THE BIBLE
The Bible is the Word of God to human beings. As such, it is:
Absolute - no higher standard
Eternal - timelessly applicable to all people, in all places, at all times--past, present, and future
Inerrant - contains no mistakes, errors, or contradictions
Infallible - incapable of being erroneous, wrong, or misleading on anything to which it speaks
Inspired - from the very mind of God, penned by men under the inspiration and direction of God
With its overarching message of reconciliation between sinful man and holy God, the Bible (or the Scriptures) addresses the deepest, most foundational questions and issues of man's origin, purpose, and eternal destination.
In modern culture, however, the instruction of the Bible has been so disturbingly compartmentalized that it is frequently relegated to a demeaned position of applying only to the "religious" aspect of man, i.e., without any direct and meaningful relevance to our day-to-day, practical, real-world lives.
But the Bible will in fact address every single possible situation that man may face, from the frivolous to the serious, the silly to the scientific, the temporal to the eternal. Although the Bible may not reflect a particular life situation in every exhaustive detail, it will always--through a specific PASSAGE or an applicable PRINCIPLE--provide divine guidance to direct our understanding, decisions, and actions in all things.
While an individual is free to choose not to believe in the Bible, the Bible's God, the Bible's Savior (the Lord Jesus Christ), or the Bible's instruction, such unbelief does not negate the Bible as God's timeless truth to which all men are, and will be, held accountable.
What King Solomon penned thousands of years ago still remains true today regarding God's Word: "There is no wisdom or understanding or counsel against the LORD" (Proverbs 21:30, NKJV). |
THE CULTURE
The term "culture wars" is now embedded and bandied about within America society. It refers, in its essence, to the ongoing battle between, on the one hand, those who remain dedicated to maintaining America's founding Judeo-Christian principles within the fabric of American law and society, and, on the other hand, those who in the name of the gods of secularism and self seek to remove all vestiges of God, Christ, Christianity, and the Bible from the nation in order to do whatever is right in their own eyes.
Solomon declares in Ecclesiastes 1:9-10, "That which has been is what will be, that which is done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which it may be said, 'See, this is new? It has already been in ancient times before us" (NKJV).
Such is the case with the culture wars, which are not new but in fact have been occurring for several thousands of years, and always according the same formula: 1) God instructs nations; 2) nations (which are comprised of individuals) obey God, in which case they experience blessing and prosperity; or 3) nations/individuals reject God and experience punishment and decline, if not outright eradication. In either case, there have always been voices--and therefore a battle--pressing for either the sacred or the secular direction of the nation. Hence, a contemporary label does not a phenomenon make.
Similarly, as these wars are ongoing throughout history, differing only in regard to the "issues" specific to a particular time, place, and people, so also is the instruction for sustaining people and nations in peace and prosperity rather than destruction and decline.
For centuries, God has shown time and time again what awaits nations and individuals based on each's response to His Word, and nowhere has this been made more evident that in His dealings with His own chosen people, the nation of Israel.
Throughout the Old Testament, Israel witnessed the consequences of following both sides of her own culture wars, and the record of God's dealings with them has been preserved in the Scriptures specifically for the admonition and instruction of any and all nations around and/or after it.
While not specifically God's chosen people as Israel was and still is, America--whose founding principles were executively, legislatively, and judicially Judeo-Christian--has been similarly treated with unparalleled abundance, blessing, and prosperity throughout her history. What began as a governmental and political experiment has rightly resulted in the envy of the world, a nation divinely preferred because of its preference for the divine principles of the Bible.
But just as with Old Testament Israel over and over again, we as a country have become complacent in our prosperity and wise in our own eyes. We have strayed from the old paths, substituted our own wisdom for God's, and preferred the idols of secularism and self while denying our Sovereign. To use a modern expression, we have decided not to "dance with who brung us."
Leaning upon our own understanding and professing to be wise, we have not learned from Israel's example. Instead, we have become largely a nation of fools, and the results are undeniably evident from both foreign and domestic perspectives. In every area of American life--government, politics, law, academia, family, church, and national defense--America has experienced shockingly painful and pernicious declines that have transformed our society from one struggling to start into one struggling simply to stand.
From the foreign perspective, Islamic terrorists engaged in a war not simply with the West, but with all things Christian, threaten to destroy us from the outside. But an even closer war rages within our borders from the forces of political liberalism, cultural secularism, philosophical postmodernism, and moral relativism. It is from these ideologies that the damage has actually been more direct in the breakdown of national sanity and rationality, law, justice, and bedrock institutions.
Both data and experience consistently show the consequences of the nearly half-century-long separation of a nation from its moorings, policies from principles, the family from its foundations, and the Church from her Head. In all these areas, America has witnessed measurable declines in both the foreign and domestic realms. This progression has been unnecessary, and its continuance is reversible.
One Book shows how. |
THE BLOG
Each week, Dr. Jones' blog will apply Biblical teachings to contemporary cultural issues, as well as examine current events, issues, and personalities from a Biblical worldview. The blog will be updated at least weekly, but new posts may appear more frequently. |
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