World-View Gap

[Listen on AUDIO page] I scratch my head. I roll my eyes. I grumble, "This is absolutely crazy!” What's the deal? Teenagers wearing masks to run track meets. The administration claiming there is no crisis at the border. Little kids told to hate themselves for being white. Violent riots being called “peaceful”. Vaccination mandates. Groups demanding acceptance for themselves and destruction for anyone who disagrees. Corporations bowing to fringe ideologies and alienating their core consumers. The list grows daily.

I have to confess a deep discouragement about all this. I am distressed by the spiteful tone of the dialogue, or rather, the “narrative”. The gloves are off, and any pretense of courtesy or consideration, or even common sense, has evaporated. The gulf between “us” and “them” is so wide that all that remains is sound and fury. In a saner time, we might explain our ideas, debate the merits and drawbacks of each perspective, and come to some compromise, or even agree to disagree. Respect for the humanity we all share would give us some point of reference, a common bond. But what happens when respect is gone, when those who oppose you seem to have abandoned human decency? What happens when nobody is willing to discuss their ideas in a rational tone? Well, what happens is that ideology, not people, becomes the focus, which allows us to see proponents of other views as inhuman, even demonic. Now you can call “them” awful names with impunity.

What we have here is a serious world-view gap. When I think about today’s charged atmosphere in those terms, it’s a bit easier to fathom why we can't understand each other. It’s because we inhabit completely different universes. Remember the Venn diagrams we studied in school? The Venn diagram is two or more circles that contain information, some of which is common to more than one circle, so they partly overlap. Well, nowadays, our Venn circles don’t overlap at all. They aren’t even in the same zip code.

Looking at our country, and the issues that surround medicine, and politics, and media, and education, you can see how far apart we are. My own world-view, and that of many who call themselves “conservatives” in this polarized time, is based on Judeo-Christian values, biblical orthodoxy, and a firm belief in the fundamental rights and responsibilities of Americans as outlined in our Constitution. In this world-view, America stands, in spite of - and because of - her own history, as a beacon of freedom in the world; families are the heartbeat of society, and dissent is a fundamental right.

There is also a world-view present in America today that challenges the existence of God, affirms that truth is relative, and states that individual choice is the highest good. With this perspective, it is possible, even necessary, to claim that America is rotten at its core, that the nuclear family should be dismantled, and that dissent must be silenced, preferably by Government.

Our responsibility, as people of faith, is to hold on to truth. Not “your” truth or “my” truth, but the absolute truth of God’s existence and His value system as laid out, rather succinctly, in the Ten Commandments. These life rules give us all we need to know about how to relate to God and each other. Jesus clarifies the matter even further. When one of His disciples asked which of the Ten Commandments is the greatest, Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ (Mt. 22: 37 – 39, NIV)

Love God, love each other.

Imagine what would happen to our Venn diagram if everyone just did those two things.

Standing with you,

Carolyn

“The world's theology is easy to define.

It is the view . . .

that human beings are basically good,

that no one is really lost,

that belief in Jesus Christ is not necessary for salvation.

'Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.'

Romans 1:22"

― James Montgomery Boice

P.S. Thanks for spending a few moments with me on Standing Ground today. Don’t forget to subscribe, like, and comment below. Meanwhile, check out the other pages on Standing Ground – you’ll see the latest on the COVID Vaccine death stats, Fauci vs. Science, and…um, Kamala Cookies. I’ve also uploaded three new Audio blog files. Enjoy, and please share!