Posted on 11/11/2008 8:46:31 AM PST by CommonsensicalCat
“People never crumble in a day – it’s a slow fade.” This is the chorus of Casting Crown’s “Slow Fade” song. The lyrics are just as applicable to a nation as to an individual and unfortunately for America, we have been in a slow fade for some time now.
When “I dream of Jeannie” made its debut on television in September of 1965 it was the most embattled show to come across the airwaves. Television rating organizations had all kinds of problems allowing “Jeannie” to show her belly button. Today, that is laughable. Last night I was forced to turn “King of Queens” because it had 4 curse-words in 2 minutes. That’s just not appropriate for my children. Sorry. Then I found my wife turning “Bones” because of inappropriate sexual content. In fact I found myself encouraging my wife to watch Monday Night Football because it’s the only thing on that doesn’t have cursing, sex, or violence. It has been a slow fade.
I was told by someone I know this week that I view the world in black and white. She told me that there is a lot of gray out there and that it is irresponsible to view rules as being hard-fast. As a lawyer turned financial consultant I know a few things about gray. In law school they taught us that you could take the case if it passed your “straight face test.” This meant that if you could argue your client’s side with a straight face then you could allow them to employ you. There are a lot of shades of gray in law. In the financial realm everything is speculative. Talk about gray. But in God’s word, it is not gray. It is black and white.
I have sinned enough for 10 lifetimes and I still feel my own self-inflicted scars about the things I have done, but it was not God’s word that wavered, it was me. God didn’t suggest the 10 Commandments he commanded them. God is the same today as he was when he made the world and when the world ends, God will still be the same. God doesn’t slow fade even if his people do.
You see God hasn’t changed his stances on divorce, homosexuality, cursing, gambling, etc, etc, etc. We as a culture have changed our stances. We have replaced spanking with grounding, the doctrine of “love the sinner, hate the sin” with “have tolerance on different ideas and cultures.” Do you realize how many times tolerance is in the Bible? Try zero. God is merciful, God is good, but God is not tolerant. God doesn’t say – “well it’s ok this time.” God says – “IT IS WRONG – repent, come to me, and I will forgive you.”
Oh America, why have we been in a slow fade? Oh Christians, why us too? The thing to remember is that God is merciful – let us repent of our sins no matter how great and take this country back for God Almighty! What has been a slow fade can be an instantaneous snap back to reality, back to worship, back to repentance. Let us pray for our country, but let us turn off our televisions when questionable shows are on. Let us, turn off our radios when things counter to the will of God begin to play. Let us live like we are from another world, not of this one. Lest we continue to slow fade to a point of no return.
nice writeup, that song has been on my mind also.
You would have had to turn off the third episode of Life on Mars, also for the exact same reason.
Don't forget, the main reason for the Great Awakening and the Second Great Awakening and Billy Graham's popularity was that there had been a decline each time and there was a great demand for someone who would speak God's word. Homosexuality and abortion are evils, no doubt, but they are TODAY'S evils, in order of magnitude no different to the Lord than the evils of slavery or child marriage or polygamy that were fought over the previous 300 years. Solomon said, "There is nothing new under the sun," and that includes sin.
You’d be amazed how many people through the history of our country say the exact same things about the culture: it’s decaying, it’s dying, God will surely judge the nation, etc. You can find similar sentiments expressed by William Bradford, Jonathan Edwards, William Lloyd Garrison, Billy Sunday, even the first generation of Puritans toward their own children!
LOL. Yeah, it usually precedes a revival.
The Casting Crown song on my mind has been the one about “building castles out of sand” what with the stock market, and now our Nation.
One wild card that many overlook is the activity of the Catholic bishops. They finally--after decades of dropping the ball--spoke out in concert about life issues. Of course individual bishops spoke out many times before, but this time the bishops spoke with greater unity and cohesion. If they continue speaking this way their efforts will bear fruit. They will make inroads among the "bullet-proof" latinos and clueless, blue-collar Catholic democrats.
I admit that the results seem pretty meager this time (as a group Catholics returned to their traditional home in the democrat party), but the JP II generation of priests is beginning to hit its stride. It's members are just beginning to occupy positions of authority in the Church and will have a bigger say in the tone set by the Church in America. They are fed up with the easygoing tolerance that lets everything slide, as well as the attitude that puts loyalty to the ethic group ahead of loyalty to the Truth.
So many "Catholics" practice birth control and otherwise ignore much of Catholic doctrine that what "The Church" says (either through the Pope or the bishops) has little control over their lives. This was seen during John Paul II's time, where he was the most popular Pope in history, yet the American Catholic Church seemed to defy him on everything from homosexuality in the priesthood to abortion to whatever.
I don't excuse my own Protestant denominations: churches like Willow Creek and Saddleback, which I think do serve "a" purpose in the Kingdom, nevertheless have VERY little moral influence over their congregations. It's more about "helping" and "healing" people who've already done bad stuff than it is preventing them from doing stuff in the first place.
So, I don't think ANY concentrated effort by the churches is going to have an effect until there is an across-the-board moral reformation. Maybe it starts with them, but don't expect political effects any time soon.
I have trouble watching football (or any other sport) because of the cursing, sex, or violence in the commercials. Sigh.
BTW, "Slow Fade" is one of my 4-year-old daughter's current favorite songs, along with Michael W. Smith's "New Hallelujah."
Pretty good for a vanity.
:-)
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