WTF

One may get the impression while watching and listening to secular media that Christians are not fans of preserving the environment. Actually, it is likely that if an outsider were to watch a news station and was later asked how Christians and the environment correlated, they would respond with “at war with one another”. That is certainly what I would say. That is because there is an overwhelming perception in mainstream America that science and Christianity are at war. And if Christians are at war with science, than it would only make sense that Christians would hate what science stands for, which in turn is, nature. To quote Spock, “it is only logical”. But I would like to take a stand for the contrary. That being a Christian means that you MUST love and conserve the environment.

Shark week is my favorite week of television. The close up shots and vivid imagery of a great white airing out of the water snapping at a bloody piece of meat is simply sublime. While sharks will forever scare me, I find them to be one of the most beautiful and elegant creatures to ever exist and when I see them attack I feel I am witnessing nature at its finest. Everyone has one of those moments, that moment where you witness nature and stop in your tracks just to say, “wow”. Whether its the picturesque sunset glistening over the ocean or the rolling hills of Tuscany swaying in the wind. Everyone has that personal moment of divine sensation while witnessing nature. And what I am saying is that the beautiful environment that is cherished and loved by many, should be conserved and loved most by Christians.

I say this because it is what God created. Regardless of what theory of creation you believe in, the big bang and evolution, creationism or whatever your high school biology teacher taught you, Christians believe God is the creator and sustainer of the universe in which we occupy. The Christian should desire to conserve that creation. A.W. Tozer the late Christian scholar once said that God created all of nature not to be solely studied but most importantly to be admired. That the flower does have a scientific purpose, such as providing pollen, but also it has a divine purpose, to be simply adored and marveled at. Christians should be the most environmentally concerned because God created it with a purpose to be admired and because close upon 10,000 years ago he gave the command to take care of it. It is all of mankind’s reasonability to take watch over nature, but it is the Christians responsibility to admire God through it. That is why Christians should be concerned with preserving all nature, so that God may forever be glorified through it forever and ever, amen.

Endangered: Hipster

But the new rebel is a skeptic, and will not entirely trust anything. He has no loyalty; therefore he can never be really a revolutionist. And the fact that he doubts everything really gets in his way when he wants to denounce anything… the modern man in revolt has become practically useless for all purposes of revolt. By rebelling against everything he has lost his right to rebel against anything. – G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy

American government is a fairly easy class with the occasional spell of difficulty as is most  high school classes in America (lets leave IB and AP out of this). Recently in gov we (the class) were given the menial task of creating mock government parties in attempt to add creative thinking to the walls of the blandly decorated classroom. The project was to include a slogan, title, and image. Looking around the classroom and talking to fellow students about ideas, one stood out above the rest. One group invented “The Hipster Party” and their slogan was “Slogans are too mainstream…” At first I fancied their idea clever and humorous but the more I pondered it, a question came to rise. What really is a hipster?

As far as I can tell a hipsters lone desire is to be set away from the crowd. To stand out. To be the apple on the orange tree. On Monday they are all about some unheard-of indie group. Tuesday, MTV airs a music video of the indie band. Logic now demands the hipster deny the likes of the indie band and move on to the next undiscovered group or even genre. Hipsters only believe something to be good when everyone else will deny it. Once everyone else begins to accept it, they now deny it and accept what everyone else once denied. There is no set definition of what they stand for or believe in.

I believe this once honest rebellion is becoming uncontrolled and ill-defined. If this cause continues on the same path it is on, the hipster breed will die out. Everyone is rebelling against different things then slapping the “hipster” trademark on it. In order for this rebellion to stay alive a definition needs to be acquired and it needs to be stood by till death do it part. Hipsters world wide need to band together in their rebellion, kick posers out and live consistently in their rebellion.

You might say that there is a set definition, “to rebel against anything mainstream” which I will support, but there is a problem. Geographical mainstreams. I doubt Adairville Kentucky has the same mainstreams as Los Angeles California. This is why I purpose that the hipsters make a national party. Yes it will be a mainstream act, but by doing it they can have a true collective rebellion against all popularities of life.

Revival Tarries

English professor at the University of California Berkley, Carolyn Kane wrote an article for Newsweek about the general lack of important thinking in modern American culture. After the posed question she revealed her answer in front of both God and the audience of Newsweek: “But how do we revive interest in the art of thinking? The best place to start would be in the homes and churches of our land.” She did not appeal to government, or for an increase in money for public school systems or for more adequate college faculties. Professor Kane realized that the church was meant to be, and when we look back at history can see has been, the instrument for reason in society. So what happened? Why did this jettisoning of reason take place? America met its breaking point with reason during the Counter-Cultural Movement of the 1960’s. By reason I mean the process used to gain knowledge in order to justify beliefs. Several sub movements defined the Counter-Cultural Movement of the 1960’s:

• Psychology  – Situation Ethics
• Philosophy – God is Dead Movement
• Theology – Neo-orthodoxy
• Arts – Theatre of the Absurd

These sub movements helped influence postmodernism, the sexual revolution, and misrepresentations of the God of the Bible. Outside of prestigious universities “intellectuals” smoked pot and experimentation became emphasized. Everything that was once held to be sacred and private became open and free. Homosexuality and abortion became accepted and intolerance became the only evil. The Counter-Cultural Movement of the 1960’s was truly a Anti-intellectual Movement because there was total abandonment of reason. Men and women thought and believed in nothing and those who were the rebels then are the professors, educators, and people in power today. The culture and mind of America has changed and is yet to recover. So how do we fix it? To answer that, we need to take a step back because anti-intellectualism didn’t just simultaneously combust in the 60’s. No, it came long before that. It came with the theory of evolution. Science originated in Christian Europe and was studied for the main purpose of learning about God; so when new science claimed an alternate to God and denied his existence the church was left speechless. With the church not having any intellectual arguments against the theory many Christians left the faith and science gained the credibility that Christianity “lost”. People than began to believe that things were only true and reasonable if they could be tested using the five senses; hearing, smelling, seeing, tasting, and feeling. Thus making faith unreasonable and false because it cannot be truly tested. What both science and the church failed to realize though was that science only studies nature and that God, by definition, is supernatural (outside of nature). My point is that if the church had had an intellectual argument for the scientific revolution than the church would not have lost its place as the “instrument of reason in society”. Instead it gave secularism the power for a revolution that we (Christians) are not likely going to see an end to unless we make a radical effort for revival and promptly at that! The main cause for lack of revival in America is the lack of intellectualism and knowledge of apologetic arguments for the church. Theologian and pastor R.C. Sproul said “We live in the most anti-intellectual period in the history of all Western civilization… We must have passion-indeed hearts on fire for the things of God. But that passion must resist with intensity the anti-intellectual spirit of the world.” Five things need to change if we want revival and intellectualism to take over the church:

1. Faith and reason need to be equally as strong as one another.
2. There can be no separation between sacred and secular things.
3. Live largely on mission.
4. Don’t make the Gospel relevant. Show the relevance of the Gospel.
5. Be bold, confront, and witness.

G. K. Chesterton wrote, “Once people stop believing in God the problem is not that they will believe nothing, rather it is that they will believe anything.” If we can spark intellectualism and knowledge of apologetics in the christian church, than we can spark revival. Once revival happens in the church, the judgment seat will be able to retake its throne as the instrument of reason in society. Amen.