The Coming Storm

I'm always fascinated by the changing social norms in this country.  National Review Online wrote a piece recently which essentially calls deviant behavior the "new normal."   As many of you know, I am a strong believer that the First Amendment in the Bill of Rights (not to mention the other articles of freedom:  The Constitution and the Declaration of Independence) have clear moral foundations in Christian value.  I'm not talking Christian values as practiced (or rather violated) by some, but the values standard that we all as Christians should aspire to uphold and live by.  This nation will continue its downward slide until we recapture the essence of that value.

In many ways, it goes to what a growing segment of the population is fixated on:  namely, the Christian claim of Jesus' resurrection from the dead.  So many who claim to not even believe in God seem fixated on the topic.  It seems that the common theme to the claims challenging Jesus' resurrection lie simply with the fact (and it is a fact) that it cannot be proven.  Many have tried, but there is simply no way to, short of building a time machine, going back to witness all the events that are historical, by the way, and see what happens first hand that first Easter Sunday.  Oddly enough, there are many who were indeed witnesses, and they have recorded their accounts for us.  We call it the "Bible."  It is also worth pointing out that, as we cannot "prove" that it happened, we also cannot disprove it.  This is an important distinction, because when one takes the approach we are supposed to have in our legal system, it would follow then that the truth lies in the preponderance of the evidence.  As I mentioned, many of the events recorded along with the Biblical account are indeed factual and borne out by other ancient and historical witnesses.  This is not written to discuss the resurrection per se, but simply to point out that as a result of what opens this post, the world is going to do its best to prove to the Christian community that it did not happen, thereby unraveling everything else that goes along with it, including the moral value that comes from Christianity on which this country was founded.  They cannot prove that.  Yet they will continue to try.

It is the logical outcome of a world that has become self-absorbed and cares only about its own interests and not at all about others.  This is the world we live in.  Oddly enough, it is the world of the Old Testament Patriarchs as well, and the warnings they were given by all manner of observers, prophets, and the like, went unheeded, until the storm hit, as predicted.  It was Dr. Gracia Grindal of Luther Seminary who, in the 1990's, commented that the church used to be a place where nothing was permitted and everything was forgiven.  Today, she says, everything is permitted and nothing is forgiven.  This is at the heart of today's deviant behaviors being seen as "normal," and yet un-forgiven.  It is also at the heart of what is at stake here in America.  We as a society must re-learn the standard for "normal" behavior in America, and must learn to enforce it.  At the same time, we must also learn to forgive more as well, because in the end, none of us can stand completely virtuous and upright.  Or as Romans says, "all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God."  Our society is headed for a disaster of Biblical proportions if we continue to lose sight of that moral standard and value that shaped and guided this country through its founding and growth.  Yes, we had many problems during those times as well, but that same standard continued to guide and shape our response to those problems as time passed.

Last Sunday, we dedicated a new church building to the glory of God.  Emotions still are mixed, despite that it was a fantastic day, and the weather was beautiful.  First of all, it is one more of those "I didn't think I'd ever be doing this" moments in life.  But second, it goes back to a year prior when we broke ground, and there was indeed a storm that came through as we were wrapping up our cookout after the groundbreaking service.  Pastor Russ Saltzman spoke of the disciples and their incredulity at the massive stones which made the Jerusalem temple in Jesus' time, and Jesus' own prediction that a time would come when not one stone would be left on another.  The same is true with our church building.  How different it looks today than from a year ago.  How different the weather was from a year ago as well.  And if it becomes nothing more than a church that seeks to only serve its own interests, it will be little more than a collection of concrete, wood, sheet rock and glass.

You see, the mixed emotions lie with the coming storm here in America that will follow the godlessness and a-morality (the "new normal" of deviancy) that exists today.  We cannot ever be a church that seeks to impose its' will on society.  However, we cannot also ever be a church that simply sits by and does nothing while our society crumbles around us.  Years from now they'll ask us:  "where were you when the United States collapsed?"  and our reply cannot be "we just stood by and watched it happen."    Seems the place to begin is with recapturing what it means to be a nation founded on Christian virtue and principle.    Seems we all could spend a lot more time learning right from wrong in an absolute sense, rather than on what we think right and wrong ought to be.  And, it seems we all need to learn how to forgive more, and let the forgiveness we receive from God guide us as we strive to live lives of virtue, guided by the moral fabric that has guided countless generations before us.