The consequence of eternity

[JohnC]

Hey all.

I have been scratching my head about the conduct of politicians, strategists, and the media in this election in the USA. It has been dismaying to me, but I couldn't really put my finger on what I feel like is the root.

I read a wonderful CD Lewis quote from Mere Christianity that sums it up nicely.

Here's my paraphrase.
.....
The consequence of being enslaved to sin seems like it causes an increase in sinful behavior over time.

This isn't such a big deal if you only get 70 or 80 years and then you die and that's that...

But if you hold on to God's promise of the afterlife - that could be a pretty big deal.... To slowly and steadily grow more and more jaded, ground up, hateful, frustrated, and greedy for a thousand or a million more years... Because your unredeemed sinful nature doesn't end with death. It would literally BE hell....

..........

What concerns me is that I see the fingerprints of "And then you die and that's that" written all over the behavior I am seeing....

If you just die and that's all - who cares if you use your money to rig elections? Who cares if you use your money to destroy the people on the other side of the aisle. Who cares if you use your massive wealth to destroy ordinary everyday people who can't fight back.

Especially if you are already 60+ ... What do you have to lose? You are going to die in 10 or 15 years - so what does it matter to me if I go scorched earth full of hate and anger to the grave and then that's all.

See - there's no longer any backstop on society. Previously, even though people may not have believed in anything - there was a backstop to their conduct. The "Well.... What if God is right?" Wealthy folks used to use their surplus wealth to build hospitals and charity organizations that helped the poor and indigent. They created scholarships to provide for kids that had no resources. That was considered "Respectable"....

Now, they build Political Action groups which seek to destroy those who disagree with them....

Sadly, I think part of the responsibility lies with US - Christians. We have been beating the "All that matters is Salvation" drum and we have completely forgotten about "You are saved... Now what?"

We have been beating the "Good works are worthless to God" drum and we have completely forgotten that the Fruit of The Spirit IS good works...

Sigh

 

[Major]

Hey all.

I have been scratching my head about the conduct of politicians, strategists, and the media in this election in the USA. It has been dismaying to me, but I couldn't really put my finger on what I feel like is the root.

I read a wonderful CD Lewis quote from Mere Christianity that sums it up nicely.

Here's my paraphrase.
.....
The consequence of being enslaved to sin seems like it causes an increase in sinful behavior over time.

This isn't such a big deal if you only get 70 or 80 years and then you die and that's that...

But if you hold on to God's promise of the afterlife - that could be a pretty big deal.... To slowly and steadily grow more and more jaded, ground up, hateful, frustrated, and greedy for a thousand or a million more years... Because your unredeemed sinful nature doesn't end with death. It would literally BE hell....

..........

What concerns me is that I see the fingerprints of "And then you die and that's that" written all over the behavior I am seeing....

If you just die and that's all - who cares if you use your money to rig elections? Who cares if you use your money to destroy the people on the other side of the aisle. Who cares if you use your massive wealth to destroy ordinary everyday people who can't fight back.

Especially if you are already 60+ ... What do you have to lose? You are going to die in 10 or 15 years - so what does it matter to me if I go scorched earth full of hate and anger to the grave and then that's all.

See - there's no longer any backstop on society. Previously, even though people may not have believed in anything - there was a backstop to their conduct. The "Well.... What if God is right?" Wealthy folks used to use their surplus wealth to build hospitals and charity organizations that helped the poor and indigent. They created scholarships to provide for kids that had no resources. That was considered "Respectable"....

Now, they build Political Action groups which seek to destroy those who disagree with them....

Sadly, I think part of the responsibility lies with US - Christians. We have been beating the "All that matters is Salvation" drum and we have completely forgotten about "You are saved... Now what?"

We have been beating the "Good works are worthless to God" drum and we have completely forgotten that the Fruit of The Spirit IS good works...

Sigh

I agree with you.

IF a person is truly saved, then that salvation should produce a whole lot more then we see in the world today from those who claim to be Christians.

It seems to me that politicians are only Christians every four years when it is time for re-election.

 

[autumn oddity]

I agree with you.

IF a person is truly saved, then that salvation should produce a whole lot more then we see in the world today from those who claim to be Christians.

It seems to me that politicians are only Christians every four years when it is time for re-election.

Lol, every four years...sounds about right.

 

[JohnC]

I guess I have been seeing that the "fruit" our culture is bearing is pretty bitter stuff... But I really had no good explanation for why....

Once I connected the dots that the common factor is Atheism - and the behavior we are witnessing is simply the logical conclusion of large scale Atheism. It's just that our culture is not acclimated to this sort of behavior on a large scale...... yet.....

I mean - at the end of the day.... Stalins methods of destroying and/or killing anyone who stood in his way (to the tune of murdering 60,000,000 of his own fellow countrymen) was simply a rational, atheist means to the end of maintaining the government and prosperity of the Soviet Union. What's the harm - he is dead... They are dead... But The Republic lived on for another 50 years.

We like to think that the American culture won't allow this to happen.... I think the things we are seeing during this election cycle clearly show that is simply naieve. This attitude is clearly a failure to acknowledge the true cause for the larger moral backstop.... It's not the belief in the common good of Man, good "morals" or ethics, "Conservative values," Humanity, or whatever... It's the Fear of God that provides this backstop.

It's the the loss of the moral/ethic backstop that final accountability to God provides that results in the cascade downward that we see in Romans 1....

The only solution is The Church stepping back up to the plate to participate in Culture and confront the Government. This requires us to lose the fear of spreading The Gospel and speaking The Truth.

Thanks.

 

[Fish Catcher Jim]

I agree with you.

IF a person is truly saved, then that salvation should produce a whole lot more then we see in the world today from those who claim to be Christians.

It seems to me that politicians are only Christians every four years when it is time for re-election.

Hi Major,
Perhaps if we look back to biblical history we would recall there are many kings that God used for His purpose and that in itself is no great revelation here in this thread Until One Recalls that many of these kings were screw ups and for the most part did bad things.......However . ..... the common factor here that is being over looked is as follows......

Each of these kings did at least One good thing that God wanted done or to do. God new even though these were not so called good candidates for kingship . .... God Knew these men would do the one thing He wanted done.

We Must Not Underestimate What God Can and Will Do through any of these modern day candidates no matter how bad they look.

Blessings
FCJ