The Intoxicated Mind
G. K. Chesterton argued that new ideas are actually more dangerous to the person who has not studied them. Because he has no mental filter, a new idea will “fly to his head like wine to the head of a teetotaler.” [1]
I am still in a search as to how our culture has lost its collective mind. Chesterton’s thesis is as good as any for a starting point. Intoxication has its virtues - euphoria, temporary illusions of grandeur, openness, laughter - and it has its penalties - sickness, regret, crumbled documents signed while under the influence, and more serious maladies as well. However, thinking and intoxication are not friends. There is a reason you don’t want your pilot or surgeon to be just a little more relaxed right before they perform.
A poorly educated populace is easy prey for new ideas because they have no filter. That filter should be the ability to critically think. That is what good teaching and instruction is supposed to achieve in educating the young generation of a society. Today’s general populace, and its younger generations, are poorly educated. They do not think critically, and therefore, their minds are easily intoxicated with new ideas. And most of the destructive ideas are not new. They are old ideas that are recycled into younger, more defenseless minds. That is one of the reasons morality is in decline. It might seem that we have hit moral bottom, but as we continue thinking about Paul’s three-stage societal decline defined in his letter to the Romans, I am afraid we are not at bottom.
You mean it could get worse? Yes.
“Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking...”
Romans 1:28a
This is the third (I’m not sure it is the final) cascade into moral confusion and then cultural collapse. Paul labeled it “foolish thinking.” And be sure of this: it is human thinking without divine assistance. Reasoning without revelation always leads to foolish thinking when that thinking is about moral foundations and conduct. What is even worse is the lack of moral restraint, the inability to curb the human appetite for power - for any advantage, a better place in line, a more comfortable seat on the airplane, to be a US Senator rather than a state representative, President rather than Secretary of State. What makes it all worse is the little add on to Paul’s description that unleashes an ugly catalogue of pathology that is designed by Lucifer to destroy humanity. [2]
“… and let them do things that should never be done.”
Romans 1:28b
Let your mind explore the category of things that should never be done. This statement goes backward to what he has already described and now forward to the moral cesspool he plans to name. It is compounded in that human creativity becomes a trigger for how they invent new ways of sinning. So, let us summarize, things that should never be done, plus the invention of new ways of sinning. This is all supercharged by the unrestrained exercise of humanity’s destructive abilities.
Not very long-ago pedophilia was thoroughly rejected in our culture. Across the political spectrum from far left to far right, child molestation, adults taking sexual advantage of children was considered the bottom of the moral barrel. It has been considered repugnant for a person like Jeffery Epstein to exploit underage girls and when photos of said girls are found on his property it makes most people sick and proves his guilt. It is even worse when you learn that many in the media and politics covered up his sins for political reasons.
Recently however, the unthinkable has become as least thinkable. There is controversy over the new Netflix’s series Cuties. Its critics say it is the sexploitation of pre-teen girls. The film's advertising includes a poster of girls in skimpy dance outfits and twerking. Many are outraged by the French film. Just as an aside, whenever an apologetic is being put forward for a previously morally outraged work of art, the term “French film” provides some air cover. Somehow smut is more acceptable if it comes from France with the proper wine and cheese. Back to its defenders, vive la defense - they say we are all just too exercised about this whole thing and if we would settle down, it too shall pass. They are right. If critics and, of course, those prudes who care about their children, would just cool it, this will become acceptable in due course. Before you know it, sexual child abuse will be a crime no longer. Pedophiles won’t go to jail, instead they will go to therapy. Pedophiles will no longer be considered incurable. When felons are released from prison, they no longer will need to register as an offender, and you won’t know they live next door. Just imagine a world where the only place left where justice can be done on earth as it is in heaven will be a federal prison where the inmates take justice into their own hands and administer punishment.
This is an example of how the unthinkable becomes the commonly believed and then, finally, encouraged. It qualifies under the rubric, things that should never be done. They are working with a knowledge that understands:
“They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway.”
Romans 1:32a
“Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too.”
Romans 1:32b
“Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful.”
Romans 1:29-30a
I hate to say it, but I have witnessed all this behavior among church leaders. So, this is not a special depravity reserved for the non-religious. It comes down to the difference between a community or society accepting these qualities as normative and one where they are rejected. If they are officially rejected in a church, and people are cautioned and disciplined when exercised, then they are restrained. This is obviously what Paul is saying because the first verse of Chapter 2 says, “You may think you can condemn such people, but you are just as bad, and you have no excuse.” No one gets a pass on this behavior. The difference is that those who openly practice such things, approve of them, and encourage others to do the same are the ones being condemned. He says they deserve to die.
The word that describes the world in which we are living is nihilism. Nihilism literally means nothing. It essentially proposes that there is no absolute truth. Basic questions such as, “Is it true or false?” or, “Is it good or bad?” are routinely dismissed. Friedrich Nietzsche had it logically right when he concluded that nihilism leaves only the will to power. The future would belong to the Ubermensch, the superman who dares to exercise his will and power. He is the one who will conquer.
Morality has become utilitarian and asks, “Does it work?” American religion, in particular, has focused on pragmatics rather than theology, and we are poorer for it. I heard only yesterday that the focus groups have concluded that the ongoing riots in the streets are hurting the Democrats in the polls. Therefore, their candidate was forced to come out against violence, looting, and destruction. Isn’t the logic interesting? Your reason for taking a moral stand against violence is a concern for loss of power. I am not saying the Republicans would not do the same; they are utilitarian as well. This is nihilism at work because morality and justice, what you speak up about, is determined not by conscience, but by personal and party advancement.
I sit at night rubbing my eyes and shaking my head, wondering how much worse it could become based on what I see on television or read online. It causes me great concern for our future, for my children and their children. The world is becoming a morally confused cesspool. Because we don’t know history and are not teaching history to the young we are doomed to repeat its mistakes. It’s not fair to expect young people to behave much better than they do in many cases because we have failed them. We have failed them in our public schools, in our churches, and in the arts - films, theater, print media. The media no longer are neutral referees. They are wearing jerseys of a particular party or world view.
How many fingers am I holding up? As many as the controlling elite says I am.
[1] G. K. Chesterton, Heretics, Radford, VA: Wilder, 2007 1905, p.115. As presented in Nancy Pearcey’s Finding Truth, 5 Principles for Unmasking Atheism, Secularism, and Other God Substitutes, page 254.
[2] John 10:10 identifies Lucifer’s purpose for human beings, “To kill, steal and destroy.”
