The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved, it is the power of God (I Corinthians 1:18).
The cross confronts us with the reality of our sin (Romans 3:23). It calls us to repent: to turn away from sin and turn toward Jesus (Acts 2:38). It challenges us to trust Jesus as the perfect embodiment of absolute truth (John 14:6).
Why do people refuse to accept Jesus as their Savior and often react with hostility at the mention of His name? Because the modern mind has been conditioned by moral relativism to believe the cross is foolishness and that truth is self-defined. The problem with such a worldview is that it continually and consistently compounds sin and its consequences.
For example: how many shootings have occurred over the past 14 days on college campuses in America? How many young people have died? Is it because there are guns available to students or is it because shooting someone is a matter of morality and the heart?
Has it occurred to anyone that we are becoming increasingly desensitized to man's inhumanity to man because we have been taught to believe that higher education is possible apart from absolute truth?
Has it occurred to anyone that America led the world in civility, creativity, intellectual construction, and humanitarian compassion when Bibles were open and prayers were offered in public schools?
Could it be that the modern mind conditioned by moral relativism is running out of answers for the consequences of education devoid of absolute truth?
Perhaps we'll pass another law...
Perhaps we'll do some more research...
Perhaps we'll spend some more money...
Perhaps we'll repent and readily admit that higher education apart from absolute truth is in effect lower education with diminishing civility, creativity, intellectual construction, and humanitarian compassion.
Perhaps rather than perish and accept man's escalating inhumanity to man as the social norm and measurable outcome of education apart from God, perhaps rather than being foolish, we once again will see the cross as the power of God that saves us from our sin.
My heart breaks for the diminishing returns in education devoid of absolute truth.
My heart breaks for young people who desire significance and have been conditioned to believe they will find it apart from God.
My heart breaks that we fail to see that education apart from the absolute truth of God's Word is rendering the lowest test scores for humanitarian harmony in American history.
I believe at some point absolute truth will prevail over moral relativism and eliminate the futility of education apart from God. My prayer is that the church be courageous and gracious in modeling Jesus in hopes of returning communities across America into safe havens of higher education.
I've shared this before but in the link that follows Ravi Zacharias speaks to the root issue of sin and waywardness in our culture. May the applause and laughter signify that the battle for the human heart is ultimately God's and we are called as followers of Christ to simply be compassionate stewards of His truth.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Y9bR3zcAcDY
God's Peace,
Jeff
Moral relativism is a terrible thing. You can always prove yourself "right" by finding someone worse than you are. People don't always turn it the other way to see how bad they are (since there is always someone better than they are). Taken to an extreme, there is one worst person on earth, and there is one best person on earth. The worst person obviously needs God. Most folks aren't aware that even the best person, the one person on earth who actually is better than everybody else, that person needs God too.
ReplyDeleteRomans 3:23 says "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God", and that includes both the worst person, and the best person on earth. The only one that wouldn't apply to is Jesus, who was and is sinless.
At work, I like to use this phrase in my conversations: we need one source of truth. I do it deliberately. At a business level, it is true. Having a single place to find information reduces confusion, therefore reducing costs. It is also planting seeds at a spiritual level. The one source of truth is the Bible, God's word. I want to be able to make that bridge with people, to move from a concept they have proven in business and apply it to their spiritual lives where it is much more important.
I agree with what you are saying. Without God as the center, education fails. Families fail. Nations fail.
Jesus never fails.