I digress from the Parable of the Talents today for something I have to do every now and then to clear my mind and refocus. I have to reflect on and speak about the moral climate in which my children will be forced to raise my grandchildren. I wonder how the Father can continue to delay the coming of the Son even as his wrath must wax hot against America and the world. My adulthood has certainly witnessed the unraveling of the moral texture of our young nation. It is simply unfathomable to me that I can turn on the Country and Western radio station and hear a song (a hit!) about having a beer with Jesus! Does Thomas Rhett really want to talk to Him?…Well, he will one day, and it will not be in a bar. It will be amazing beyond what he can now imagine when he comes face to face with God to hear the Lord pronounce His eternal destiny and he will deeply regret making light of the One who said “Wine is a mocker and strong drink is raging and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise,” (Psalm 20:1).
Then I switch to the pop station and hear the number one song on the Billboard charts…the most popular song this week in America: “Locked out of Heaven” by Bruno Mars–a sacrilegious parody comparing sex to worship and heaven. I know immorality has always existed in our country, but there was a time not long ago when we were a bit ashamed of it, when we spoke publicly against it and certainly mainstream America did not revel in the blasphemy of mixing sensuality with the sacred. I have to wonder how the God of Cozbi (Numbers 25) can possibly find appeasement for His indignation in 2013? Can He?
I scanned the newsfeed today and read the ABC report from Brussels, Belgium in which 45 year old twins were lethally injected with a serum to end their lives, according to their directives, because they were going blind. This scene occurred at Brussels University Hospital on December 14th, 2012:
The men, who were born deaf, had a cup of coffee and said goodbye to other family members before walking into a hospital room together to die, their doctor told Belgian television station RTL.
“They were very happy. It was a relief to see the end of their suffering,” said Dr. David Dufour.
“They had a cup of coffee in the hall. It went well and was a rich conversation. Then the separation from their parents and brother was very serene and beautiful,” he said. “At the last there was a little wave of their hands and then they were gone.” (http://news.yahoo.com/deaf-twins-going-blind-euthanized-165500992–abc-news-topstories.html)
Really? This country, Belgium, which was about 17 years behind our own in legalizing the taking of innocent human lives in the womb has taken such a leap into the legalization of euthanasia that it has legalized and normalized the deliberate ending of adult life, even when no terminal disease is present? Do not be fooled into thinking we , as Americans, are far behind in witnessing this atrocity in our own hospitals. Physician-assisted suicide is already perfectly legal in the states of Oregon and Washington.
I am attending a baby shower this week-end and I love a bargain. But I’m not going to buy this onesie found on the clearance “rack” of the Obama campaign site. (I don’t think my friend would find it useful.)
I guess I missed it when it was $20.00 during the campaign, but now it’s half price for any two dads who want to put this on their truly pitiable little tyke (https://store.barackobama.com). This just turns my stomach…that the societal mores in our country have ebbed away from righteousness to the point that the leader of the free world was elected while this was in his campaign store. Is this incredible to anyone else but me?! Again, I say, the nation cannot long stand. We can but peruse the annals of history to be fairly certain that our nation is on the brink of falling from within. It’s not rocket science to figure out that the Romans 1 kind of society cannot long prosper. To dress an innocent baby in a onesie that promotes homosexuality, to read him stories that make him accepting of a perversion of sex before he even understands what sex is, to normalize that which is against nature itself BEFORE he is even aware of the deep ramifications of sexuality in the human experience is just an egregious injustice to the innocent. It is not temperance. It is not social justice. It is a brainwashing the likes of which any religious speech in our public forums never approached.
The bottom line is that the things which divide us as a nation are deeply spiritual. The songs, the doctors, and the onesies aren’t the problems. The problems are not even the biggie-sized soft drinks in New York or the guns in Newtown. We know what the problem is: It’s a grievous void of personal responsibility due to the absence of faith in the hearts of American people.
You may be thinking that assessment is an oversimplification. But I say that problem is anything but simple. It springs from a religion that America embraced back in the days of the reformation– a religion that abandoned any human accountability for salvation. Even religious people then became comfortable with spiritual apathy (after all, if God is going to save me by grace alone regardless of any work I may do or leave undone…. What’s the point?). From the abandonment of human culpability in religion sprang a society of people who have no sense of personal moral (or fiscal) accountability. And thus, we’ve come full circle to a society that has neither studied, believed, or taught our children the principles that save souls and make nations prosper. It should not surprise you when the onesie for sale on the presidential campaign site is promoting pedophilia or even bestiality. When we decide there’s no absolute moral standard, what’s wrong with sex of any kind? What’s sacred about any human life? What’s inherently good or bad about any moral choice, for that matter? Expect lots more Newtowns and fear for your personal safety and that of your children. (You are already afraid to let your kids walk alone in your neighborhood and you are a bit apprehensive about their safety at school.) If you are a Christian, expect ridicule and prepare for outright persecution. But remember every day that life is short and eternity, where there is no fear for the saved, is…forever.
