Few days have caused our nation to groan like this one, eight years ago today. Even the most secular, moral relativist in the land had to look at these events and conclude, "This is evil."
For those in Christ, we groan with hope:
For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
(Romans 8:19-25)
My only critique with the song in the video is that I fear it gives a misleading hope. "Love" is indeed the answer; but if that love is not grounded in Christ, it is a hope built on sand.
Thanks for posting that video, Lar, it was very sobering... But I have a question about the last part in your post, which to me suggests that you think that hope for our country to be safe, peaceful, and prosperous, is dependent on every American needing to believe in Christ. To me that would suggest that one is not a good, moral person (and one that's able to contribute to the wellbeing and peace of our country) if they don't live for God. Thoughts?
ReplyDeleteGreat question Laura!
ReplyDeleteIt probably would take me a loooong time to answer that one, but let me try to do it as succinctly as I can.
Basically, I do think that people can live morally good lives without being a Christian. Non-Christians have built hospitals, given charitably to many worthy causes, and done many other things that would be regarded as good for society.
I guess what I meant is that this kind of doing good is limited in what it can do. With all the "progress" our nation has supposedly made, the last 100 years have seen more war, violence and oppression than the previous 1900 years combined. And even with love doing all it can, there are still calamities like tsunamis, hurricanes and disease that destroy human life, and therefore kill lasting hope.
When I said that love not grounded in Christ is a hope built on sand, I guess I also meant that if it's not grounded in Christ, it can only do any good in this life, which in light of eternity, is a pretty small, limited hope. All the love in the world cannot turn back the tide of death, and that's what I meant by it bringing a hope built on sand.
But I believe (on the basis of the Bible) that Jesus can bring a hope far deeper and longer lasting than temporal peace and prosperity in this life. Jesus promised to one day return to earth and make all things new, to renew and heal this material world from ALL its corruption and decay. The last book of the Bible puts it like this:
“Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
I don't believe that "love" (as a generic, sentimental emotion) can do something that massive in the universe. But I believe that Jesus can and one day will do just that, and the main reason I believe that is because He physically rose from the dead to validate all the claims that He made before His death and to demonstrate Himself as the risen Lord and King of the whole universe. By believing in Him, we can share in these wonderful blessings, the most wonderful blessing of all being to live forever with Him on the New Heavens and New Earth. I believe that is the only true, lasting basis of hope, because it's the only hope that transcends the grave. That's what I was getting at in the last couple sentences of the blog post.
Heavy stuff I know! And maybe it sounds awfully far-fetched. But I would be happy to explain more about it all, and about why I think Jesus is trustworthy, and why I believe the claims that He made as recorded in the Bible are reliable. Butt this was supposed to be a "short" response!
If you want to think a little more about this, I preached a sermon this past Easter on the hope that Christians celebrate at Easter. You may have to click the "Next 10" option at the bottom of the page a few times, but you can download and listen to it. It's called "The Audacious Hope of Easter". The date is 4/12/09 (a pretty good date, right!):
http://joycf.org/content/sermons/Default.aspx
Thanks again for getting me to clarify my thoughts. I hope my answer was helpful, even if you don't agree. And if you want to talk more, we can certainly take it "offline"!
Love you,
Larry