectly fits the left side of the Figure. Similarly, there is no Christian that perfectly fits the right side. Nevertheless, a person’s wholly or partially adopted worldview will tend to drive him/her either toward the left or the right. Life is not static; the absence of movement is not possible. There will be “growth” in one direction or the other. In recent decades, growing cultural pressure has resulted in a general drift to the left of both the background American culture and also the Judeo-Christian culture, although the believers’ culture tends to be a few steps “behind” the background culture.
Jews and Christians have collectively displayed a growing character weakness primarily because they must live within a culture saturated with the fruit of evolutionary thinking. However, they are only available to a gathering of other believers in the churches and synagogues a few hours each week for what tends to be primarily a one-dimensional, spoon-fed intellectual education, i.e. listening to the teacher/preacher/rabbi in an atmosphere devoid of real personal experience. Believers often lack the soul-deep tools for resisting the nearly overwhelming cultural pressure. Consequently, a series of very slight compromises causes a sort of devolution (evolution in reverse) of moral sensitivities. The aggregate result of thousands of very slight compromises, by many people, is the leftward drift of the Judeo-Christian culture. The remedies will be in upcoming blogs. Meanwhile, what do YOU think?
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“The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next.” Abraham Lincoln
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Public Apathy Enables Rise of Statism Said President Ronald Reagan!
At Reunion Arena in Dallas, 1984, President Ronald Reagan stated: “Without God there is no virtue because there is no prompting of the conscience. … Without God there is a coarsening of the society; without God democracy will not and cannot long endure. … America needs God more than God needs America. If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a Nation gone under.”
In 1961, Ronald Reagan stated: “One of the traditional methods of imposing statism or socialism on a people has been by way of medicine. It’s very easy to disguise a medical program as a humanitarian project. … James Madison in 1788 … said … ‘There are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachment of those in power, than by violent and sudden usurpations.’ … What can we do about this? … We can write to our congressmen and our senators. … Say right now that we want no further encroachment on these individual liberties and freedoms. … We do not want socialized medicine. … If you don’t, this program I promise you will pass … and behind it will come other federal programs that will invade every area of freedom as we have known … until, one day … we will awake to find that we have socialism. And … you and I are going to spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children, what it once was like in America when men were free.”
Excerpts courtesy of Bill Federer
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“Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.” 1Peter 4:8 NIV “Hatred stirs up conflict, but love covers over all wrongs.” Proverbs 10:12 NIV
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“Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.” Thomas Paine
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“A little science estranges a man from God. A lot of science brings him back.” Francis Bacon
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Your Worldview Drives Who You Are, What You Think, the Decisions You Make, and How You Act!
What Is a Worldview? Why Should I Care?
Everyone has a worldview, whether they know it or not. A worldview is a soul-deep spiritual-level conviction regarding life’s most basic questions: Who am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going? The most basic conviction arises from a personal determination, either by investigation or by tacitly going along with the cultural crowd, regarding the existence or non-existence of God. That conviction becomes the passion that drives the rest of a person’s life.
Consider the difference between an emotional passion and a spiritual passion, which is easily clarified with a sports analogy. Suppose your favorite NFL football team has a great season and makes it all the way to the Super Bowl. For a week or so, before the big game the excitement builds until it becomes hard to think of anything else. Unless you have the means to travel a long distance and pay a very high price for tickets, you probably invite your friends over on the big day and put on a pot of your favorite chili.
An evening of screaming and hollering leaves you nearly voiceless. Win or lose, the game is the topic of water cooler conversation for the next day or so. Then—it’s gone—it’s over—just another statistic in sports history. That is an emotional passion. It is a temporary emotional roller coaster ride. It is great fun, but just does not last.
In contrast, consider the Olympic athlete who intensely trains for four, eight, twelve, or sixteen years enduring considerable pain along the way often sacrificing important aspects of life such as dating or family, in a relentless pursuit of the privilege of competing for one or a small number of Olympic medals. The medals do not have a great deal of tangible value and only a privileged few are ever pictured on the front of a Wheaties cereal box. However, the victories represented by the medals do attach significance and meaning to the life of the competitor, satisfying deep spiritual needs.
The victories or near victories separate the athlete from the vast majority of others who participate in the same sport, from childhood teams all the way to the Olympic team. Winning an Olympic medal is truly a world class achievement. Such an enduring passion and total commitment is a spiritual passion. The championship Super Bowl team may have pursued a spiritual passion as well. But for the fans, the game is merely an emotional passion.
A spiritual passion is the soul-deep conviction that forms a worldview and drives all aspects of life, including the choices made to satisfy the deepest spiritual yearnings for significance and meaning in life. Currently, there is a well-known credit card marketing campaign that uses the tag line, “What’s in your wallet?” The sponsors want their card to be in the deepest most secure part of your wallet, from where it will be used to transact most of your future purchases. Similarly, the worldview that is in your spiritual “wallet” will control most of life’s “transactions.” Consequently, the often taken-for-granted, neglected, or innocently assimilated worldview takes on monumental significance. Ultimately, there are only two worldviews. Either God exists or God does not exist.
Most of the early settlers arriving on the North American shores were seeking religious freedom. Their predetermined worldview confirmed the existence of God and His exclusive role as the only agent capable of completely satisfying all of a person’s spiritual needs. Judeo-Christian tradition formed both the foundation and the driving force of their lives.
Two hundred years later, the same culture became embedded in the culture of the United States of America, codified through the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. Although not everyone in the fledgling nation was a devout Christian believer, Judeo-Christian tradition so permeated the culture that it had a strong influence on virtually everyone’s sense of right and wrong, moral behavior, personal conduct, and interpersonal relationships. The American culture experienced a unique cohesiveness that successfully resisted the negative influences of other philosophies or belief systems.
As a result, the United States was blessed with remarkably close families and an abundance of prosperity. Unprecedented intellectual, emotional, and spiritual growth produced an outstanding quality-of-life resulting in generally good or improving personal health and a rich network of interpersonal relationships, beginning with the family and working outward. Similarly, America has enjoyed the world’s highest standard-of-living, related to accumulated material blessings. Both emerged from a God-centered worldview.
An opposing worldview, championed by pagan religious systems for several millennia, received a credibility boost when Charles Darwin published, The Origin of the Species By Means of Natural Selection or the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life in 1859. His concepts became known as the theory of evolution. Unlike passive religious systems, advocates for evolution quickly developed a confrontational relationship with Judeo-Christian tradition, because evolution appeared to provide a naturalistic explanation for every living and non-living thing in the universe. The naturalistic explanation became the basis for denying or marginalizing the existence of God. Two thousand years ago, the Apostle Paul accurately described the confrontation. To other believers we are the “fragrance of life;” to evolution-driven people, we are the “smell of death.” [2 Corinthians 2:15-16]
The two opposing worldviews rest on the most fundamental question of the ages. Does God exist? The Judeo-Christian worldview says that God of love absolutely does exist and is personally interested in our earthly affairs and our ultimate eternal destination. The Judeo-Christian worldview is supported by nature and God’s revelation of Himself throughout Divinely inspired inerrant Scripture—The Holy Bible.
The evolutionary worldview, championed by Charles Darwin and a host of others purports that all life forms emerged from a combination of extraordinary lengths of time, chance, and necessity (natural physical laws). Although the scientific support for the theory is astonishingly thin, the culture’s blind confidence in science has enabled the theory of evolution to be widely accepted as fact—a “fact” which has had catastrophic effects on the American culture.
People of faith often find themselves caught in the crossfire between the two major worldviews. Most people do not spend hours and hours sitting around discussing the details of the theory of evolution or its impact on society. However, they do emerge from the public school system and many private school systems with an embedded bottom line image of man as simply a highly evolved animal. The schools disallow any discussion of the flaws of evolution or any possible alternatives.
For Christians and others, the mental image of mankind as a product of evolution is sufficient to cast doubt on the Genesis accounts of the beginnings, creating a vulnerability to increasing cultural pressure that is continually reinforced by politicians, news media, all manner of entertainment outlets, neighbors, work associates, and friends. The cultural pressure has been so great that there have been increasing attempts to compromise Scripture to accommodate science.
Whoa! What exactly is being compared? “The Bible is supreme truth, and therefore it is the standard by which scientific theory should be evaluated, not vice versa. Scripture is God’s own eyewitness account of what happened in the beginning.” John MacArthur Why should anyone seek to compromise God’s perfect Word to achieve apparent consistency with the woefully incomplete and imperfect findings of human scientists? What do you think?
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All Freedom Comes From God; Governments Take It Away!
All freedom comes from God. The truest most perfect freedom existed only in the Garden of Eden. Ever since, the pride of mankind has caused power and authority to concentrate with time, resulting in the progressive loss of freedom. The nearly inescapable end result is tyranny. The loss of freedom has been experienced in all cultures and political systems throughout recorded history. When freedom exists to any extent, it will be lost unless it is fervently and aggressively protected, by the people (YOU). Consider the flow:
“…where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” 2 Corinthians 3:17 KJV
“Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” Galatians 5:1 KJV
All civilizations begin in a condition of chaos and anarchy with no external control by government or any other authority. Consider what might happen if you went down in a commercial airliner crash and became part of 100 survivors stranded on a remote uncharted island with no means of communication and little chance of rescue.
You and the other survivors initially work together for survival determining how to meet the immediate needs for food and shelter. Soon, however, disagreements break out, tending to escalate with time. At some point, a council of volunteers or elected members forms to draft guidelines for assuring more harmonious living among the survivors.
The guidelines prohibit certain actions and mandate others. But the voluntary guidelines are only partially effective and conflict continues. A mechanism is designed and designated people are given the authority to monitor compliance with the guidelines, seek violators, and punish them in a predetermined fashion. The guidelines have now become the beginnings of enforceable law.
Whoa! What just happened? All freedom…that’s right, all freedom comes from God as the incredible gift of free will, bounded only by certain moral limitations that He applies for harmonious living and to protect you and others from physical, emotional, and spiritual harm. Those limitations are an expression of His infinite and enduring love. Any form of government can only can only limit or deny any particular freedoms. Governments can only wield money and power in an impersonal way; they have no moral authority or ability.
Government continues to be “of the people, by the people, and for the people” as long as the laws passed and regulations adopted conform to or are aligned with Scriptural mandates as indicated by the region in the Figure labeled “Representative Government.” Such laws and regulations protect freedom.
God-given freedom powered by His love and limited by Scriptural boundaries—primarily the prohibitions of the Ten Commandments and moral/ethical limitations on behavior—depend on voluntary restraint. The prohibitions and limitations were given for the benefit of mankind to assure the richness of the human experience.
“From the day of the Declaration…they [the American people] were bound by the laws of God, which they all, and by the laws of the gospel, which they nearly all, acknowledged as the rules of their conduct” John Quincy Adams
“Though, when a people shall have become incapable of governing themselves and fit for a master, it is of little consequence from what quarter he comes.” George Washington
When laws are passed and regulations adopted extend beyond the region designed to protect freedom, then freedom is progressively lost. There is no reliable barrier along the road to tyranny. What do you think?
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Sovereignty: Free Family v. Controlling State
The family is the basic self-governing unit of all civilization. National or cultural cohesiveness and stability depend on the aggregation of cohesive families:
“Marriage makes a small state within the state. That bond breaks all other bonds; that law is found stronger than all later and lesser laws.…the small state founded on the sexes is at once the most voluntary and the most natural of all self-governing states. The Christian view of marriage conceives of the home as self-governing in a manner analogous to an independent state…In this way it is itself a sort of standing reformer of the State; for the State is judged by whether its arrangements bear helpfully or bear hardly on the human fullness and fertility of the free family.”
G.K. Chesterton
By definition, a government controls (rules) or limits freedom of individuals and families for the common “good.” Unless constitutionally limited, a government will grow without bounds, ultimately displacing the family, leading to tyranny. Consequently, there is a perpetual tension between the sovereignty of the free family and the sovereignty of the controlling government, as indicated in the Figure.
Families tend to break down as a result of a constellation of selfish decisions supported, facilitated, and encouraged by the government (divorce, abortion, euthanasia, infanticide, assisted suicide, career before family, allowing “strangers” to raise our children, uncontrolled personal debt, increasing dependence upon government and progressive dilution of the definition of what constitutes a family). While the clergy traditionally fights to preserve the family, the modern American government fights to destroy it.
Families and individuals living in a Judeo-Christian based culture seek to put others before self. Although doing so is a lifetime journey, the ongoing effort harmonizes many interpersonal relationships and much of society, even among those who are not adherents to Judeo-Christian tradition.
When a culture such as the United States moves from a faith in God to a faith in evolution-rooted humanism, it migrates from an emphasis on serving others to serving self, producing sharp and dramatic increases in the most selfish decisions of all—those involving life and death.
Choices forbidden for millennia in Judeo-Christian and most other cultures first become legalized, and a short time later endorsed and even facilitated by active government promotion and financial support. The most selfish decisions ever made include divorce, abortion, euthanasia, allowing strangers to raise a married couple’s children, and prematurely side-barring inconvenient relatives in institutions such as nursing homes. In a declining culture, those horrible, heart-wrenching decisions become the new norm. Many so called government-sponsored “entitlement programs” effectively promote wrongdoing (sin) by subsidizing it.
When Self reigns supreme, there is no limit to the evil that can be perpetrated by one person on another. At the national (cultural) level, the evil is readily cloaked in appealing language such as “pro-choice” or “death with dignity.”
No civilization has ever survived the breakdown of the family!
What do you think?
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Happiness in the New Year Depends on Virtuous Living!
This time of year “Happy New Year” is everywhere. The greeting is repeated so often, it almost seems as if it is on autopilot. The New Year is celebrated with parties, prayers, parades, and football games. But how can we assure happiness in the New Year?
Happiness is often equated with momentary or short-term excitement. “My favorite team won the Super Bowl!” “I got an ‘A’ in chemistry!” “She said ‘YES!’” There is no doubt about it; everyone enjoys that type of feel-good excitement. But it is based on emotion; it does not last. No one can live on a perpetually emotional high.
In contrast, a lifetime of long-term happiness has deeper spiritual roots that provide the support to withstand life’s challenges and hardships as well as celebrate the victories. That dimension of happiness reflects an inner joy anchored in a robust faith in God. Ever since Adam and Eve were evicted from the Garden of Eden for disobeying God, every life has experienced occasional or sometimes long-term suffering. But a robust faith provides a clear vision of the light at the end of the tunnel and an appreciation of the character building opportunities associated with the hardships. The inner joy may be severely challenged but remains secure despite the pain.
Although my late wife never suffered any real physical pain, she did endure the progressive loss of physical mobility and mental capacity. Did her suffering have a purpose? Absolutely! Her experience dramatically and permanently changed my life and has had a rapidly expanding rippling effect on everyone with whom I come in contact. I explained to a rather large crowd at her memorial service that she and God gave me one of the greatest gifts I have ever received—the wonderful and glorious gift of tears. As a man, an engineer trained in logic, and the product of a rather stoic family, where there was not much room for a manly expression of tears. But the wonderful and glorious gift of tears stirred by seven years of accommodating her progressive loss opened up to me whole new realms of life experience both emotionally and spiritually that were not previously available. I became much more sensitive to the needs of disabled people and virtually everyone else as well. Her experience also contributed greatly to the motivation to write a book.
Here’s the deal: Ultimately, happiness is the result of living a virtuous life. How boring is that? Actually, a virtuous life is not boring at all; it is very rich, satisfying, and happy. During George Washington’s First Inaugural Address, he emphasized, “…there is no truth more thoroughly established, than that there exists…an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness…” To President Washington, the link between “goodness and happiness” was plain and inescapable.” Further, Noah Webster found that, “If a republican government fails to secure public prosperity and happiness, it must be because the citizens neglect the divine commands, and elect bad man to make and administer the laws.” A life based on virtues anchored deeply in the soul produces goodness of choices and actions that ignite a happy and joyful spirit within an individual and ultimately across cultures.
Happy New Year to YOU!
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American Exceptionalism Exists! You May Not Know Why.
References to American exceptionalism have recurred with increasing frequency in recent years. Some champion the notion; Russian President Vladimir Putin has recently scoffed at it on several occasions, regarding it as a representation of American arrogance. American exceptionalism arose because a critical mass of Americans looked to God as the source of everything for the first 150 years of United States history.
Because Americans looked to God and loved God they enjoyed His abundant blessings. Americans were blessed with the ability to generate the world’s highest standard-of-living and best quality-of-life. America became the standard of freedom and the envy of people around the globe. People everywhere wanted to become Americans, be like Americans, or copy American styles and fads. America was a leader and a positive role model for the world. Spectacular military successes in two world wars and incomparable economic successes simply reinforced the image of American exceptionalism.
But in recent decades as Americans have increasingly abandoned God His hand of blessing has receded. America’s worldwide reputation for outstanding leadership has been shattered. Leaderless America wanders in a spiritual wilderness, shamelessly and repeatedly elects a government that squanders vast financial and material resources, and has become a worldwide negative role model that regretfully attracts as much attention as did the previous reputation for being a positive role model. People throughout the world still follow America’s downward spiral with as much gusto as they followed America’s upward climb to greatness. America’s influence extends far beyond its shores whether for good or evil.
But without God, Americans are no better than anyone else. American exceptionalism arose not because Americans are exceptional but because God is exceptional. He still is. Does American exceptionalism still exist? You decide. If you lean toward, “no,” know that God is still exceptional. American exceptionalism can again become abundantly visible to the world only to the extent that Americans become once again willing to trust God and to love God. Are YOU willing to become part of it? Individuals of Judeo-Christian tradition and faith-based institutions can no longer be content to rearrange the deck chairs on the rapidly sinking American Titanic.
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Homemaker Enjoys The Most Important Career in the Universe!
A Homemaker enjoys the most influential and vital career in the universe. She is responsible for the stability of a culture and the cohesiveness of the family. She is the panoramic link in time, connecting the generations. She links the past to the future, ancestors to descendants. She is primarily responsible for raising the children in a manner that stabilizes their future and transmits critically important values to the next generation. In short, she makes the home the most desirable place in the universe for her family.
When the homemaker leaves the home, love leaves like air out of a flat tire. The home becomes the house, little more than the building where everyone comes to sleep at night.
Consider the fruit of a family-centered family as opposed to a career-centered family:
- Builds strong cohesive families when Dad is responsible for standard-of-living and Mom is responsible for quality-of-life
- Promotes a partnership between married men and women that grows closer with time
- Children reared by those who love them most…Mom and Dad
- Low risk monogamous sex provides for pleasure and reproduction
- Number and frequency of venereal diseases sharply reduced and largely eliminated
- Few abortions, because the unborn child is an expression of the parents’ love
- One man; one woman; one lifetime is the stable marriage norm accepted for six millennia
- Men and women both desire the stability of marriage
- Stable relationships between a man and a woman due to the certainty of the marriage commitment
- Infrequent divorce due to love and respect for spouse as well as responsibility for children
- Legacy of cultural stability passed on to successive generations
- Children experience and enjoy the complementary influences of a mom and a dad
- “Alternative lifestyles” viewed as against nature, culturally destructive, and inappropriate especially when children are involved
- Children are more stable, less stressed, more secure, and behavior is more predictable and…when necessary…more controllable
- Husband and father is vital to the well-being of the family
- Preserves and reinforces the sanctity of life and sanctity of marriage
- Protects and reinforces the sovereignty of the family
- Lifestyle evokes a happier and healthier woman and strong family relationships
What do you think? Have we lost something vitally important in our modern American culture?
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What is Love?
Ask a number of people, “What is love?” Most will be unable to define “love,” even though nearly everyone uses the word virtually every day and often many times a day. Some people will respond with a blank stare, some with a quip (It’s like pornography; I know it when I see it.) Occasionally someone may say that, “The Bible tells you all about love in I Corinthians 13.” True, that passage does list the characteristics of love but, does not define it. Rarely does anyone get it right.
If you talk to any Christian for a few minutes on the subject of love, he/she will go on autopilot and somewhat mechanically refer you to 1 Corinthians 13. Since all Scripture is inspired, it’s great stuff. However, it is a post-graduate course in love that is seldom understood in a soul-deep, urgent, action-oriented sense, despite the thousands of sermons devoted to it. Just as some university courses have certain prerequisites, God’s graduate course in love also has prerequisites.
Very simply, “…God is love…” [1 John 4:16 KJV]. That’s it! Love is defined in just three little words, with no qualifiers. Now that does not sound very romantic does it? It certainly doesn’t sound very Hollywoodish. But there you have it in three simple words: God is love. The implications are profound. Love is the basis and driving force for ALL interpersonal relationships, including man-woman, parent-child, boss-employee, teacher-student, friend-friend, and neighbor-neighbor. The standout differences that distinctively set apart the marriage relationship include its intensity, depth, level of intimacy, and permanence. However, all relationships are built on love. Relationships grow to the extent that love grows; relationships weaken or terminate to the extent that love weakens. Love is so important to individuals, interpersonal relationships, and ultimately to cultures that a closer look is inescapable. What do you think?
Dr. Lloyd Stebbins 