Do we want what we wants when we wants it? Let’s talk about it on Deeper Waters.
I just got done reading Thomas Sowell’s book “The Vision of the Anointed” and was thinking about the way our country is going, especially in light of a dialogue I’ve had going on on the web site of the local newspaper based on a letter to the editor I wrote on same-sex marriages.
Many people fear that our country could be in great danger due to economic troubles, and I agree we have great economic troubles. The idea for many Americans is that we want to get someone into the White House who we believe can fix the economy and get our nation running right.
There’s nothing wrong with fixing the economy, but really the purpose of the president has not been to lead the economy but to lead the nation. In what way is the nation to be led? Certainly in the case of war, but not just war. The nation is to be guided into being a nation of good citizens, of people who do the right and to preserve law and order.
When focusing on the economy, what if we saw the economy not as a cause of our problems but a symptom, and that first cause is instead a moral decline that has taken place in our nation and part of the symptoms of it in fact is our focus on the material things of the world rather than the building up of character.
Many of our economic problems could stem from our country spending beyond what we have. It is the crisis of “I want it!” There is also emergency thinking that says we have to fix this right away and focusing on short-term solutions rather than looking at the long-term picture.
That “I want it” is coming directly from our morality. Too often we are simply saying that someone has a right to something without giving a reason why or discussing what the ramifications of it would be. Someone wants to have an abortion. Are we going to really discuss it or just assume that it should be given because someone wants it.
Today, it’s same-sex marriage that is the issue. To say that we should have it because some people want it is not to give sufficient reason. There are many things I want but that does not mean I am entitled to have them. There are many things that we can all agree are good but that does not mean we are entitled to have them.
Let’s consider food. It would be good if we could feed everyone in the country. Does that mean that we should give them all a steak dinner every night? For many people, that would be good, but it just isn’t feasible to do.
If we were to do that, the funding would have to come from somewhere. Some people would be taxed. Those people would respond a certain way. Just because our idea is good and we thank that it should be done, that does not mean it can be pulled off. I would think it would be great if we could all teleport everywhere rather than have to spend time driving or flying. That would be great, but at this point, we cannot do it.
The same has often happened with our demand for justice. We know what needs to be done and if the law does not see things our way, we will react until they do. This is the case with rioting and vigilantes. It is the case of people thinking the world centers around them.
An excellent example of our wanting something right now is in our sexuality. Isn’t it interesting how many issues today are revolving around sex? What about abortion? What about homosexuality? What about sex education? What about birth control? Could it be that maybe we need to get in our heads that we should not have sex always just because we want it?
In apologetics, we often see that so many people don’t want to really study the Bible. They want knowledge, but they don’t want to have to work for it. For my readers, I can tell you I nearly always have a book with me and I like to get in at least 100 pages a day and that includes walking to the library often. (And by the way, I read when I walk as well.)
If we want to deal with problems in America, the first place to start is not our wallets. It is our hearts. If we can deal with the heart problem, we will also deal with the wallet problem. Of course, this will not happen immediately, and part of the problem is in thinking that there is a quick solution, but it can happen when we seek to build a people of character again.
In Christ,
Nick Peters
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