OUR CULTURE - CHANGED OR CHANGEABLE

From My Perspective - - -

Some of the early morning CNN Headlines included: (1) “Minutes Of Carnage Lead To Days Of Grief” and (2) A Season Of Peace Destroyed.” At a Prayer Vigil in Newtown, Connecticut, a BBC report is: “President Obama says the US must do more to protect children, at a vigil for the 26 victims of the shootings at a Connecticut elementary school. "I come to offer the love and prayers of a nation," Mr. Obama said, speaking after religious leaders and the state governor. "You are not alone in your grief. All across this land of ours we have wept with you." Mr. Obama repeated a call for action against gun crime, saying that in coming weeks he would use "whatever powers" his office held "in an effort aimed at preventing more tragedies like this.” "We can't tolerate this anymore," he said. "These tragedies must end and to end them we must change." The complex causes of gun crime "can't be an excuse for inaction", he said.”

What powers of office does a President have for matters as great as this carnage? What is envisioned in terms of “protect the children”? Protect them from what? What kind of “change” can bring about a different behavior for one who is bent on committing a heinous crime or human slaughter? Will new laws being enacted accomplish such a change? Will new rules and regulations impact one who is calloused and possessing the intent to randomly kill and murder? Will a national conversation and congressional hearings accomplish the desired result of change?

One should not expect a secularist society to either admit or recognize that we have allowed for major changes in our culture already? The nation has allowed for gradual change for the past few decades. Part of a major change was allowing the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) become a type of conscience for the American culture and litigate against various religious practices and symbols within our culture. The removal of Bible Reading and Prayer in the Public Schools was one objective for change, and they succeeded. The display of the Nativity Scene in public places, the public singing of Christmas Carols, the presence of Christmas Trees, and the greeting of Merry Christmas have all become the subject of discussion and change within our culture. A question that the ACLU and the Congress needs to consider is: Are we better off because of these changes? Does the President envision that his call for “change” would reinstitute any or all of the above? Our nation and culture of change has also allowed for violence to be presented in Film and Video Games. Ratings haven’t seemed to work whereas the desire for profit has dominated. Will this be some of the “change” the President speaks of and envisions?

Is there any way possible for a human power to suppress or eliminate evil? Does anyone have an idea or plan on how a nation that has become fixated on violence can be changed? There is an interesting notation in the Book of Genesis. In Genesis 6:5-7, “The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. So the LORD said, I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth--men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air--for I am grieved that I have made them."  God had determined that He would cleanse His creation of wickedness and evil. However, would that bring about a changed culture? In Genesis 8:20-22, in the midst of God’s promise is an observation: “Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done. As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease." The observation is: “Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood.” The only action that will result in change is stated in II Corinthians 5:17-18, “…if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ…” Our culture needs to hear this message now and seek the only meaningful change in Jesus Christ now. Consider these things with me!