Defining Reality
Two men have argued about the truth of Christ for two hours while traveling together. At the end of the conversation, one man says to the other, “Well, of one thing I’m certain, there is no such thing as absolute truth.” The other man smiled and quipped, “Are you absolutely sure?”
My wonderment and befuddlement are daily on display as I watch secular humanism continue to gain ground in America. My wonderment is my state of awe at how people with lousy and losing arguments can seem to dominate. My befuddlement is how the general population can be so gullible so as to deny reality. This plays out daily in the public and political realm. If I attempted to explain it here, in this space, I am not sure it would help. Maybe you sense the same thing, that the world has lost its mind and declared fiction as truth. Narrative has replaced history and you are told not to believe what your lying eyes tell you is true. The most frightening aspect is the public and bold censoring of what is in front of you and saying, “Nothing to see here.” I am not sure how much of what people say is true, or in the long run real, but I do know this, reality has its own voice and when reality knocks you to the ground, you can no longer ignore it.
This happened to communism, but it took seventy years. It is very likely that China will defeat the United States, and we will become a third-rate nation. Like the Roman Empire, the ground on which Americans live could be broken down into feudal states run by princes. In the end though, China will fail just like the Soviet system failed because it is built on false ideas that humans ultimately refuse to live under. And democracy eventually fails as well because it gradually becomes more inclusive and permissive, and standards are lowered to accommodate those who would be left out and left behind if life’s rewards were distributed through merit. The two extremes of societies are oligarchy on the right and pure democracy on the left. In the middle is the United States; it is a republic.
The concept of a republic protects a society from the democratic excesses and temptations that destroy it. That is why the Electoral College, two senators from every state, the separation of powers, an independent judiciary, and the Bill of Rights are in place - to keep the country from being run by a simple majority of the most populous states. It saves America from power grabs and mob rule. I would be surprised if the United States does not, like most societies, fade away in future generations because of our failure to live with the truth of competition, merit, hierarchy, and the difference between equality of opportunity from equality of result. Heaven itself is filled with crowns, rewards, and differences.[1] People think it is cute that our world is becoming more Orwellian or like the Brave New World, but we should prepare for a long and anguished societal lament. I am unlikely to see it, but a great anxiety and regret will come to whatever configuration this good land finds itself in the future. This great anxiety will precede the great awakening.
Once a people have rejected their heavenly visitation from the incarnate God, the gradual departure of good takes a few generations. This normal deletion in history takes time, but globalism and technology and Big Tech domination and control of information will speed it up. Norway is held up as a godless society that is clean, nice, and prosperous. It is all those things, but in fact, research shows that Bible reading in the home is still a national tradition, and the fixtures of their culture have been laid by western civilization based on the morals of Christian theology. Norway is living off the Christian dividend, until secularization squeezes it out. This is in process in the United States, we however, are far more embedded in the Christian narrative than Norway.
The theological and philosophical left in American have now taken control of our universities, schools, media, and popular culture, and the long march is nearly complete. This is primarily about academia and the cultural elite who control the levers of power. A few may profess to be Christian and it well may be true that they are in some sort of way. But the sort of way they are not is worldview, the sort of way they are not is that they don’t believe in absolute truth or that religious knowledge is absolute and equal in status to science. They live in a two-story world where the upper story is faith, religion, personal experience, and subjectivity. The lower story houses science, reason, objectivity, engineering, chemistry, and the hard side of knowledge. They hold on to upper story knowledge like they do UFOs, ghost stories, Noah and the ark, Jonah and the great fish, Jesus and the resurrection and the idea of heaven, Mother Theresa, the Dali Lama, and The Lord of the Rings.
Living while losing
How do we go about life when it looks like we are losing the battle for the mind and soul of America? The research shows that the church is in decline, our society is growing more secular, leaders are weaker, people are softer, big tech is controlling the information, and the goal defies reality and common sense. It was Francis Shaeffer in the 1970s who asked in a book and film series, How Then Should We Live? I have always sensed that the church and common sense would win out. I am still holding on a bit to that idea, but I’m about ready to let go. I am joyful, I sleep well, and I go about my day delighted with God, but the idea that I am now in a minority in worldview has begun to set in. Accepting that more people than not are disagreeing with how I see the world is hard to swallow.
Have the majority of my neighbors adopted the belief of Immanuel Kant without ever hearing his name? Kant taught that ultimate reality is unknowable, that we can only know the appearances of things but that we cannot go beyond the appearances and know the ultimate reality. Jesus saying, “I am the truth,” I am the ultimate reality, or “You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free,” these are unattainable. If that is so, if I and/or we are in a knowledge minority, then the question Francis Shaeffer asked as he walked through a scene of desolation in the aforementioned film, How Then Should We Live? must be asked again.
How then should I live? I have decided to look down at my jersey and see what team I am on. I am on the human team. That means that there are billions of us who are in the same situation - we are human, we are fallible, we are mortal. In that sense, we are in this all together, regardless of our differences. I am also on the American team; this team is special in that we live in the most remarkable place on earth. We live in a land that is an idea. The idea that all of us are created equal by God and have been given by him the right to life, and the pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness. Faithfulness to this quest is lived and sorted out between the people and their government. There has been, and always will be, a tug of war politically about the meaning and application of these words and how they are applied. And it is in this sense that one can sense that they are losing and the country they love is slipping away. Then I peel off that jersey and underneath I am wearing the Christian jersey. I know that my team is the winning team because in the end God brings peace and justice to the world and does so impartially. I conclude that the Kingdom of God is different than any earthly kingdom.
The Kingdom of God is where God’s will is being done and is composed of his authority and power.
The Kingdom of God spreads through witness and my role is to be a faithful witness of Christ my Lord.
The Kingdom of God is international, composed of every nation, tribe, language, and people.
The winning and losing are God’s business, mine is to joyfully and with intention represent him faithfully every day.
[1] Biblical passages that speak of rewards and gradations of living in Heaven. James 1:12, Mt. 16:27, Mt. 5:12, 2 Cor. 5:12, Rev. 22:12, Mt. 25:21, I Cor. 3:13-15, Mt. 5:17-19, Luke 18:22,2John 1:8, Colossians 3:23,24, Mt. 19:29, Rev. 2:26, Romans 2:12-14
