We live in dangerous times. Americans have faced many dangerous times. But the dangers we face today are between two warring worldviews in our body politic. This warfare is slathered with disdain, ridicule, recrimination, and alas, hatred, to the point of making simple conversation perilous, and avoided. But if we don't discuss important issues, how can we understand other's point-of-view, for language is the first line of defense in conflict?'How do we bring out the best in each other?' may just be the most important question I've ever asked. I regret that it's taken me so long to ask it. For one must know to ask it before having an inkling as to how to answer it.
Birch bark food container. [Birch wood naturally retards bacteria] photo by Carol, 2017
Without discussion, suspicion sets in. This is one of the most corrosive human emotions for it eats away at our hearts. Silence generates suspicion, often resulting in wild ideas. Wild ideas grow, and strengthen, to the point they defy evidence. Evidence, logic and debate are the bulwarks of good governance, as long as people value their importance. When they do not, collapse sets in.
Two millennia of Christian culture is teetering before our very eyes, that noble culture that was spurred on by the invention of the printing press, which established the Bible in Everyman's heart and mind, first in Europe, then the colonies, worldwide. We still had wars, evil leaders, and disasters but our spiritual foundation was planted on solid ground, which enriched our world. Christian ethics shaped society. Even non-believers shared many Christian virtues.
Starting before the French Revolution, in 1789, a counter philosophy started to take hold, sub-planting Christianity with the likes of philosopher Rousseau's belief that people were born a blank slate that Christian society corrupted.
To reclaim natural man, Christianity must be eradicated. By the 1860s Karl Marx and Charles Darwin's wildly erroneous ideas imprinted further catastrophic damage that have taken root so powerfully that they've all but erased past strengths from Christianity.
Egalitarianism spreads envy, class and racial conflict everywhere. Darwinism spread atheism and distrust in the Bible, the greatest light the world has ever seen. Bibilical principles are disappearing from town squares, schools, and the media. This is a clanging bell of impending decline.
Somewhere along the way we forgot that what made us great was our faith, not our individuality, our income, our sexual preferences or skin color. We are rapidly barrelling toward everything the Founders feared could go wrong with government.
Which brings me back to my nascent question of how to bring out the best in each other. I advise taking stock of one's spiritual life. How are you handling conflict? Listen. Reawaken the power of the human ear.
Find a church that values the Bible and faithfully teaches its principals.
A quote by a seasoned statesman comes to mind:
"Courage is what it takes to listen."
-Winston Churchill
Add to that the most succinct words of wisdom Jesus gave to us in the Bible:
"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another."
-John 13:34
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| Log Slide, Grand Marais, Michigan (UP) photo by Molly, June 2016 |
