DAILY DEVO - The real gods of our culture

The year I was born – 1963 – was a watershed year for our culture. It was, indeed, the end of an era.

Since the founding of our country, the predominant worldview in America was Theism – most prominently, Christian Theism.

Sparked, however, by Darwin’s theories, an alternative worldview had been evolving for about a hundred years. This new worldview was deemed “rational.” Its aim was more secular. And the transition between these worldviews, the tipping point, occurred right about fifty years ago – 1963.

If you have a hard time grasping this, just think back to what happened by the end of the decade. It was suddenly the era of “free love.” It was the beginning of the drug culture. Something fundamental was definitely changing!

The final triumph of the Christian Era occurred when a Christian pastor – Martin Luther King, Jr. – used Biblical principles to convince our American society that we weren’t living up to God’s calls for freedom, love, justice, and equality in Christ.

That victory, however, wasn’t credited to Christ and his church. Rather, the new secular majority gladly claimed credit. (And sadly, it was easy to do. After all, too many misguided Christians had been tragically using God’s Word and His church as tools of racial inequality and oppression.)

What is this new and dominant philosophy? Some call it “secularism.” Others call it “naturalism.” At its core is the belief that the world, life, and nature could be explained without God.

But make no mistake. Human hearts always find something to “worship.” After fifty years of cultural dominance, you can turn on the TV today and discover our this worldview’s true priorities. In America today …

<![if !supportLists]>·        <![endif]>our religion is sex,

<![if !supportLists]>·        <![endif]>our god is money,

<![if !supportLists]>·        <![endif]>our ideal is self,

<![if !supportLists]>·        <![endif]>and the sacrificial lamb upon the altar is our children – and our families.

Many well-meaning people may say – and believe – that “children are our priority,” but the living condition of America’s kids tells a very different story. Even if you don’t consider the carnage of abortion … even if you don’t consider America’s deteriorating educational standing … just look at how and where and with whom American children are living.

For example, in the 1960 census, about three percent of children lived with just one never-married parent. Today over forty percent of children do not live with both biological parents. And it gets worse. In hundreds of American communities that number has climbed as high as two-thirds. And most of these kids are being raised below the poverty line.

Why? It’s the inevitable consequence of when …

<![if !supportLists]>·        <![endif]>our religion is sex,

<![if !supportLists]>·        <![endif]>our god is money,

<![if !supportLists]>·        <![endif]>our ideal is self,

<![if !supportLists]>·        <![endif]>and the sacrificial lamb upon the altar is our children – and our families.

Ideas have consequences. Indeed, ask yourself where are the hundreds of communities where two-thirds of children are living without both sets of biological parents. Ask where two-thirds are living below the poverty line. It’s in the African-American neighborhoods of most American towns.

The last salvo of the Christian Era was a Christian pastor’s victorious call for Civil Rights and freedom. But look at another new and disturbing trend that this new worldview has wrought. We’re living in a new era of slavery – literal slavery in America. We call it human trafficking.

How is this possible? It’s because …

<![if !supportLists]>·        <![endif]>our religion is sex (which is at the root of so much of this human trafficking),

<![if !supportLists]>·        <![endif]>our god is money (which drives this new breed of “slave traders” and “pimps”),

<![if !supportLists]>·        <![endif]>our ideal is self (which drives a new generation of “johns” who are seeking cheap thrills),

<![if !supportLists]>·        <![endif]>and the sacrificial lamb upon the altar is our children (which too many of these trafficked victims are – teens and children who are bought and sold and disgustingly used).  

If you doubt that these are the new gods and goals of this pagan and naturalistic society, just turn on the TV.

Or better yet, don’t turn on the TV.