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It doesn't seem to matter which side of the political fence we're on, in 2023 the typical adult citizen of the United States is convinced things aren't going very well.
If you're on the Left, you're concerned about white supremacy, racism, Donald Trump, Trump voters, insurrections, Climate Change, Q-anon, Proud Boys, AR-15's, capitalism, unequal outcomes, homophobes, transphobes, Islamophobes, people-of-color-phobes and those pesky antiquated religious types, typically embodied as Christians. If you're on the Right, you're concerned about communism or socialism gaining more of a foothold in our government, non-stop lies from the mainstream media and elected leaders, a holocaust of 60 million deaths for the sake of convenience, and official public institutions promoting and sometimes legally protecting the sexual indoctrination and transmutation of children too young to make permanent decisions about their bodies and identities. A bit of a pickle, as both sides are concerned with completely different issues and are dismissive of the other side's concerns. Do we just continue with this ever broadening canyon between our worldviews until we devolve into chaos, or is there a way out of this mess? I would like to suggest a way out but beware, you may not like it. WHAT IS THE BASIC PROBLEM? There's something called Natural Law which used to be commonly understood to mean that morals, responsibilities and rights are universal and unique to human nature regardless of time period or culture. In the 21st century, in specifically Western cultures, Natural Law has been supplanted by narcissistic relativism. Which is to say more directly, God has been transmuted from Sovereign Creator to designer fantasy. If this sounds like a non-sequitur or a non-starter, allow me to explain why it's neither of those. We are all human beings. There are certain things we share that transcend the complexities of personal philosophies and agendas. First and foremost: our biology. The search for truth is hopeless if there is no foundation upon which to build the framework one needs to begin discernment. Since our entire life experience occurs within our bodies, it follows that our biology serves as a central reference point in our perception of the universe. This biology we can't escape also carries with it interesting properties, such as intricate systems and sub-systems. Circulatory, nervous, muscular, skeletal, digestive, reproductive, hormonal and immune systems. All these complex and exceptionally organized systems work together to produce the body that you inhabit. I use the word 'inhabit' for lack of a better description of the universal experience of 'I' we all share. Using our bodies as the foundation of our search for truth, we eventually come to some shared conclusions, regardless of philosophical interpretations. Those conclusions are:
An interesting collection of traits we all share. Probably nothing in that list surprises you. What may surprise many of you is that although 21st century Western philosophy leans toward myriad subjective explanations for all of those traits, the Bible contains the singular explanations for all of them. Furthermore, with the knowledge of those traits, the Bible also contains the prescription for human beings to live together on Earth in harmony until the heavens are rolled up like a scroll. This prescription is an ancient one that worked for centuries wherever it was consistently implemented. It's called the Ten Commandments. Here they are in case you're not familiar. These words were spoken by God to Moses (edited from NKJV):
Fast forward from the time Moses climbed Mt. Sinai to today. Here are the Ten Commandments of the 21st Century:
Let's head for the homestretch. For many of you, the Ten Commandments from Moses don't look nearly as familiar as the Ten Commandments from 2023. And yet upon closer examination, you will likely deduce that the more modern tenets are by their very nature preventing us from living together in harmony. What to do, what to do? Do you think it's just too unrealistic to return to the original Ten Commandments, since they're from antiquity and we're far too evolved and enlightened to go 'backwards?' Then it's not the world, politicians, the mainstream media, Hollywood, the music industry, corporations, social media and countless other institutions that are the problem. It's you. |