It’s a verifiable fact that most Americans fancy themselves as highly informed, intelligent and sophisticated, but for a number of very specious reasons. Certainly, our ability to operate advanced technology computing and communications devices would be used by many to validate the claim. However, even nomadic Arabs wandering the deserts of northern Africa and the Middle-East can operate cell-phones and computers. Indeed, some of them clearly understand the functional operation of the technology better than most Americans, since digital devices have been used to trigger roadside bombs that have killed and maimed thousands of American and Iraqi soldiers.
The fact that the percentage of college educated adults in the United States has reached an historic high level might be considered as evidence that we are getting smarter. But the fact that we are failing against most other western nations belies that illusion. It’s fair to say that most college graduates today would be unable to pass a high school exam from just one hundred years ago or even fifty. The current state of American culture testifies to a sad reality.
Today, it’s stunning to realize how little the average American knows about the foremost religion of the world and the foundation of the United States–Christianity. People have their opinions and many of them are fiercely defended, even though they are utterly wrong. Few of us have any idea what Islam actually teaches. Many of our neighbors persistently repeat the standard that Islam is a peace loving religion, despite the fact that they have never read the Qur’an or the Bible and probably, never will.
We now have several generations of legal citizens who have been taught to despise their heritage, their history, their nation, their race and the honorable sacrifices made by their predecessors. In short, they are woefully ignorant as well as obscenely arrogant. This deadly combination of ignorance and arrogance leads predictably to contempt–for themselves, their nation and everyone around them. Moreover, they isolate themselves into enclaves with those who are just like them, separated from truth, reality and far removed from the remedy for their common misery.
It’s been said, “People fear what they don’t understand; what they fear, they hate and what they hate, they destroy.” We see this progression in our culture every day. Conflicts arise because we now have millions of adult-children who have been given every benefit and indulgence that America’s free culture has to offer, and who have earned nothing for themselves. Grateful for nothing, they have been given a toxic overdose of hollow self-esteem and have been cheated out of any real sense of accomplishment. It has ruined them. They consider themselves entitled, and yet, deep down in the depths of their souls, they know that they are empty, unworthy and ignoble. The daily ration of vile and malicious insanity that is seen and heard in our society is the bloom of such deadly roots.
The late Dr. D. James Kennedy said, “Sin causes guilt; guilt causes shame.” It’s an inviolable formula. For the honest and sensible, shame from guilt is the motivation for repentance. But since the concept of sin has been virtually abolished from public discourse, guilt and shame must be denied and those in bondage can never find relief. Feeling pain, discomfort and emptiness, they devote themselves to dead works in a futile effort to fill the void in their own hearts. These efforts may take the form of feeding America, battling climate change, protecting animals, fighting for “social justice,” political advocacy or any number of other causes. All will fail superbly.
If hatred and violence are merely explosions of fear, then identifying and dissolving the source of fear should allow the symptoms to whither and die from malnutrition. What is the fear that drives the irrational hatred of anti-Trump protesters, LGBT militants, radical feminists, cop-killers, socialists and spiteful political vigilantes? Is it not fear of loss?
Corrupt politicians do not inspire others to nobility. Instead, they foment fear to their advantage. Today, they incite irrational fears such as fear of losing free health care coverage, fear of being denied a free college education and fear of President Trump. Preoccupation with irrational fears obscures valid fear and one root terror in the heart of every person must certainly be the fear of living an empty and meaningless life.
The radical liberal takeover of America’s education system pushed Darwin’s deadly curse upon the nation’s children, stealing their divine purpose and exchanging it for an assortment of profane ones. Secular causes like the environment, nature, science, knowledge, tolerance, sexual gratification and others, have taken the place of true religious faith. Each one demands strict obedience to its articles of doctrine but leaves the worshipper empty and lost.
Ignorance and arrogance are exploding in America today. Violence boils over in Washington, in our streets, on softball fields and in the hearts of many. Fear is the prime mover in growing acts of hate, rage, violence and clamoring.
The Westminster Confession magnificently states that the purpose of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. Every life that refuses to embrace this fundamental truth constitutes an epic failure. Therefore, to know God, to love Him, and to enjoy Him is the key to eradicating all other fears. But many Americans are too smart for that.
