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----------------------- a visionHumanity entered an extremely difficult period in the current age of history with the collapse and fall of Communism, protracted recession in Japan, terrorism spawned by Islamic Fundamentalism, hunger and disease in Africa, and the American decision to abandon its own system of justice and human rights in order to respond to a perceived external threat to its existence. Each of those belief systems, including the various tribal systems in Africa, had previously provided greater stability and positive expectation for those within its sphere of influence. But subsequent developments that cast a pall over all those efforts to organize human society were predictable, and, indeed, developed according to a predictable pattern. A belief system, capable of organizing a people into a culture must be totalogical, address teleological need, and it must define and control the prescriptive behavior necessary for success. Success must, of course, include provision for the practical needs of daily life, and strategies for protection from dissenters and external threats. The system must also be teleological. Meaning the system must anticipate or promise a perfect, utopian, or divine consequence for a pure and consistent implementation of the prescriptive behavior defined therein. Adam Smith, for example, said of capitalism, "If every individual is allowed to pursue their own self interest, the greatest good will be done for the greatest number as if guided by an invisible hand." That mantra has been used repeatedly by capitalists ever since to support demands for absolute economic freedom. Other systems similarly promise divine reward and/or perfect consequences . . . but also make that perfect result contingent upon the perfect implementation of the prescriptive behavior by those within the system. Yet those within the system can only accept the prescriptive behavior, and believe in the possibility of the utopian promise, if the knowledge that defined the system was appropriated as absolute. Although the amplitude and duration of the rise and fall of a culture thus conceived can vary greatly from one to another, the pattern is the same. An early, euphoric period characterized by success in social reorganization, military conquest, and/or prosperity. A plateau period characterized by efforts to extend the original knowledge, and modify the prescriptive behavior, in order to resolve internal contradiction and disillusionment, and external threats, while maintaining the belief that the original knowledge and prescriptive behavior was absolute. The final stage is characterized by growing totalitarianism from within the system to make the system work no matter what the cost. In this phase there is no longer any effort to maintain the belief that the original knowledge and prescriptive behavior were absolute. Instead such knowledge and prescriptive behavior is abandoned as necessary to justify the totalitarianism. The totalitarianism is driven by those within the system who have a deep subconscious bond to the original knowledge and utopian promise of the system. The internal conviction of these people is "we must make this system work no matter what the cost for it is the only truth, and the only hope." Any problem is the result internal disbelief and disobedience, or external evil. The totalitarian drive to "make the system work" will inevitably become more violent, and develop whatever logic is necessary to justify the violence. Nevertheless, such totalitarian drives to make a system work will always fail, for it will always destroy the internal consensus that empowered the system. History is, of course, littered with the remnants of civilizations that emerged, rose to dominate much of their known world, and then degenerated into nothingness. Humanity survived and seemingly went on to greater accomplishment, so why should the modern period be any different, or any more difficult? Because population growth and communication skill have forced a convergence of humanity, and thus a far greater interdependency between competing systems. Because the consequence of system collapse seldom results in the acceptance of the absolute truth of a competing system, but does result in chaos . . . first internal chaos, and then external chaos. Therefore, the threat to the modern world is chaos. Efforts to fight chaos with violence will only make the chaos darker and more intractable. Tyranny as a means to "make a system of values" work will only hasten the collapse of that system. Will chaos be the final chapter in human history? The focus of the search for hope must be the human need for the three essential elements of a functional value system; the totalogical need, the teleological need, and the prescriptive behavior necessary to realize the teleological promise. These elements existed in every culture known in human history, from the major cultures of centuries past like the Roman Empire and Egypt during the of the Pharaohs, to every Indian tribe in North America and every ethnic group in Polynesia. Every culture used divine language to describe, declare, and/or explain their truth. That includes the modern secular culture which uses words such as "miraculous" to describe their scientific discoveries, and phrases like, "We understand the creation of the universe millisecond by millisecond." What that means is that the most important need for all people, everywhere on earth, at every period of history was their need for god, and that all people either knew God, or did their best to create a god. If all people, everywhere, at every age of history needed god then it must be deduced that humans were created to need god. If humans were created to need god how could that be possible if there were no god? Did evolution play a cruel trick on humans and cause them to need god when there was no god? . . . so that humans would become excited and productive when they thought they knew god, but then self-destruct when the god proved false? . . . or is it possible, as Aristotelian would have us believe, that God created a perfect universe and then withdrew from the creation so as to allow humans to discover and control it as they saw fit . . . but neglected to tell humans they would simply self-destruct because the god who created them was not around to satisfy their most urgent need? All of the possibilities are absurd except for one . . . that humans were created by God to need God, and that the God of creation who wanted to be needed has consistently, and for eternity, taken the initiative . . . "How blest are those who know their need of God; the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs." (Matthew 5:3, New English Bible) Does it follow that God created humans to struggle with a need they could not understand, and then self-destruct in great pain when the god of their own creation proved false? By no means. Humans were created in the image and likeness of God to be in relationship with their Creator. But the first humans, though in relationship with God, did not understand their need for God and thus rebelled. That operative ignorance was passed on to succeeding generations. ". . . sin {separation from God] entered the world through one man, and through sin death, and thus death has spread through the whole human race . . ." (Romans 5:12, The Jerusalem Bible). But even as the ignorance of human need for God spread, and false gods were created in vain efforts to satisfy that need, a plan of redemption was initiated. First humans would have to become aware of their need for God, and then at the correct moment in time the Son of God would give his life so that those who knew their need of God would know that the Creator knew of that need and longed to establish a relationship with humans, and longed to forgive, and love, and give life to those in need. But wait a minute. Hasn't it been said in Holy Scripture that, "You must all obey the governing authorities. Since all government comes from God, the civil authorities were appointed by God, and so anyone who resists authority is rebelling against God . . . " ( Romans 13:1, New Jerusalem Bible ). In commanding us to obey civil authority, God is not saying we must recognize that civil authority as an absolute truth, nor are we expected to pretend such false gods are real. Rather this Biblical doctrine is based upon one deeper truth . . . the darkest, most intractable condition of the human race is chaos. Humans are ignorant of their need for God, and cannot know there is a God that loves them unless they are told, "But they will not ask his (Christ) help unless they believe in him, and they will not believe in him unless they have heard of him, and they will not hear of him unless they get a preacher, and they will never have a preacher unless one is sent . . ." ( Romans 10:14, New Jerusalem Bible ). The Lord Jesus seeks to use the order and stability provided by false value systems to send forth his servants to preach his Word, knowing there is only a short time to reach those people before they self destruct. Yet even though that gentle strategy worked well in prior centuries when focused on a singular culture, a more aggressive strategy is necessary in the modern period because of the convergence of the human race. The vain, historical claims to absolute knowledge of, and control over, the Word of God by various institutional churches are not adequate for the task at hand. Nevertheless, the Lord Jesus Christ does have a plan, and has prepared his people for this difficult period First, without being too specific, he has warned of an acutely difficult period at the end of the Age for two thousand years. Second, he set in motion a reawakening of the gifts of the Holy Spirit at the Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles, California, circa 1906, that has continued to spread throughout "grass-roots" Christianity. Third, the Roman Catholic Church embarked on renewal with The Second Vatican Council, circa 1958, and thereby established two critically important elements of the Lord's plan. That the Lord does not desire his people to war against others in an efforts to preserve absolute knowledge, or worldly power, but rather to walk away from partial knowledge and worldly power to relationship with him in the power of the Holy Spirit. In addition, the Second Vatican Council created a diaspora of Christians throughout humanity who are destined to become the yeast of the Kingdom . . . "What shall I compare the Kingdom of God with? It is like the yeast a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour till it was leavened all through." ( Luke 13:20, New Jerusalem Bible ). Finally, the Lord has made known the knowledge of the desperate need for him within all humans, and within all human culture. That knowledge will empower his people. --------------------------------------------- |
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A Vision of how humanity has worked to bring about its own demise, and an overview of the Lord's plan to block the self-destruction. |