HOW IN THE WORLD DID WE GET INTO THIS MESS?
A Frenchman by the name of Jean Paul Sartre taught that since we have no idea of who we are, where or what we came from, or where we are going, we have no hope for the future.
With this as the foundation of our belief, the present is all that we have or can count on. Future goals are not valid or may even be foolish.
This philosophy has permeated our institutions of higher learning for the past few decades resulting in the “NOW GENERATION” which could also called “THE CAN’T WAIT” generation. The pleasure of the moment is the only sensible goal for our existence. After all “YOU ONLY GO AROUND ONCE IN LIFE SO GET ALL THE PLEASURE YOU CAN GET.
The fifteen dollar word for this hopeless and futile belief is Existentialism.
The manifestation of this Godless doctrine is lawlessness, crime, rioting, abortion, homosexuality, fornication, adultery, and a rotting drug culture.
If what today’s culture teaches is true, then man is impersonal and has no more value than any other part of the Universe. There can be no moral distinction between cutting down a tree, killing a mouse or a whale, or destroying a human life. If a human is essentially no different than a tree or a whale, then his future is no different and his value has been reduced to zero which results in despair.
When man tries to destroy God and His plan he ends up destroying himself.
But, there is another philosophy that makes sense and gives us hope and that is the Biblical philosophy.
Eric Sauer in his book, “From Eternity to Eternity,” says, “As the creator of the course of history and the governor of Heaven and earth, God controls the universal process. Therefore, as the Lord of history, He and He alone, can explain history. Therefore, the Bible is the Book of mankind, the key to world events. Our understanding of the world of human affairs depends upon our attitude to it.”
In reality, there is no hope outside of the Biblical perspective.
The church that our parents attended taught a different gospel than we hear in most churches today. Today’s gospel, incidentally, the word gospel means good news, offers about as much hope as our culture offers.
I want to share a graphic example that was brought to my attention a couple of weeks ago.
A couple of weeks ago while working in Nome Alaska, several of us rode down the beach about 15 miles to a gold mining camp. The camp brings up about 200 miners for two weeks at a time and allows them to mine for gold on the beach. They have sluice boxes set up for each of them and they are allowed to work the sand and gravel in an area around their box. They shovel the sand and gravel into a tilted box where water washes the sand and gravel down a slope over a carpet lying on the bottom. Since gold is heavier than the sand and gravel it settles into the carpet while the sand and gravel washes out the end.
I was talking to a miner after supper and asking him questions about his operation. One of my questions was, “How do you know that the same sand and gravel that you are running through your sluice box today was not run through someone else’s box two weeks ago, or last year, or for that matter will be run through someone else’s next week or next year.”
His response was, “I was thinking that same question as I was working and not finding any gold. All I am getting out of this is a sore and tired back.”
That got me to thinking about the kind of preaching that we hear in most churches these days. All of the precious nuggets have been picked out of the seeker friendly message so that no one is offended. There is nothing more offensive than someone telling you that you are a sinner and need of repentance. The result is that all that is left is a lot of words that have no hope, no encouragement, no direction, and above all else, no salvation. It is just like fine sand running through an hourglass that accomplishes nothing except that time is running out for both the preachers as well as the listeners.
The gospel is full of precious nuggets if it is preached in its pure form without being diluted or polluted.
Those miners pay a lot of money to search for gold only to find that it has been picked over before they got there and those church goers pay a lot of money to sit in the pews only to find that the message that they hear has been picked over before they are allowed to hear it.
Psalm 119:72 says “Truth from your mouth means more to me than striking it rich in a gold mine.” (The Message Bible)
With this as the foundation of our belief, the present is all that we have or can count on. Future goals are not valid or may even be foolish.
This philosophy has permeated our institutions of higher learning for the past few decades resulting in the “NOW GENERATION” which could also called “THE CAN’T WAIT” generation. The pleasure of the moment is the only sensible goal for our existence. After all “YOU ONLY GO AROUND ONCE IN LIFE SO GET ALL THE PLEASURE YOU CAN GET.
The fifteen dollar word for this hopeless and futile belief is Existentialism.
The manifestation of this Godless doctrine is lawlessness, crime, rioting, abortion, homosexuality, fornication, adultery, and a rotting drug culture.
If what today’s culture teaches is true, then man is impersonal and has no more value than any other part of the Universe. There can be no moral distinction between cutting down a tree, killing a mouse or a whale, or destroying a human life. If a human is essentially no different than a tree or a whale, then his future is no different and his value has been reduced to zero which results in despair.
When man tries to destroy God and His plan he ends up destroying himself.
But, there is another philosophy that makes sense and gives us hope and that is the Biblical philosophy.
Eric Sauer in his book, “From Eternity to Eternity,” says, “As the creator of the course of history and the governor of Heaven and earth, God controls the universal process. Therefore, as the Lord of history, He and He alone, can explain history. Therefore, the Bible is the Book of mankind, the key to world events. Our understanding of the world of human affairs depends upon our attitude to it.”
In reality, there is no hope outside of the Biblical perspective.
The church that our parents attended taught a different gospel than we hear in most churches today. Today’s gospel, incidentally, the word gospel means good news, offers about as much hope as our culture offers.
I want to share a graphic example that was brought to my attention a couple of weeks ago.
A couple of weeks ago while working in Nome Alaska, several of us rode down the beach about 15 miles to a gold mining camp. The camp brings up about 200 miners for two weeks at a time and allows them to mine for gold on the beach. They have sluice boxes set up for each of them and they are allowed to work the sand and gravel in an area around their box. They shovel the sand and gravel into a tilted box where water washes the sand and gravel down a slope over a carpet lying on the bottom. Since gold is heavier than the sand and gravel it settles into the carpet while the sand and gravel washes out the end.
I was talking to a miner after supper and asking him questions about his operation. One of my questions was, “How do you know that the same sand and gravel that you are running through your sluice box today was not run through someone else’s box two weeks ago, or last year, or for that matter will be run through someone else’s next week or next year.”
His response was, “I was thinking that same question as I was working and not finding any gold. All I am getting out of this is a sore and tired back.”
That got me to thinking about the kind of preaching that we hear in most churches these days. All of the precious nuggets have been picked out of the seeker friendly message so that no one is offended. There is nothing more offensive than someone telling you that you are a sinner and need of repentance. The result is that all that is left is a lot of words that have no hope, no encouragement, no direction, and above all else, no salvation. It is just like fine sand running through an hourglass that accomplishes nothing except that time is running out for both the preachers as well as the listeners.
The gospel is full of precious nuggets if it is preached in its pure form without being diluted or polluted.
Those miners pay a lot of money to search for gold only to find that it has been picked over before they got there and those church goers pay a lot of money to sit in the pews only to find that the message that they hear has been picked over before they are allowed to hear it.
Psalm 119:72 says “Truth from your mouth means more to me than striking it rich in a gold mine.” (The Message Bible)
posted by Jim Burton at 5:04 PM
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