Week Nine: The Age of Personal Peace & Affluence
"If there is no absolute by which to judge society, then society is absolute."
One of things that stuck out to me this past week was Schaeffer's description of a move towards sociological law in this country. This is law that is based on nothing concrete but rather the will of the people or the elite and their perception of what's best for the people. It is relativistic; what's good law one year may not be the next. An excellent case in point is the evolution of the so-called right to abortion in the U.S. which Schaeffer discusses at some length. [For a good overview of the history of abortion law in the U.S., look here (the author used to change my diapers, incidentally).]
Now, we have been taught that democracy is the noblest form of government, and it is a far cry better than most other forms (a monarchy with a perfect monarch would be best), but it must be based on something other than public opinion. It must be rooted in absolutes. Our legislative and executive branches currently have some accountability as to whether or not they're serving under absolutes, if voters are willing to exercise their responsibilities, but the judicial branch has no real checks and balances and has gone from interpreting the law to creating it. So, with a populace that has largely abandoned Christian principles and a Supreme Court which may or may not act in ways consistent with our faith, it would seem that the future of our country is unpredictable, to say the least.
And yet, in spite of dire predictions and a general distaste for politics that we may have, we have a quarter we can call on (as Schaeffer puts it) that the world does not understand. We have a high calling to be salt and light in our world, but it is not without the help of the King of Kings.
This week, the final installment of the DVD series, will be about the future--how we avoid the shift towards authoritarianism and chaos. It should be a very good discussion. A follow-up to our discussion on Catholicism is likely, too.
Next week, those who've attended the group are invited to my place for dinner. It will be a time of fellowship and, hopefully, a chance to talk about those wonderful tangential things that we don't always have time to pursue fully.
Starting in January, this group will morph into a cyclical focus group called the Dead Theologians Society which will look at the works of--you guessed it--dead theologians. Stay tuned!
One of things that stuck out to me this past week was Schaeffer's description of a move towards sociological law in this country. This is law that is based on nothing concrete but rather the will of the people or the elite and their perception of what's best for the people. It is relativistic; what's good law one year may not be the next. An excellent case in point is the evolution of the so-called right to abortion in the U.S. which Schaeffer discusses at some length. [For a good overview of the history of abortion law in the U.S., look here (the author used to change my diapers, incidentally).]
Now, we have been taught that democracy is the noblest form of government, and it is a far cry better than most other forms (a monarchy with a perfect monarch would be best), but it must be based on something other than public opinion. It must be rooted in absolutes. Our legislative and executive branches currently have some accountability as to whether or not they're serving under absolutes, if voters are willing to exercise their responsibilities, but the judicial branch has no real checks and balances and has gone from interpreting the law to creating it. So, with a populace that has largely abandoned Christian principles and a Supreme Court which may or may not act in ways consistent with our faith, it would seem that the future of our country is unpredictable, to say the least.
And yet, in spite of dire predictions and a general distaste for politics that we may have, we have a quarter we can call on (as Schaeffer puts it) that the world does not understand. We have a high calling to be salt and light in our world, but it is not without the help of the King of Kings.
This week, the final installment of the DVD series, will be about the future--how we avoid the shift towards authoritarianism and chaos. It should be a very good discussion. A follow-up to our discussion on Catholicism is likely, too.
Next week, those who've attended the group are invited to my place for dinner. It will be a time of fellowship and, hopefully, a chance to talk about those wonderful tangential things that we don't always have time to pursue fully.
Starting in January, this group will morph into a cyclical focus group called the Dead Theologians Society which will look at the works of--you guessed it--dead theologians. Stay tuned!
posted by Nate at 8:21 PM
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