An "I" Culture

What are the traits of current culture? Well, our friend to the right is a large part of current culture. It is the "me" or "I" culture, is it not? In a world that seems to change by the minute, one thing has not changed and that is our selfish disposition.

Let's look at what we are dealing with in our own country. The NBA is in a battle over dividing up billions of dollars between the owners and the players and neither side understands how foolish they look to the many who are just looking for work. Our leaders continue to blame each other and refuse to accept any responsibility for anything. Which begs the question: how effective can a leader be if he or she does not understand the most basic of leadership principles... assuming leadership means also assuming the responsibilities associated with the leadership position.


As a people, we have fallen for the lie. We have bought into the fallacy that selfishness will make us happy and content when the exact opposite is true. I was trying to explain this concept to my kids on the way home from church the other day. We talked about which of these ideas, selfishness or selflessness, is best for the most people. If we are all selfish then only those of us with the most money and the most power win, but only for a short period of time. For it will not be long before someone comes along who has more money and more power than we do, but if selflessness reigns then we all have the best chance of achieving some of our dreams because we are constantly looking out for each other. Selflessness will not employ power and money; selfishness will. But, there is one major flaw to this issue... our nature.

We will be selfish because that is who we are. We are sinners with a tendency to be about ourselves and not about others. If you think honestly about who you really are, you will have to admit that once you strip everything away you really want to be for yourself. It takes a conscious effort on your part to be for someone else. It is divine and supernatural to be selfless and focused on others and not yourself. It is this divine attitude that changes towns, cities and even countries, and, sadly, it is this attitude that is largely missing in our country's leaders and in our country as a whole. As times get tough, it will become increasingly apparent that this trait is missing in the vast majority of people.

If you look at these "occupy" protests you see a people protesting... what? I still don't really know what they are protesting. I assume that they believe they are protesting the rich who they also assume have gotten us into this mess, but what they are really protesting, in my opinion, is... success, only they don't really know it yet. The last time I checked the laws of this country, it was still legal to achieve wealth, and we still live in a democracy that runs on capitalism, right? So, in essence these protesters are protesting their own future success. But, we will all risk everything for the future promise of something for nothing, and this flows right out of who we are outside of Christ. We are and always will be for ourselves without divine intervention.

But, should we be protesting? If the answer is yes, then what should we be protesting? Well, there is really only one group that has no checks and balances, that has all the power and takes risk with no consequences, and that group is our politicians. It is these men and women that ask all of us to tighten our belts and take one for the team, and the whole time they have never once failed to vote themselves a pay raise. It is government that has had job growth and virtually no recession while the rest of us suffer through both. What the founding fathers have feared has become reality. We are now ruled not by one king, but by many.

We now live in a country with a culture defined by three traits: pragmatism, practicality and individuality. With these traits forming the current culture and the majority of our desires, it is no wonder that everything is now important. Things we might deem minor are major because there is no collective moral fiber being sown. There is no collective cause, nothing of which to be proud and certainly no quilt of agreed upon principals with which to build any unity. The giving spirit of the past is slowly dying and eroding away. Everyone is now for themselves and looking out for number one which means everything is of the utmost importance to self and can not be squandered on anyone else other than self. It also means those with the most power and the most money win most of the time, and we all know who those people are. 

Is it any wonder that this "I" mentality is a major part of current culture? It is exactly what scripture predicts in Proverbs 14:12 which states: "There is a way that seems right to man, but its end is the way of death."

Many will refuse to admit it, but the Bible is again accurate in regards to our human condition and our future predicament. The way, in the end, almost surely leads to death unless something changes. G.K. Chesterton, when asked what was wrong with the world, replied, "I am," which is still the answer to today's question. We must start with ourselves before we look at others. If we do, we may just have a chance. Blessings! 

Better or Worse

In 1992 Francis Fukuyama wrote an interested book entitled, The End of History and the Last Man. In that book he wrote this:

"The experience of the twentieth century made highly problematic the claims of progress on the basis of science and technology. For the ability of technology to better human life is critically dependent on a parallel moral progress in man. Without the later, the power of technology will simply be turned to evil purposes, and mankind will be worse off than it was previously."

Now I have no idea where Fukuyama stands spiritually, but I can probably guess after reading his book, but that does not matter. The issue is not his spiritual standing; the issue is his statement above. Is it valid?

We tend to look at technology as a panacea - something that will solve all of our social and educational ills. Today's technology is no different than yesterday's; the computer, the horse or the car... all must be created or managed by mankind. Technological advances, no matter what they are, better no one and save no one on their own. We can examine history and see evidence of how technological advances, initially used for good, were eventually used for evil. Does that mean we do not continue to create and invent? Absolutely not!

But, it does mean that we must understand culture to understand where we currently are in relation to the past. Fukuyama is right in the fact that the moral progress must not stop. Sadly, it's progress has slowed. Somewhere along the way, morality became a weakness, a sickness, if you will, of which we must be cured.

It is interesting that Fukuyama makes this statement early in chapter one of his book, goes on to examine the Industrial revolution and its role in history, democracy and its relationships to fascism and communism, and, yet, never comes back to visit this idea of moral decline. Instead, he ends chapter one pointing to this idea of betterment as he writes,

"As we reach the 1990s, the world as a whole has not revealed new evils, but has gotten better in certain distinct ways. Chief among the surprises that have occurred in the recent past was the totally unexpected collapse of communism throughout much of the world in the late 1980s." 

Today, in 2011, we struggle with many things. In our country alone, we have two parties who have lost the ability to debate on issues. We have a national debt spiraling out of control, an economy on the brink and a polarized nation. Why? When morality is removed from the our national psyche everyone is right, all the time. There is no equation for unity because 1+1=1.

Morality is the fiber that strengthens the national fabric in ways that allow for difference and debate. When there is no moral fiber there will be no debate because the fabric is weak and frail, especially in the middle. The middle is where the real work gets done, and where the moral fiber is strongest. It is the moral fiber that brings the many different pieces of fabric together in order to have one large quilt made of many different pieces of fabric, each important and distinct in their own way. The moral fiber takes all those differences and brings them together, forming one strong quilt. Without the moral fiber, each individual fabric stays isolated and becomes paranoid and protective, and all actions are for its own purposes and protection. Sound familiar? Better or worse, that may not even be the question any more? Blessings! 

Richard Weaver

The words of Richard Weaver, in his book, Ideas Have Consequences, are as important today as they were when he penned them in 1948. Weaver writes,

"It is the appalling problem, when one comes to actual cases, of getting men to distinguish between better and worse. Are people today provided with a sufficiently rationale scale of values to attach these predicates with intelligence? There is ground for declaring that modern man has become a moral idiot."

Weaver writes that when no one desires to examine their own lives or accept rebuke for their own actions what is lost is any idea of a superiority of an ideal. I would say that his prediction is amazingly accurate. In today's world, everyone "should" own a home, have a good job, go to college and the list goes on and on. Just thirty years ago, these things were "wants," reserved for the best and the brightest who worked hard and stayed clear of trouble. Today, they are re-classified as needs, given to everyone regardless of their circumstances. How will we ever distinguish better from worse when we can not distinguish needs from wants? It is the first question of many more to come.

The Power of Culture

Recently I posted comments on a book entitled, To Change the World by Dr. James Davison Hunter. In his book, Dr. Hunter questions the normative view of culture and every norm associated with it.

Culture is thought to be about hearts and minds, and to change culture one simply had to change the majority of hearts and minds. Dr. Hunters believes this is not the case at all. He, not only, challenges this notion but provides an alternative view of culture, which, after dwelling on it and re-reading that section of the book, I tend to agree with his analysis and subsequent theory on this.

Dr. Hunter believes that culture is a "normative order by which we comprehend others, the larger world and ourselves and through which we individually and collectively order our experiences." Dr. Hunter believes that the heart of culture is a "complex of norms" or as he has termed them, "commanding truths." Dr. Hunter believes that these "commanding truths" define the "shoulds and should nots of our experiences and the good and evil, the right and wrong, the appropriate and inappropriate, the honorable and the shameful. To put it succinctly, Dr. Hunter describes culture as a system of truth claims and moral obligations." To him culture is really about ideas.

If Dr. Hunter is right, and I believe that he is more right than wrong, then, what does this new view of culture say about the role of education in acquiring morality? Outside of the family, there is no greater teacher of morality than the educational institution. It is said that values and morals are caught more than taught, and that the act of catching comes from sheer hours of time spent in connection with others who already have values or are also catching values. The truth that we claim and the morality that we follow, from where do they come?

Truth and morality begin within the family, but as your child grows others begin to partner with you in this process despite your greatest protests. Teachers, friends, coaches and friend's parents start to become part of this process - not intentionally, of course. As your child's world expands, they begin to spend more time away from you and with others. They play, run and imagine in different ways and with different others. They interact with the world through their family, their friends, their teachers, their coaches, their mentors and their heroes. All of this affects the formation of their truth and their morality in a deep and impacting way. Eventually, a fabric is woven into a worldview that is, in essence, reality for all of us. Dr. Hunter believes this created worldview is so embedded in who we are that it is reality for all of us. He writes,

"[Worldview] is not just our view of what is right or wrong or true or false but our understanding of time, space, and identity - the very essence of reality as we experience it."

Dr. Hunter's view of culture is very different and very helpful to those of us who want to understand the power of culture and its impacting effect on all of us. He writes on what culture is,

"One must view culture, then not only as a normative order reflected in well established symbols, but also as the organization of human activity surrounding the production, distribution, manipulation, and administration of these symbols. Another way to say this is that culture is intrinsically dialectical. It is generated and exists at the interface between ideas and institutions; between the symbolic and the social and physical environment."

If it is indeed a battle of ideas and their relationships to all of us, and I am beginning to believe that it is, then the education we choose matters greatly. The power of culture is two-fold: culture is a powerful influence on who we are, and it is a power that can be changed by ideas and the people who promote them. Education is an important variable in their equation. Stay tuned for more comments on this very interesting topic! Blessings!

A Nation at Risk... Still!

In April of 1983, the National Commission on Excellence in Education published A Nation at Risk. The study clearly rang an regarding the deterioration occurring in our secondary schools. The study stated,

"Secondary school curricula have been homogenized, diluted and diffused to the point that they no longer have a central purpose. In effect we have a cafeteria-style curriculum in which the appetizers and desserts can easily be mistaken for the main course."

The report was the first of many warnings issued to all regarding the issues occurring within our schools, especially the issue of morality in our public sector and many private sector schools. There was a deterioration of morality taking place in 1983, and things have not improved. Gary DeMar in his book, Whoever Controls the Schools Rules the World states our issue,

"Modern educational theory lacks a comprehensive and cohesive worldview. The lack of a central purpose is at the heart of the problem."

The nature of learning is one rooted in standards and views of the world. Someone has to decide what to teach, how to teach and by what standards to teach. DeMar states that "the development of an educational philosophy will always rest upon some ultimate standard of authority." There is no neutrality when it comes to education; the process will not allow it. Your students will be indoctrinated and encultrated by the school they attend because it is a naturally occurring by-product of the process of learning. There is no stopping it.

We know the created order, just like mankind, is distorted and tainted with sin. Modern man has a dilemma with out Christ and modern education, left unchecked and corrected, will continue to replicate this issue as best illustrated by this story as told by Norman Harper,

"A certain factory worker had the responsibility of blowing the whistle every day at precisely 12:00 noon. In order to be sure of the correct time, he set his own watch by a clock on the wall of the local jewelry store. After doing this for some time, it occurred to him that the jewelery store owner had to have some standard by which he set his clock. Thus, one day when he was in the store, he inquired of the owner, "Sir, how do know what time to set your clock?" The jewelry store owner replied, "Well, you see on the other side of town there is a factory and every day precisely at noon they blow the whistle..."

Education is about history, math and English too, but do not be fooled, it is also very much about worldview, indoctrination and enculturation. George Grant, who will speak at our Alumni Banquet this January, reminds us of this,

"One of the best demands of Christian discipleship, of following Jesus Christ, is to change our way of thinking. We are to "take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:5). We are "not to be conformed to this world but [are to] be transformed by the renewing of our minds" (Romans 12:2). In other words, we are commanded to have a Biblical worldview. All our thinking, our perspective on life, and our understanding of the world around us, is to be comprehensively informed by Scripture."

This is a tall order, but one worth pursuing. How will you instill this idea and way of thinking in your children? Might I suggest praying about Christian education in conjunction with a Christ-centered church and regular family devotions. Dr. Grant reminds us that a "Biblical worldview in not optional. It is mandatory." Blessings!

Where are the studies...

Oakland, Pittsburgh, North Carolina, Alabama and the list goes on and on. Senseless heinous crimes committed for no reason and with increasingly frequency. What is the answer? Why are there no large prestigious universities committing millions of dollars to the study of sudden increasing frequency of these crimes? And, why are there no studies to determine if there is a correlation between the removal of God and morality from our schools, courts and social sectors with the increase in frequency and severity of crime?

We see money spent on all kinds of studies these days. Here are just a few example that are, sadly, true:

1. Talking on your cell phone after you go to bed makes you tired the next day.
2. Night shift nurses have poor sleep habits.
3. Playing with puppies makes you feel good.
4. Athletes perform better after a good night's sleep.

Yet, I can find no study currently in process linking the increase of violent senseless crime with the absence of God and morality in the culture. Why? Maybe, just maybe, they already know what they will find?

What ever happened to honor and integrity?

As I watch our future "leaders" debate and jostle for position in the next election, there are two words that never come into any conversation: honor and integrity. What has happened to these two elements in today's society?

First, honor is defined as "the esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation; reverence; veneration." The Bible addresses honor in all venues whether it be family, church, in submission to rulers, the social realm or the body of Christ. The definition suggests that if something or someone is due honor then it or they are due honor regardless of opinion or external influence. In today's self-centered world, honor, or the giving of it, is not intrinsically rewarding to the person giving honor so, naturally, it decreases in value, eventually disappearing to the point of extinction. And, that is our world today.

Integrity, on the other hand, is defined as "the quality or state of being of sound moral principle uprightness ,honesty, and sincerity." Interestingly, there is no direct Greek word translation for integrity in the Bible. The closest Greek word is the one which translates to perfect or complete. Some suggest that to have integrity one must be complete and whole, and in order to do this, one must be in Christ.

The absence of the two words in the world makes sense from a Christian perspective because, according to our study of the scriptures, to receive honor one must be be of sound moral principle...perfect and complete. Again, it makes sense to me why the two words have disappeared from our political realm, but in another, it is alarming when one comes to the realization that our leaders do not even try to reach these standards anymore, and we, who elect them, do not even work to hold them to these standards.

Honor and integrity are missing from today's society and that fits right in line with scripture, but what does not fit is why these two words are missing from today's Christian church? An article I read recently stated that "as the church we have abandoned the idea of perfection, preferring instead to dwell on God’s acceptance of our failures, rather than on His ability to deliver us from them. This attitude works contrary to the notion of deliverance which is obtained through faith in the name of Christ Jesus."

Now, I do not believe you can achieve perfection this side of heaven, but that should not stop us from pursuing it with all that we have. The pursuit of perfection is a spiritual act of honor and integrity because we are called to be imitators of Christ, and we are called to the obedience of His Word. There are too many of us who put our needs and opinions before those of our Savior, and by doing this we become disqualified for the traits of honor and integrity. Instead, we are content to continue to dwell in our sin day in and day out. We prefer to dwell "on God's acceptance of our failures" instead of His holy power to help us overcome them. Honor and integrity are two traits that belong to the Christian! May we claim them as ours in Christ for His great glory!

Empiricism and the Christian

What you see is not always what you get or so the saying goes. These lines appear to be all different in length, but in reality, they are all the same size. Some days you can not even trust your eyes; they betray you too. Of all the senses, the eyes ought to be the ones to trust, but to no avail, they too fail us... eventually.

When we examine today's practices and theories we find a heavy dose of empiricism, and why not? After all, our country was founded on the notions of one of the first classical British empiricists, John Locke. The empiricists believed that all knowledge derived from experience, and they were openly hostile toward rationalistic metaphysics and it use of speculation and epistemology grounded in innate ideas. Locke posited the idea that the mind at birth was "tabula rasa" or a blank slate. Once born this blank slate was informed by sense experience and acts of reflection. We, as Christians, need not go any further until we resolve whether Locke was right or wrong. To often we steam roll ahead not worrying about the right or wrong of an idea. We must learn to think and debate ideas with the hope of finding God's truth and exposing it to a watching world.

Knowledge without innate ideas is not knowledge at all. Innate ideas are what breeds consciousness and morality. One of the best examples of an innate idea is the belief in God. It would seem to me (and my feeble mind) that if our mind was tabula rasa then there would never be a belief in God or even the invention of the concept of God. God is so 180 degrees different than man that the concept could not have come out of a mind that was purely tabula rasa. Why get on this pedestal tonight?

For one reason: most today believe in empiricism and believe if they say it enough, play it enough and deny it enough it eventually becomes true. They believe that multiple experiences eventually supplant truth. And here is the sad reality, we Christians are empiricists too. We believe that experience is king; we live as if it rules the day. Why is this so terrible? It is again our attempt to be God. William James maintained that "the empirically observed directly apprehended universe, requires no extraneous trans-empirical connective support," and of course by this statement he meant to rule out the perception that there can be any value added by seeking supernatural explanations for natural phenomena. That rules out all references to a Holy God. The idea that all knowledge is derived through the senses is an issue for the Christian. Yes, the Holy Spirit dwells inside of us, but He does not dwell in contradiction to His word. He dwells inside of us united with His word.

As I go forward, I do so studying His word with the hope that I can overcome my empiricist ways by walking a more consistent walk united with my Lord through His perfect Word.

Thinking Christianly in a Postmodern World IV

Thinking Not Rooted in the World: Part I

The world is all that there is: that is the message sent to all of us these days. Yet, despite that message there is a tension between what we know as real, and what we are told is real. That tension is the world vs. the Word.

In John 1:1-5 we find that the Word, the Logos, actually refers to the deity of Christ Jesus. Logos, in the Greek, refers to reason or logic - an abstract force that brought order and harmony to the universe, at least that is what the Greeks posited. John gathers all of these qualities and attributes them to Jesus. There are many other references to Jesus that are just as compelling. My point in this line of thinking is this: a mind focus on Christ is a mind that can think Christianly.

A mind focused on Christ must be oriented in several ways, and these ways are found in Romans 10:9-10. First, it must believe in the Word. In believing the Word, we who do so must believe what it says and live by what it says. Second, we must also live and believe the Word by way of the way we live. And finally, we must live, believe and think the Word.

But, this mind focused on above must live in the world. In order to do that safely, we must understand the world in which we live. In the same way a soldier can navigate a mine field with a map, so to we Christians can navigate the world with a better understanding of the landscape in which we live.

Reality is composed of three cultural spheres. The first sphere occupied is the secular sphere which represents the world by way of the current culture. This realm is composed of the cravings of sinful man and hostile to our Lord. The second realm is the Judeo-Christian sphere. Today, this only means that this sphere is some what moral and not necessarily Christian. And the third and final sphere is the evangelical realm of true Christianity. It is the smallest sphere. We live and worked in all three at once. We run the risk of being most influenced by the sphere in which we dwell most. What is the answer?

Thinking that is Christian is of course is our calling and our answer. This begins with living a life that is consistently Christian. How?

1. Avoid living a dualistic life of placing things in sacred and secular categories. Jesus is Lord of all.
2. Know Christ and Honor Him. The path to this is through His Word.
3. Think in Christian categories. Knowing your Bible and work to build a habit of putting your Lord first in all things.
4. Citizenship must be the kingdom first and foremost. A house divided can not stand. You must know Jesus as Lord and Savior. To do so takes a simple prayer between you and God asking to be a child of the King. Once you have prayed this prayer, go find someone to tell and then find a Christ-centered Bible-believing church.

What do we do with all of this now? We ask some questions.
Do you feel the tension in your life between the world and the truth?
Do any of us truly desire to fully think Christianly all the time?
How do we get to the point of thinking Christianly?

If you have some good answers leave them for the rest of us in the comments section. Happy Christian thinking!

Pelagianism is alive and well!

Dr. Michael Scott Horton writes that the salvation of Pelagianism is rooted in paganism by way of promoting the concept that human beings have it within themselves to save themselves.

Failure to believe that salvation is from God leaves no other choice but salvation from man. From where I sit, many "Christian" ministries and churches are sowing seeds of Pelagianism.
Pelagius, the father of Pelagianism, set out with firm moral convictions as he was confronted with the decadence of Rome. He wanted Rome to change so badly that he moved away from the idea of original sin because it was not a good aid to mass conversion.

As Dr. Horton writes, "So Pelagius countered by rejecting original sin. According to Pelagius, Adam was merely a bad example, not the father of our sinful condition-we are sinners because we sin-rather than vice versa. Consequently, of course, the Second Adam, Jesus Christ, was a good example. Salvation is a matter chiefly of following Christ instead of Adam, rather than being transferred from the condemnation and corruption of Adam's race and placed "in Christ," clothed in his righteousness and made alive by his gracious gift. What men and women need is moral direction, not a new birth; therefore, Pelagius saw salvation in purely naturalistic terms-the progress of human nature from sinful behavior to holy behavior, by following the example of Christ."

Sound familiar? Our greatest need is found in our Bibles: Jesus Christ! Rejoice if you have been claimed by Him. If you have not, ask Jesus to show you that He is indeed real. How your life will change!

If you desire to read Dr. Horton's article in its entirety please click on the link below.

http://www.modernreformation.org/default.php?page=articledisplay&var1=ArtRead&var2=448&var3=main&var4=Home