6-2-14<\/p>\n
Schools, public schools anyway, these days are de-emphasizing the standards of the past, the values of our culture, the traditionally cherished aspects of our American heritage. Progressives do it; conservatives decry it; and the vast center of society is populated by folks who largely are intimidated, confused, defensive\u2026 or guiltily change their views about once-cherished “foundational” beliefs.<\/p>\n
People try to be open-minded, and are frequently made to feel at fault if they are not sufficiently \u201ccompassionate.\u201d Or they are branded as racists or bigots when such feelings had never been part of their thoughts. Or they feel forced to confront, and accept, all forms of social deviancies or political abnormalities that, privately, are anathema to that Great Middle of every culture. <\/p>\n
Sometimes, one\u2019s mind can be so open that one\u2019s brains fall out.<\/p>\n
Ours is a society that is experiencing relatively sudden, and seismic, changes to manners, morals, and traditional, foundational beliefs. Throughout history such philosophical dislocations are usually signs of cultures in decline. Decadence comes to all civilizations; it is merely a matter of when\u2026 not how.<\/p>\n
No matter how much a society thinks it has discovered new truths that applied to all previous societies but not them \u2013 in matters of morality, public virtue, family structure, respect for authority, encouragement of spiritual values \u2013 it is a certain template that one civilization\u2019s moral \u201cliberation\u201d is coldly recognized, after its inevitable fall, by future generations, as common decadence. <\/p>\n
I began by criticizing public schools, but that was to note that such institutions merely codify what the society believes. Our children would not have lost their moorings if we had not loosed the ropes to the mother ships. And, with the kids, if it were not schoolbooks \u2013 let\u2019s say we turn to home-schooling \u2013 they see the rotten movies from Hollywood. If not there, it\u2019s television; if not there, the musical culture that is everywhere; if not there, the advertising in magazines; if not there, the displays in shops at the mall; if not there, the conversations they overhear on the street, and the drugs they will be offered; if not there, the unavoidable trash on the internet; if not there, the corruption of politicians and execrable news stories; if not there, the dictates of bureaucrats and decisions of judges.<\/p>\n
And so forth. With such a blueprint of shame, we can scarcely blame children who go astray. Rather we should pity them, and rescue them. <\/p>\n
And, by the way, note that all the attacks I have just listed are self-inflicted. Our Christian culture has foreign enemies, but we can only be defeated from within. And… it is happening.<\/p>\n
The first rescue attempt, if we wake up some Monday morning with cleansed hearts, stiffened spines, and firm resolution, would be to reform the rotten culture that we as adults serve up to our children. It is our creation, and our parents\u2019 \u2013 the \u201cfinest generation\u201d? \u2013 because the earlier challenges of society were routine problems of human nature… until our contemporary downward spiral began. Seldom, once again looking at the sweep of human history, seldom has a culture disintegrated so quickly as ours.<\/p>\n
It is as if society is playing on a virtual football field\u2026 but in this 21st-century game of life, there are no boundaries on either side of the field; no yardline-markers; no goal posts \u2013 because we no longer have goals, and we deride competitiveness \u2013 and no rule books, referees, or time-limits.<\/p>\n
The virtual \u201cgame of life\u201d in Western culture sees us scurrying around, making and breaking rules, committing infractions and ignoring penalties, dismissing the concept of teammates, craving the approval of the crowd, hogging the ball or throwing it away carelessly, and believing that we have invented the greatest game in the world.<\/p>\n
If this analogy is apt, then we must go at least one step further, and consider that the Western Church, the Church in America, has failed even more so. It had been the foundation of our civilization; the builders\u2019 plan of our democratic republic, the American Experiment. And, in stark truth, it is not the Church itself (in biblical parlance) that has failed: for the Church\u2019s one foundation is Jesus Christ our Lord. <\/p>\n
The American Church has not failed. But its leaders have.<\/p>\n
Like the chaotic football game I described, significant segments of the church today are aimless, self-centered, denying rules and traditions, inventing playbooks as they go along, discouraging the belief in goals or individual progress, focusing on ticket sales and the roars of the crowd, and declaring that there are no such things as rules, infractions, or penalties.<\/p>\n
It is an ugly game \u2013 not, of course, a game at all. The Church in America, the American establishment, and too many families, are proving the adage that when you believe in everything (that is, what is pleasing and convenient for the individual, at any moment)\u2026 YOU BELIEVE IN NOTHING.<\/p>\n
Will we wake up that theoretical Monday morning with clear heads and restored hearts? My guess is no, but there are always surprises. On a societal level, masses in Europe seem to be awakening to the attacks on Western heritage, and asserting borders, language, and culture in their voting booths. On the spiritual front, I am heartened by the explosive growth in Christian belief, both evangelical and Pentecostal, south of the Equator. And, more, that Africa and South America are sending many missionaries to Europe, the United Kingdom and Ireland, and the US — lands these new believers see as \u201cmission fields\u201d needing to hear the gospel.<\/p>\n
Our playing-fields might again paint yardline markers, and erect goal posts, yet. Let us dream. Let us work. Let us pray.<\/p>\n
+ + +<\/p>\n
The way things are now, do you ever feel that you don\u2019t belong? \u201cThe Sojourner\u2019s Song\u201d opens with, \u201cIt’s not home, Where men sell their souls And the taste of power is sweet. Where wrong is right, And neighbors fight, While the hungry are dying in the street. Where kids are abused, And women are used, And the weak are crushed by the strong. Nations gone mad; Jesus is sad; And I don’t belong\u2026\u201d This short music vid from a church service contains a few more sobering words\u2026 and then glorious hopeful ones. Watch:<\/p>\n