Nobody can protest their ignorance of sin - because to say it is to mean the opposite. Yet modern people are continually using this excuse (often on behalf of others, but we know what they really mean)!
The main problem in modernity is related to the sexual revolution - that is where the assault has been focused. Sexual sins are not the most important sins of themselves - but in our civilization they are the most significant sins because they are taught as virtues.
There is a moral inversion evident in the sexual arena - and it has now become illegal, against employment rules, and a matter for social ostracism to argue in favour of Christian sexual ethics: to state that these ethics are true.
The profound spiritual sickness of modernity is evident in our passive, zombie-like acceptance of morally outrageous teachings and behaviours in the sexual domain - of lies, evasions, inversions and the rest of it - these are matters of daily, hourly, experience going up to the top level of all major organizations.
Clearly, those who teach and lead are most deeply at fault, but we are all born with a moral compass (what CS Lewis called The Tao) which is why all past societies had very similar moral intuitions - so when such matters are systematically violated (for the first time in human history) then we all know what is going-on, we don't need to be told; and our protestations of ignorance or innocence merely compound the morass, and add dishonesty to the account of our corruption.
We are not talking about subtle hair-splitting here! We are talking about the fact that we live in a society which first lost its moral compass, then reinstalled it with the North and South reversed.
The fact that we placidly stumble through daily life - numbed by distractions and distracted by intoxications - being kind here and there, and feeling compassionate about things the mass media tells us to feel compassionate about... well, all this is sleepwalking into oblivion.
But it is more like the intoxication of drug addiction than sleepwalking, because we are culpable for our state - we choose to live in this un-responsible way.
Instead of our life being theosis, towards divinity - trial and error, repentance and striving - life is an incremental degeneration which we have renamed progress. Well, it doesn't fool anyone - most importantly it does not fool ourselves - as can be seen by the objective evidence of demotivated nihilistic despair all around - the evident (although feebly-denied) self-hating, self-destroying, suicidal conviction which has gripped the whole developed world and which is being implemented, daily, by the elites - with barely a glimmer of protest, because - after all - what is worth saving?
True enough. That is not the problem - the problem is that those who make the world so meaningless and despair inducing that it is not worth saving, prevent (to the best of their power) Christians from doing anything about it - they focused their declining powers on enforcing their nihilism, and on hunting out and extirpating or else subverting and corrupting all residual Christianity, and nearly all that remains of virtue.
(Specifically, they use one or two virtues to destroy the others, by a kind of rotation - compassion to destroy justice; kindness to destroy faith etc. After all, it is the good in evil which allows evil to prosper. But in each cycle - each turn of the wheel - there is more evil, less good.)
The dopey complacency of modern man is hard to tolerate: 'Oh, we aren't really that bad - our intentions are good.' - This is a hopelessness which spells the end of hope; because intentions are not good - there are indeed no intentions at all in any sense of a goal to life. How could there be intentions when a Man's life is seen to be, taught to be, an accidental and meaningless blip terminated by oblivion?
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One smiles upon the newest monstrosity in order to think oneself comparatively normal. If that guy's gross sin is okay, then my middling sin (yesterday's scandal) seems pretty normal.
"The dopey complacency of modern man is hard to tolerate: 'Oh, we aren't really that bad - our intentions are good.' - This is a hopelessness which spells the end of hope; because intentions are not good - there are indeed no intentions at all in any sense of a goal to life. How could there be intentions when a Man's life is seen to be, taught to be, an accidental and meaningless blip terminated by oblivion?"
This has hit me hard and in particular the first sentences. I have been thinking very hard about this and my previous memories of when I was an atheist trying to let myself of the hook because, I reasoned, I was a nice/good guy (relatively speaking), certainly there were lots of 'worse' people out there: murderers, rapists, gangsters, that kind of thing. So surely compared to *that* 'looking down ' from a morally superior attitude,well, I didn't have too much to worry about did I?!
Moral lesson 1: keep looking up not down! We can only aspire towards being better souls by looking at those we admire and who make us want to be better, not comfy to be better than the worst, conditions are of an inverted/stunted environment for theosis. If you want your plant of faith to grow strong, plant it in fertile soil not poison!
*The sin I have weeded out here seems to be that even when you are a converted Christian you do not do anyone any favours by trying to excuse their sins, short - comings, misguided notions of defending secularism (which is what I have now recently realised I have been doing and I need to repent!).
Point 2, and this is my big Easter revelation, that I have been trying to wriggle off the hook from admitting to myself for most of my adult life because I just flat out didn't like the implications! When a Christian tells you Jesus is the light and the way and there is no other way, they are not (generally speaking although there are exceptions) doing this to be deliberately elitist or exclusive or in a prideful 'my religion is better than yours' kind of way, they are saying that they have found a way out of the moral maze of mortality that is *good* for us! Logically the exits to a maze cannot be found by going down any path you want. When secular people meet in the maze they are very unhelpful to each other, they say *hippie* things like:
Person one: "Excuse me mate can you help me to get out of this maze please? I'm really hungry and running out of food in my back pack!"
Person 2: "Dude! All paths lead to the same place man! It's the journey dude not the destination! Chill bro and enjoy your maze! Carpe diem!" ( cue a cheesy 'sham-wise' smile from person 2. Nb: I have been this unhelpful person most of my adult life and need to stop doing it and repent! The perennial philosopher is a short - sighted man who has *some* idea where he is going but has lost his glasses.)
Person one leaves scene a little confused and merrily wanders the maze again, with no urgency, to enjoy their day as the sun sets! Person ones smart friend (Bear Grylls) starts to collect berries and mushrooms *to be prepared* but sadly he doesn't know where the exit to the maze is either really; he seems confident but most of his stunts rely on camera trickery and a support crew.
Later that day person one encounters a Christian:
Person one: "Excuse me mate do you know where the exit to the maze is?:
Christian: Yes I do! Jesus has showed me a route map (Christian shows person one a plan for salvation leaflet) and offers to take them pack to the entrance to the maze.
Person one considers this, but then they think..."well what does he know really? The journey is more important than the destination..and anyway I might stay here at thus nice spot where it's sunny and do some mindfulness, feel the sun on my face, etc."
Person one eats his sandwich and chocolate bar from his lunch box then runs out of food. It gets dark, he panics, he gets more lost and finds himself totally alone in a far flung part of the maze! To his relief he follows some voices and finds another bit of the maze full of other *hippies* and Marxists trying to start a community in the maze but without the resources. Eventually Fights break out. People hurt each others feelings and are mean to each other. Someone accidentally sets fire to the maze and the blaze spreads! Bear Grylls goes on a solo 'recce' to find the Christian guy who had a map of the maze...
As the blaze spreads, the gravity of the situation becomes visceral and everyone is feeling very upset about it but insist that the could get out of the situation if only they had a fire brigade and sufficient water. But first they need policy and procedure documents (some diligent, placcid myopic types set to work on this, while Ray Mears selects a group of people to find water).
Meanwhile the Christians come back and find the group and offer their help and try to pass around maps for the maze. They are treated with confused hostility:
"Can't you see I'm too busy writing policies and procedures for our new fire brigade!" rebukes one studious minion of the new commune. "And anyway our leaders are going to take care of this thank you very much.
Meanwhile Bear Grylls has decided that he will stop to film a documentary. He figures the fire isn't burning *that* fast to miss some great wildlife shots!
Nb: Bear left a long thread of fabric made from an old cardigan so they can find their way back to base camp at the end of the expedition. Unfortunately someone accidently walked through it and snapped it doing a mindful walking exercise (beginners mindfulness).
The Christians are saddened and distressed. So many "good" people working so hard to solve a problem they have a far simpler solution to. They leave with a small group that had agreed to follow the out of the maze.
The neo - Marxist commune is still a work in progress. Someone, a botanist, has found ingenious ways to grow crops. He has bought some time.
The original fire is still growing. Ironically, the original entrance to the maze is next to an ocean and all the buckets you can imagine!
This is the state of the modern world.
NB to Bear Grylls Lawyers: Bear Grylls is being playfully used as fictionalised character in the above mini drama and no ill will or significant defamation of character was intended by my clumsily articulated sketch of the modern west. I understand he is a Christian himself which is of course a good thing in of itself. Some more realism in his programs and future documentaries would be appreciated however :-)
Good stuff!
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