Posted by
peripheral on Tuesday, June 09, 2009 8:01:08 AM
From My Perspective - - -
Is “religion” vital and essential for the well being of a nation and
its citizens? Is it merely a psychological and emotional “crutch” that
gives people a sense of enablement and empowerment? Does it serve any
useful purpose to (a) believe there is a God, and to (b) think that he
has a concern and ability to make any real difference of any sort in
world or personal matters? Have we become pluralistic regarding the
“God-Factor” and succumbed to a conglomeration of what different ones
identify as “God” to and for them?
The Philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) dealt with this
question when he spoke and wrote about “God Is Dead”! The idea is
stated in "The Madman" as follows: “God is dead. God remains dead. And
we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of
all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has
yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood
off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals
of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the
greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become
gods simply to appear worthy of it?”
This view was later picked up and popularized once again by Bishop John
A.T. Robinson (1919-1983) and stated in his book, Honest To God.
Reviews about his approach include: “The overwhelming theory of Honest
to God is the idea that having rejected the idea of 'God up there',
modern secular man also needs to recognize that the idea of God out
there is also an outdated simplification of the nature of divinity…He
claims that secular man requires a secular theology. That is, that
God's continuing revelation to humanity is one brought about in culture
at large, not merely within the confines of ‘religion’ or ‘church’, so
called.” The book also introduced the idea of situational ethics to an
English speaking audience. This was a form of relativism, based on the
idea that moral codes are not set in stone, but may be subject to
circumstances.
Interestingly, the Media has attributed a form of ‘divinity’ to
President Obama. The belief is he is the one who can affect and effect
change for the good of this nation and the world. As a matter of fact,
on June 5, 2009, Newsweek editor Evan Thomas brought adulation over
President Obama’s Cairo speech to a whole new level…declaring on MSNBC:
"I mean in a way Obama’s standing above the country, above the world,
he’s sort of God." And to think, this adulation is bestowed on one who
has declared to the world that the USA is no longer a “Christian
Nation” (even though our foundational documents declare otherwise), and
then this past week when speaking in Cairo, Egypt to a largely Muslim
audience he stated, the USA is one of the largest Muslim Nations in the
world (there are 1,500,000,000 Billion Muslims in the world – there are
less than 2 million in the USA). However, if President Obama is a “sort
of god”, one would suppose in his omniscience this must be true.
This whole idea and notion of denying the One True and Eternal God has been around since time began. Romans 1:18 through 32
is a very clear description of where we have arrived as a nation and
how we got to this point. If Evan Thomas is correct about the “sort of
God” that we now embrace, the Apostle Paul is even more correct in Romans 1:24-25
- and this apt and accurate summary: “…God gave them up in the lusts of
their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among
themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and
worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator…” A
frightening truth is shared in Hosea 5:4-7,
“Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God. For the spirit
of whoredom is within them, and they know not the Lord. The pride of
Israel testifies to his face; Israel and Ephraim shall stumble in his
guilt; Judah also shall stumble with them. With their flocks and herds they
shall go to seek the Lord, but they will not find him; he has withdrawn
from them. They have dealt faithlessly with the Lord; for
they have borne alien children. Now the new moon shall devour them with
their fields.” Is this where we are today? Is this the stubborn and
foolish choice we insist upon? Are we willing to “bend” or must we
become “broken” first? Seek the Lord while He may be found, Call upon
Him while He is still near!