Dear Trekker,
Do you remember the Minnesotafamily that “gave up” $50,000 after their son scored a winning hockey shot? Odd as it may seem in today’s “entitlement” society, it happened a year or so ago. Sorta strange… one young son stepped in for his identical twin brother and competed under the wrong name, not tit for tat but Nick for Nate. The dad didn’t feel right about taking the money, saying, “The boy who had made the lucky shot wasn’t the son who was supposed to have taken it.” Honesty won the day… imagine that! The father was seeking to impact the “moral destiny” of his sons. I did similar things with my young sons; most dads do!
Compare the above with the following recent blog…”Lesbian Baby-making for the Entitled Generation.” “I want to have babies the way straight people do… it’s time that you guys ask the scientists to get me and my lady a baby that shares our DNA. I deserve it. (Italics mine.) Your adoptions and inseminations, kids from earlier relationships, trading of eggs to different bodies, taking turns getting pregnant…not good enough for me. Figure out a way for me to make a baby like straight people do.” Ergo, one can deduce society (you and me) has a moral obligation to do so!
Two very contrasting stories from the age we live in! Trekker, be sure of one thing… morality is the needle on the compass of liberty! No morality, no liberty! Without a reference point beyond focus on self, one does not know, cannot know logically where he or she is. If we don’t know where we are we can be adrift without a clue who we are or where we are going.
From whence cometh morality? What are our moorings? We must have them or we are adrift! It can’t be otherwise! Let’s be clear… if we are but a primordial mass that has evolved over time, why should morality ever enter the picture? Survival of the fittest is its own morality. Might makes right. Of course, “anything goes” so long as it works and that is what I simply do! “For God’s sake, don’t anyone tell me what I ought to do!” (Funny how we invoke the name of God so freely, and in the next breath affirm he doesn’t really even exist!)
There is a telling reminder by the writer of Hebrews: “…without faith, it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” Well of course… why have faith in anything or anyone who doesn’t exist? That would be insanity. But… if God exits, there may be purpose behind our existence. That purpose may define life and be a guide as to whether life as we live it, will work! Are we having problems, any problem? Maybe we have failed to link life purpose with the values of life we practice, i.e. morality. Trekker, here is where the rubber meets the road. Why even the President said the other day to a Buddhist monk inThailand, “We’re working on the budget; we’re going to need a lot of prayer for that.” Touché… we all pray when in trouble! But why? Why this innate sense of “oughtness to communicate” (sometimes called prayer) when in a bind? Why can’t we just handle everything ourselves?
Faith is to believe God is, for the limited human mind cannot “grasp” the dimension of God and hence, cannot prove that God exists. Clearly, to have innate faith that God is and “is a rewarder” of those who diligently seek Him, is a terrific starting point! Philosophers call it the ontological argument leading to belief in God. And being “made in the image of God” as Scriptures teach, tells us much about God and men. God “extended” His nature into and created us for His pleasure. Therefore, the supreme good of all is to be in a right relationship with God, living so as to strengthen and enjoy one’s affinity with God and fellow man. So faith for the one who trusts in God drives morality, i.e. how one lives. Living in faith brings one to God and is the beginning of man living free to serve God and others in love. It is no coincidence that Jesus the Rabbi/teacher said all the commandments are summed up in two statements… “Love the Lord God with all our mind, heart, and strength and our neighbor as ourself.” Such love is the basis of all true altruism, and points us back to God as the source of all being and freedom.
No wonder the Rabbi said so eloquently, “If you hold to (read practice) my teaching, you are really my followers. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8: 31, 32). No wonder Jesus of Nazareth said, “I am the way, the truth, the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:16) Jesus alone takes us back to God… His life becomes the basis for how we are to live our lives!
Now a caution trekker…one must be in fellowship with God through Christ, or he or she will inevitably focus on self vs. others, with a sense of entitlement and acquisition. I reflect and smile as we talk about our nation going the way of Greecere: fiscal solvency. Why…perhaps we’ve already gone the way of Greece! Consider…when the citizens of Athens before the time of Christ decided not to give to their fellow man, but the purpose of society was to give to them; when the freedom they wished for most was freedom from responsibility to anyone or anything, then Athens/Greece was no longer free. (We may all thank historian Edward Gibbon for pointing this out.) Yes, I fear we already are on the path to the Greek tragedy.
Living responsibly, for God, self, and others, is not a euphoric feeling. It is our duty and honor as sons of God and citizens of earth. I love Paul’s words… “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” (Letter to the Galatians, Chapter 5:11) We are in slavery when we strive against our fellow man we are called to serve! Let us not give up our birthright of freedom for handouts or promises!
Thankful, true faith leads to morality,
Jim Meredith
