Preface: With the collapse of the residential tower near Miami on our minds and in our prayers....I thought that I might bring this post back from December of 2009. I wrote it after watching a segment of the Christian television program Origins...the title of which was God's Handiwork In The Designing Of Bones....and the guest lecturer was Dr. David Menton of answersingenesis.org. In reviewing today this twelve year old post....I was taken back a little in that I also commented on the issue of race that is now tearing us even further apart. We do need the Christlikeness taught in our Bible studies today....but without the rebar of God's severe and often repeated warnings to be vigilant of false teachers and false prophets.....and commands to be sober-minded and on our guard....and without the hope and desire for our Lord's return....and recognizing the signs pointing to the nearness off His return....and without having our total dependence on Christ.....as opposed to dependence our own powers and might....then that strength of our foundation will collapse when the winds blow....which is what we see happening today in evangelicalism.
Straw And Rebar
Dr. Menton of Answers In Genesis gave two analogies in God's design of bones....one of straw used in the making of bricks in Old Testament times....and the other of rebar used today in reinforced concrete. Concrete by itself would be too brittle.....subject to breaking up....while rebar by itself would bend. The two materials need each other....as straw was needed in Egypt for the making of brick.
My thoughts turned to the church....where we all have a tendency to give critical glances to each other as if to say....Come over here and give help where it is really needed. In reality....we all would collapse if not melded together and bonded together as brothers and sisters in Christ. If only we could lift up the work of each other. We cannot be so doctrinal minded that our salt has lost its savor....nor can we be so consumed with salting the earth that there is no firm ground for a foundation to build upon....and I realize that it is my duty to examine myself daily on this issue.
There's a tendency for some of us to go back to 1776.....and for me the tendency is to go back further to at least the Plymouth Colony....but there is one big difference in the Plymouth society....and also a structural difference with that of the Founders. We are no longer a caucasian society. Ayn Rand's words do not help in building a nation of equals....nor even do the words of Adam Smith. (It is Ayn Rand's philosophy that we are following today....more than the Founders) The Republican Party waved this banner of equality at one time....as the Democrat Party sought to tear it down....and the Democratic Party would later wave it....as the Republican Party ignored it.
Today the Democrats wave the banner of equality but it is so enmeshed with political gain that it actually worsens the situation. I won't be so arrogant as to give an answer to this when others have labored their whole life on this concern....but I will give my opinion that if the Christian church were strengthened....if it proclaimed Christ....and His cross....then we all would be so humbled that our views of what success is would not send us off in search of riches.....and the realization of our pride would so prostrate us that we could not possibly look down on anyone.
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