“Times They Are A Changin” #1 Social Insanity

 

“Times They Are A Changin” #1 Social Insanity

Times change and when they do the transition is often difficult to adjust to.  We are in the midst of a transition time right now.  We’re moving from what was to what is to come.  Transition time from what we have known into the unknown.  The more rapid the transition the more difficult it is to adjust to the new normal, especially if you have a few years on you. 

 Younger folks don’t seem to notice, because all they have ever known is right now.  But if you’ve made several successful revolutions around the sun, you remember how things used to be.  Some transitions are very good, like moving from a 25” tube TV to an 82” flat screen.  Some transitions can be both good and bad depending on how they are used, as a telephone with cords to communication devices in your pocket, I’ve even got one on my wrist.  Some transitions are not so good, like Free speech becoming the PC culture, becoming the Censorship Culture, becoming the Cancel Culture, which is rapidly becoming the Elimination Culture.  Some transitions are downright bad like News reporting becoming one-sided News Commentary.  Banning Books—bad idea.  All white men are racists—bad idea.  Male athletes competing against Women athletes—bad idea. 

 The Hebrew Bible reveals that when a nation moves out of sync with God life doesn’t go well.  Whether it’s God’s judgment upon the nation or just the natural consequences of being out of sync with God is up for debate.  The result though is the same, disaster (Proverbs 14:12).

 Being out of sync with God’s way our culture is moving into a period of social insanity.  For example, we are told, “follow the science.”  But then we are confused about gender.  We now have 33 categories of gender.  [Explained: The 33 Gender Identities Recognised By The Australian Sex Survey (lifehacker.com.au) ]  The science of gender dictates that if your DNA contains XX Chromosomes you are female, if XY you are male.  What is happening today is that we only “follow the science” when it supports our agenda.

From the US House of Representatives, with majority leader Nancy Pelosi, the Office of Diversity and Inclusion has commanded that gender-specific words become gender-neutral in all House documents.  The changes mean that the rules for documents will use inclusive language which means words such as “mother, father, son, daughter, sister, brother” will now become  “parent,” “child,” and “sibling.” The new rule will also replace “chairman” with “chair,” “seamen” with “seafarers,” and “himself” and “herself” with “themself.”

 Taking it a step further we may soon have to distinguished between lactating parent and non-lactating parent.  This attempt to no longer recognize the difference between male and female is a rejection of God who created in His image.

 Genesis 1:27 (MSG) 

God created human beings; he created them godlike, Reflecting God's nature.  He created them male and female.

 Refusing to acknowledge the scientific fact that there are only two genders is to be out of sync with God.

 Another social insanity is that in our quest to become an inclusive society we blind our eyes to diversity.  It is of great value to see people as people, each one equal under the law, is good, better, is equal in our hearts, but to disregard that people are different doesn’t make sense.  The Kingdom of God is inclusively diverse. 

Revelation 7:9 (MSG)

I looked again. I saw a huge crowd, too huge to count. Everyone was there—all nations and tribes, all races and languages. And they were standing, dressed in white robes and waving palm branches, standing before the Throne and the Lamb

 Out of sync with God, in the name of inclusivity Columbia University is planning to hold six different graduations ceremonies based on race, personal identity, and income levels  [Columbia University hosting 6 separate graduation ceremonies based on income level, race, ethnicities | Fox News ]  We don’t want the rich students to graduate with the more economically challenged students.  We don’t’ want the gay students graduating with the straight students, the black students with the Latino students with the Asian students with the white students because we don’t want anyone to feel uncomfortable.  So in the name of inclusivity, we are exclusive, we are segregating.  This is a rejection of God’s way.

 This brings us to the social insanity called equity.  “The 14th Amendment to the Constitution provides that all citizens must receive “equal protection of the laws.” Equality, in the traditional understanding, means something simple and easy to implement: the protection of the rights of all individuals… Equity, in the common political parlance, means that each [individual] should receive the same outcomes as every other [individual].” [Ben Shapiro Feb 21, 2021: The Inequality of ‘Equity’ | GOPUSA] Equity now means that the person who doesn’t produce receives the same benefits as the person who does produce.  This again is a rejection of God’s way.

 Romans 2:6 (NIV) [see also Psalm 62:12 & Proverbs 24:12]

God "will give to each person according to what he has done."  

What a person does or fails to do has consequences.  Making everything equitable removes consequences.  The doctor who invested in “themselves” to become a doctor should be paid the same as the person who found High School socially oppressive and because of lack of opportunity is now living on the streets with the disease of fentanyl addiction.  That’s equitable. You may say that will never happen.  What do you think Universal Income is all about?  Universal Income is a government guarantee that everyone has enough money to provide for a decent standard of living.  That sounds wonderful, no more poverty in America.  I wonder who defines what a decent standard of living is?  The way we are going to pay for this is that we tax the rich and give to the poor, effectively lowering the standard of living for the rich to raise the standard of living for the poor.  I wonder who defines what income level is considered rich?  I hope not the ones who can’t recognize the difference between the genetic male and female. 

 Isaiah 10:1-2 (NIV)

Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees,  to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless. 

 Woe is synonymous with misery, sorrow, distress, basically, calamity.  Woe falls upon unjust and oppressive governments.  The United States is supposed to be a government by the people and for the people.  So guess who is going to shoulder the misfortune of injustice?  We the people! When you are out of sync with God you invite calamity.  

 I find it amazing that history is being rewritten in such a fashion that the United States is portrayed as evil and the Founders racists and therefore worthy of our utter contempt.  When I was in Amsterdam I did a canal tour.  Our guide pointed out a building that once was owned by a slave trader named Bartholomeus de Moor, on the upper gable is the statue of an African.  The tour guide said we keep this building intact so that we can teach our children that slavery is now wrong and that we have progressed in our humanity.  When I was in Dachau I saw a bus full of German elementary students touring the concentration camp.  Why keep this monument to atrocity?  Could it be so that we never forget and make the same mistake again?  If we don’t know our history, how will we ever know if we are making the same mistakes that our ancestors made?  History is the backdrop that explains what was behind what happened.  When we forget our history we don’t realize where we have come from.  God’s way is to remember, remember the good, the bad, and the ugly.

 Isaiah 46:9 (NIV)

Remember the former things, those of long ago…

 In our information age, we all should be well informed, instead, we are becoming a headline culture.  Our attention span is short and the tendency is to just read the headlines if we read at all.  Headlines and soundbites lead to an ignorant society.  Ignorance is not bliss, it’s ignorance.  We read a headline, we hear the sound bite, and think we are informed, maybe not. 

 For example, the organization “Black Lives Matter” received millions of dollars in donations following the police brutality that took the life of George Floyd.  The BLM headlines are good, the end of social injustice, the end of racism, the end of poverty. The BLM soundbites are rallying cries for securing the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all Americans, especially historically wronged African Americans.  Who doesn’t support that?  Yet dig a little deeper and you find the new society that BLM is working towards is decidedly Marxist.  If you don’t know what Marxist means, to greatly overgeneralize, it’s the government is in charge of everything to make everything fair.  The goal of BLM is to remove the current system of government, of capitalism, of tax codes, of family structure, and of law, replacing it with progressive democratic socialism.  [The 13 BLM guiding principles | Citizens Journal | Citizens Journal ] A system which history has shown does not work and eventually enslaves its citizens.

 With such an opinion on BLM the current social insanity labels me as a privileged white male racist.  So instead of debating the issue, I am dismissed as a misanthrope, a candidate for a reeducation camp, worthy of elimination.  Demonization of the opposition leads to persecution, persecution unchecked leads to genocide.

 [ I don’t have an out-of-context proof text for the previous observation.]

We don’t have to look far to figure out why during this time of transition we are grappling with social insanity.  Speaking of those who are out of sync with God, the Apostle Paul writes:

 Romans 1:21-22 (NIV)

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools…

 When you get out of sync with God you become foolish, and the more out of sync you become the more foolery abounds.  Eventually, the inmates run the asylum.

 Romans 1:26 (NIV)

Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts.

 The biggest lusts of today’s culture are money, power, fame, and sex.  Let’s give a nod to entertainment.  These are the gods we bow to.  These are the things we chase after.  As a result, we look out only for our interests not the interests of others (Philippians 2:4).  What is best is what is best for me.

 Romans 1:28-31 (NIV)

Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.  They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless.

 That is one ugly picture of what happens to a society that is out of sync with God.  As we read the Hebrew Bible we see that when the leaders become corrupt, the society becomes corrupt and the society is we the people.  Deceit and malice; arrogant and senseless; these traits are growing exponentially.  Just read the headlines ( J ).

 The scripture reveals that there is nothing new under the sun.  Times of social insanity come and go.  Who you are in Christ does not.  Jesus told us how to deal with these times, times of suffering, persecution, of being dragged into court. 

 Luke 12:11-12 (MSG)

"When they drag you into their meeting places, or into police courts and before judges, don't worry about defending yourselves—what you'll say or how you'll say it. The right words will be there. The Holy Spirit will give you the right words when the time comes."

 Just a reminder, the Holy Spirit gave the right words to Stephen and the crowd heard and then stoned him.  So right words do not necessarily mean things turn out well for you. 

 Right words sound like: the truth of the gospel, words of reconciliation, of love, of forgiveness, and unity.  The right words are words that invite dialogue and understanding, a word full of grace that seeks to heal and to build and that seeks the highest good for all. 

 In this transition time from what we’ve come accustomed to, what we know, into what is unknown disciples of Jesus need to shine.

 Matthew 5:14-16 (MSG)

"Here's another way to put it: You're here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We're going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don't think I'm going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I'm putting you on a light stand. Now that I've put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you'll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.

 “The times are a changin.”  You are called and empowered by God to be the voice of sanity, to be the one who demonstrates God’s love to everyone (2 Corinthians 5:20).  You shine by doing good works (James 2:18).  Your good works do not save you, instead, your good works witness and testify of the hope you have within you (1 Peter 3:15).

 1 Peter 2:12 (MSG)

Live an exemplary life among the natives so that your actions will refute their prejudices. Then they'll be won over to God's side and be there to join in the celebration when he arrives.

 During this time of transition from what was known into what is yet unknown, be a lover.  Love God, Love Others, that’s being in sync with God.  That brings sanity to society.