Isaiah 6 and Eminem

“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.  Isaiah 7:5

As I drove to the gym before work I kept listening to Isaiah chapter 6 over and over again.  On my mind was verse 5.  For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips.  And as it turns out, my IPOD spews out music that comes from unclean lips.

Eminem’s lyrical talent is undeniable, his underlying beats downright brilliant.  But the real slim shady who spits such raw, crass, “real,” lyrics brings two powerful thoughts to my mind.

1. People relate to those who don’t blow sunshine up their derrière but relate and enter into the common suffering.

2. More pointedly, that we live among a people of unclean lips.  That we need anointing, so we might see the King.

intellectual suicide

COEXIST the popular bumper sticker was first designed by Piotr Mlodozeniec, a graphic designer from Poland. He created the image for an art contest sponsored by the Museum on the Seam for Dialogue, Understanding, and Coexistence; an organization located in Jerusalem. The museum now sells products, including shirts and posters, which incorporate Mlodozeniec’s design.  The graphic, which cleverly uses symbols of 7 different ‘religions’  (Islam, Buddhism, science, Judaism, paganism, wiccan, Christianity) to spell out the word ‘coexist’   is now widely seen on bumpers as a enlightened expression of how to live in peace and harmony.

Or could it be more a sign of confusion and wishful thinking?

A few lines from British journalist Steve Turner’s poem ‘Creed’ gives us a starting point for illumination:

We believe in Marx Freud and Darwin

We believe everything is OK

as long as you don’t hurt anyone

to the best of your definition of hurt,

and to the best of your knowledge.

Jesus was a good man just like Buddha,

Mohammed, and ourselves.

He was a good moral teacher though we think

His good morals were bad.

We believe that all religions are basically the same-

at least the one that we read was.  

They all believe in love and goodness.

They only differ on matters of creation,

sin, heaven, hell, God, and salvation.

We believe that man is essentially good.

It’s only his behavior that lets him down.

This is the fault of society.

Society is the fault of conditions.

Conditions are the fault of society.

We believe that each man must find the truth that

is right for him.

Reality will adapt accordingly.

The universe will readjust.

History will alter.

We believe that there is no absolute truth

Excepting the truth

that there is no absolute truth.

We believe in the rejection of creeds,

And the flowering of individual thought.

Turner’s take on the post-modern Western mind points right to the evasions, incoherencies, and irrationality of the current zeitgeist (the spirit of this time period).

How many of the owners of cars with this bumper sticker believe in the essential tenets of any of the seven worldviews?  And if he or she is a disciple of one of them (by definition to the exclusion of the others, as I’ll explain in a moment) how many of his/her social circle are serious adherents of one of the other systems?  Perhaps the sentiment best embodied in the bumper sticker is “we believe there is no truth excepting the truth that there is no absolute truth.” Followed closely by:

“We believe that all religions are basically the same-

at least the one that we read was.

They all believe in love and goodness.

They only differ on matters of creation,

sin, heaven, hell, God, and salvation.”

Turner’s point is well taken: few people have actually read the Bible (Old or New Testament), the Koran, the writings of Gautama Buddha, or seriously studied the ideological origins of such cults as Wicca or more general worldviews as paganism. This is what makes it possible to ignore the contradicting claims each makes about ultimate things: creation, sin, heaven, hell, God and salvation. In other words, let us agree that there is no ultimate truth to be apprehended, and upon that foundation build a society based on each individual’s personal view of truth.  For make no mistake about it, we all assume truth exists even as we deny it in expressions like the COEXIST bumper sticker. This is true in both the material (physical) and non-material (moral, ethical) realms. We all submit ourselves to nature’s forces (e.g. gravity) out of respect for their ‘truth’ and generally recognize that to do otherwise would be foolish.  It is in the ethical realm where we have become confused and deceived. Since the seven worldviews all presuppose some basic ethical principles, it is in this realm that we regularly commit intellectual suicide.

We like that Buddhism ignores any distinction between good and evil (perhaps so we can do what is right in our own eyes) but we are offended when someone cuts us off in traffic and seek justice when someone breaks into our house. Yes, it turns out, there is an absolute standard of moral behavior, not of our own making, imprinted upon all people at all times and places, which all of us fail to keep.

Sensing that there is more to the universe than cold unfeeling matter, some of us like the concept of spirits inhabiting all of life, the oneness of all creation, a mystical experience of the life force that animates our world (paganism). In a rejection of scientific materialism which we believe in just long enough to fly from Denver to New York, we seek enlightenment in drug use, tantric sex, sweat lodges and spiritual retreats, only to be disappointed in the all too human failings of our gurus.   It turns out that worshipping the creation is not a sufficient substitute for knowing the Creator.

Since there is no objective truth about the universe, history or ethics, the contradictions between sacred scriptures such as the Bible and the Koran are not contradictions at all.  The Biblical truth proposition (God created the world- including man; man sinned, Jesus came into the world as the God-man, He will come again) is a myth on the level of other religious creation-fall-redemption stories. Islam is an alternative telling of the story, with a bit more direct solution for what ails us- the answer being Sharia Law.  It turns out that it matters greatly whether God is an impersonal and distant being whose solution for mankind is religious observance and Sharia law to control the unrighteous impulses of sinful man or a loving personal God who humbles himself as a man to identify with us and save us from our sin.  Truth matters once again.

Science as represented by e=mc2 (Einstein’s formula for relativity). It is the odd man out in this string, as it would surely say about itself that it represents objective knowledge whereas the others represent some form of subjective belief. It is rational, based on repeatable observations made in the laboratory through application of the scientific method.     Since it is the only objective way of knowing, it must stand ‘above’ other less valid forms of knowledge-such as religion or faith, in all matters of education, political life and public policy. This view of the world is entirely consistent with a thorough-going moral relativism, since a worldview based on mind evolving out of matter in a closed system of cause and effect over billions of years does not have a foundation for ethics or knowledge. How do I know that what I am perceiving is true, and on what basis do I call something ‘good’?  It turns out that something outside of us is necessary to explain what exists, and it came before us and is intelligent beyond our comprehension.  Philosophical naturalism (what is meant by ‘science’ here) is the weakest of the seven worldviews in explaining the totality of what we observe. ‘Science’ of course is a subsidiary concept to the ultimate truth of the One who made everything- the all-knowing knower of all things – who has created the universe in such a way that we can be sometimes knowers of some things.

Our minds have suffered the effects of many real acts of intellectual suicide. The results of living by contradictory ultimate propositions show up in everyday effects that threaten individual lives as well as society as a whole.  Don’t settle for a cliché bumper sticker.  Truth matters. Seek it.

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Fan the flame!

“Prayer is the soul’s sincere desire, uttered or unexpressed— the motion of a hidden fire that trembles in the breast.”

–James Montgomery

Saving Society

Most days, I try to make my monotonous, hour-long commute into downtown Los Angeles profitable via talks, lectures, or sermons by great leaders, thinkers, and preachers. Dr. Vishal Mangalwadi has become one of my favorites. If you’ve never been exposed to his work, let me highly recommend Must the Sun Set on the West? No matter your religious or political persuasion, I guarantee you’ll find yourself challenged as India’s foremost Christian intellectual unpacks Western culture and details its heritage.

This week, I found Mangalwadi’s “From Monasteries to the Twin Towers: The Crumbling Spirituality of Capitalism” to be particularly timely. Let me apologize in advance for the length of my explanation.

There have been many times in recent months where I have found myself asking “What the Hell is going on!?!” I turn on the news to see Muslim suicide bombers blowing themselves up to kill innocent people, both Muslim and non-Muslim alike, all over the world. Closer to home, I see an inept Federal government populated by corrupt, self-serving politicians, beholden to special interests, passing bills they haven’t read, and making policies that punish ‘good’ behavior to reward the ‘bad.’ I see unscrupulous and greedy bankers and businesspeople who have driven the global economy into the ground while executives continue to pocket tens of millions of dollars for themselves. I see flagrantly immoral ‘entertainment’ in every medium, glorifying illicit behavior and irresponsibility. And, I see men gorging themselves on porn as they float the ever-quickening current toward the increasingly well-documented waterfall of impotence that awaits them.

Did I mention that the Gulf of Mexico is filling up with oil?

Our society is in social and economic tatters, and if there’s any light at the far end of the tunnel, it’s a train.

So, just what the Hell is going on?

We’ve become the master of our own destiny, that’s what. Wasn’t there some kind of aphorism about sowing and reaping? As Dr. Mangalwadi discusses in the talk referenced above, we have chosen to divorce ourselves from the foundations of Western culture and are thus facing the consequences. Hell is going on.

You see, after the Reformation, European monks picked up on the notion of ‘calling’ evident throughout the New Testament, and most particularly in the writings of the Apostle Paul. Given to lives of service to God and committed to work, these monks inadvertently laid the foundations of Western capitalism. As they specialized in the production of different products (e.g., wine for the church) and their operations grew, they developed the early management and accounting principles that gave rise to those we apply today. These men saw purpose in life via the ‘calling’ to work in all things for the glory of the Christian God. Interestingly, these monks also took vows of poverty that established the humility necessary to manage the people and money their operations accrued.

However, modern society has divorced itself from these shackles of Judeo-Christian thought and assumed carte blanche. Thanks to the influence of four modern men, we no longer need worry about humility or honoring any god but ourselves.

The men we have to thank for the modern state of affairs are Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, Sigmund Freud, and Charles Darwin. As Dr. Mangalwadi so eloquently expounds, these individuals had other ideas about the centralities of life. Marx said money; Nietzsche said power; Freud said sex. Society gradually bought in; and, planted in the fertile soil of the tenets inherent in Darwinian macro-biological evolution, these philosophies took root and blossomed into the catastrophe we see around us today. Our society’s divorce from its Judeo-Christian foundations has led to a loss of humility before God, and therein self-restraint. Instead, we’re faced with the precipitant arrogance and depravity that has manifested itself in the corruption and immorality we see in politics, business, and entertainment, as noted. This will not change until we change.

But how, given the tumult?

Some hope in serendipity, but we need to hope in Providence.

My wife and I went to see Toy Story 3 last night.  Before the show, one of the previews was a spot from The Foundation for a Better Life. (You can see it here.) I thoroughly enjoyed the commercial, and appreciated its message; however, I was also bothered by it. Why? Because humanistic notions of morality are innately amorphous and ephemeral, and thus not robust enough to mitigate humanity’s natural depravity. Yes, they are ‘good,’ but they are also helplessly adrift like a sailboat that’s lost its mooring. This is because they don’t actually have a mooring – they aren’t tied to anything. Thus, as with a boat drifting loose on the water, people see and take notice. They find humanistic morality appealing and relevant, but ultimately inadequate.

The potency required for changing our world will only be found in morality moored to an absolute – anchored to something that won’t allow for drifting. Gentlemen the mooring I am referring to is your Christian faith, and it’s the only thing that can shore up our world.

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

Matthew 7:24-27

Men, society needs us to eNgage! Look around you as Jesus’ words once again ring true: The rain is coming down. The streams are rising. The winds are blowing and beating. What do you see happening?

There is a solution, and it starts with our engagement. This nation does not have to fall “with a great crash” on our watch, and neither does the rest of the world. But averting the disaster will require long-term change, and it will be difficult.

As men, we need to pick up on the notion of ‘calling’ and then dedicate ourselves to working in all things for the glory of God. This means we need to dedicate ourselves to excellence in the arenas to which He has called us. This means we need to be willing to shrug off complacency and comfort in favor of taking steps of faith toward our dreams. Are you called to law, business, public policy, formal ministry, music, or athletics? What have you done about it lately? Don’t be caught with your pants around your ankles or your Xbox controller in hand when society is crashing down around you.

As men, we also need to cultivate the humility necessary to respect God, love each other, restrain ourselves, and manage that which He gives us appropriately. This means we need to be asking God for wisdom. This means we need to be making the daily decision to be the men we know God has created us to be, moment by moment, hour by hour. How’s your walk with God? Are you seeking him for wisdom and guidance? Don’t assume you can skate through society’s depravity unscathed.

As men, we also need to be purposeful in developing transparent, armor-bearing relationships with one another. As you probably already know, that’s what eNgage is all about: Purposeful relationships. Young men helping each other live God-honoring lives, pursue excellence, and be the men God has called us to be in our marriages and families as husbands and fathers, our companies as employers and employees, and our governments as lawmakers.

If we can do these things, I think we have a shot. Our influence can establish justice and morality in our institutions, and Godliness in our society. If we can’t…

I think our alternatives are well-established.

“The fear of the LORD leads to life: Then one rests content, untouched by trouble.”

Proverbs 19:23

- Jer