Posted on 06/27/2004 10:38:11 PM PDT by Keyes2000mt
Everything is changing. Culture is changing in various ways. The world is changing as countries form new alliances together through organizations like the EU and the FTAA. The way we fight wars is different, the economic ties that bind the world together are changing, and our societies are changing. The power structure of this nation is changing – and there's more change to come.
This change has a whole lot to do with technology and a new generation soon to be affecting society. The radical advancement in technology, the growing knowledge base of the world and a new generation will bring big things to a postmodern world.
I hear from a lot of people through e-mail who face this future with fear. These are conservatives who delve their minds into gloom-and-doom views of the world, hoping that Jesus will come back just in time to save them before MTV takes over with a one-world government.
In reality there's not a lot to be afraid of. Life in 21st century America is good. Our morality might not be all too great, but the nation isn't on the verge of collapse. This new future will not immediately bring death and destruction.
So, what will postmodern life be? That is the question. It hasn't been decided yet – that's what makes this new future a make it or break it moment in history for traditionalists. Those who hold fast to traditional worldviews will need to live their lives differently if they want any influence in this new world.
Life in America at this point in history is incredibly shallow and fake. The movies we watch are fake, a lot of the music we listen to is fake, and politics is fake. It's all shallow, hypocritical and unauthentic. Our movies are marked by sensationalism of sex, violence and the profane, as is our music. Our politics is hypocritical – look at Vice President Dick Cheney (a supposed supporter of conservative morality) who told Sen. Pat Leahy on the Senate floor, "F--- you." This leaves us all with a picture of Cheney that looks very fake.
How obvious can it be? This new generation of teens and twenty-somethings is apathetic about politics because politicians are fake. They want nothing to do with such hypocrisy. If anything, this generation is crying out for something real, something authentic. We want a passion for something real.
So, how will the Christian community and conservatives respond to this cry for authenticity? It's clear its current marketing plan won't work. It's not real. Church culture in America looks incredibly cheesy and fake. It looks to be filled with self-righteous, rich, white golfers who look down their collective nose on people who don't sing the same cheesy church songs as loud.
The political side doesn't look much better. Conservatives pay lip service to conservative ideas but act differently. We talk about less government and fiscal responsibility, but we vote for men and women who lead our nation down a path toward bankruptcy. What does that tell the world? Our actions tell the world that conservatives are fake. We talk about Founding Fathers and the glory days of life, but don't have the spine to put our efforts behind principled leaders. That's not being authentic.
The world is changing, and this is a moment in time where conservatives and Christians have an opportunity to divorce themselves from fake religion and hypocrisy and change the world.
Why can't evangelicals leave behind their devotion to church politics and the meaninglessness of church programs and truly pursue God with their lives? Why can't conservatives leave behind their devotion to seeking power and really devote their politics to principles?
If evangelicals and conservatives can't do this, they're no better than those who don't know God, are just as shallow, and they will be treated as hypocrites by a generation that is crying out for something real.
You might try reading (or watching the movie) 'Network'. Things have been fake, shallow and morally bankrupt for a long time - generations, in fact. Your hero 'Kyle' is offended that a socialist like Leahy was cursed by our VP - that somehow, Cheney's not a moral or good person for having uttered a bad word? How old is Kyle? 5 or 6?
If these young truth-seekers will indeed spend the effort to look beyond the fakery of the media stereotype/lies, and find what's really here they will indeed find principles and not just power lust. The genuine committment to and aplication of principles is precisely the reason why the right is the target of so much blind, venomous hatred from the big-power left and it's elder prophet, the newsertainment glitterati.
Cheney did not say this on the Senate floor, but outside the Capitol when they were posing for the annual picture, and Leahy tried to be "buddy buddy" after he excoriated him on the floor, casting aspersions on his integrity.
Good for Cheney!!! It's Leahy who is the hypocrite, and Cheney wasn't taking his sh-t.
'Kyle' is offended that a socialist like Leahy was cursed by our VP
My goodness, doesn't he know that we all fall short? Didn't ruffle my feathers a bit.
"I hear from a lot of people through e-mail who face this future with fear. These are conservatives who delve their minds into gloom-and-doom views of the world, hoping that Jesus will come back just in time to save them before MTV takes over with a one-world government. "
Great point. There's lots of people who are sitting around waiting to get raptured instead of making a difference in the world.
"Why can't conservatives leave behind their devotion to seeking power and really devote their politics to principles?"
Keyes2000mt, has a valid point. Everyone (especially the young) wants to know what is in it for them, why is it worth it, why is your party/group any better than another. The best way to show is by example.
If Kyle and his generation want something "real", they should reach for a big, tall bottle of icy CocaCola (in which I am a stockholder). Remember: "It's the REAL thing?" Better yet boys, send your "unreal" money directly to me and I'll return you an envelope stuffed with bonafide reality. Seriously kids, Goethe covered your problem in "The Sorrows of Young Werther" in about 1840 (which you never read so don't pretend). Now, the next step in solving the problems of Century XXI is for you to get a job and keep it. When you've held the job long enough to qualify for a pension, you can theorize for us again.
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