If we compare culture or society to a 24 hour day as some have done with the history of the universe, the results are not promising. It is unclear who first said it, but the sentiment is a valid one: "those who repeat history have failed to learn anything from it." Our society and world are crumbling around us at an alarming rate, but it is not from the reasons that some would identify.
And yet there are generations (or at least classes) of people who believe that the world is a fine place, and that we are getting better as a humanity. The clock is not about to strike midnight, they might say, but the morning of a new day is just dawning. Oddly enough, the question of midnight blackness vs. morning sunrise was taken up by C.S. Lewis in his fictional novel "The Great Divorce." In it, passengers catch a bus which takes them from hell to heaven. In hell, everyone fights, no one lives on the same block because hatred of neighbor runs so deep, and the twilight is about to give way to total darkness. In heaven, however, the twilight is giving way to dawn, as all those who made the journey are asked to give up and reject everything about them from hell that they carried with them.
Now without getting into any theological discussions on the merits of Lewis's book (I for one find that as a work of theological fiction, it is a fantastic little read, not for it's theology so much but for its' portrayal of the chasm between heaven and hell, and the total contrast of the two as it applies to human existence and behavior. And it is that behavior that I see here, that tells me that the culture clock is about to strike midnight. The "classes" of people who believe in the goodness of humanity are varied, but often they comprise the more socially and politically liberal elements of society. It is one thing to see this in society, but when those who are theologians fall into such a category, it is absolutely baffling. Why? Because it is a complete and total denial of the human condition - one which is clearly and articulately spelled out by the church time and again. Christianity as a rule does not believe in the "goodness" of humanity, but rather the complete and utter depravity of it. The greatest and best of history are still, in the final analysis, sinful - having committed errors, sins, and negative acts toward others. And so for theologians to take such a view is, in the final analysis, a denial of the Christian belief in the power of Christ to save, not to mention that any "goodness" on humanity's part comes only through our collective wills being captive to God's.
Take the recent San Francisco 49'ers quarterback controversy: Colin Kaepernick's refusal to stand for the national anthem. Many of the same people who laud him for his courage in publicly making his statement absolutely ridiculed Tim Tebow a few years back for praying on the field. If you are one of those people, YOU are what is wrong with America. This is the problem today: right is wrong, up is down, and good and evil have been thoroughly confused. Many want to compare society to the rise and fall of the Roman Empire, and while that comparison might have merit, quite simply history shows that any affluent society eventually develops apathy toward the very thing our founders point to as the source of all rights: God.
So where do we go from here? How do we get to a new day dawning? It's pretty simple, really. What made America great once was it's religious conviction at the core of its existence. That has been lost today. So as the old country preacher says, "its not where you've been, but where you go from here." Want a new day? Want to make America great again? Want to be stronger together? It starts by getting out of the hell that C.S. Lewis depicts, and seeking once again the presence and providence of God, along with all the necessary changes to the human ego and behavior that are demanded of those who are captive to the will of God. Stop being offended by everything and everyone. Start living as though life and others truly matter in this world. Start living in accordance with the will of God who calls us out of the evil of the human heart, and into the goodness of the Christ who teaches us to love one another as we have been loved by God.
If the clock strikes midnight, we have no one to blame but ourselves.
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