Why the “Given Up” are Giving Up

By: Chris Johnson

“You know, you can be in the middle of a hurricane,” Justice Clarence Thomas once said, “North is still North… It doesn’t change fundamental things. And, in this business, Right is still Right.”

“You can’t change fundamental things,” he said, and yet, as no one knows better than Clarence Thomas, that doesn’t stop people from trying.

The central conflict in our culture is between one side which believes that they can change fundamental reality and the other, which wants to avoid the consequences of trying.

We can see those consequences all around us already. We’ve sought to redefine marriage, make men and women interchangeable, convince parents that their preborn children are clumps of cells and that the kids we allow to live belong to the government. Ultimately, we’ve sought to convince individuals that our fundamental reason for being is to experience as much pleasure as possible.

Psalm 14:1 says, “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” Proverbs 9:10 states the inverse, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom.” But Romans 1:21-28 really spells it all out:

“For although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

Therefore, God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

For this reason, God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.”

There is so much in that passage that runs counter to our culture. “Contrary to nature?” Why should nature determine our actions? “Due penalty?” Who are you to say our actions deserve punishment? “Ought not to be done?” Who gets to decide what ought and ought not to be done?

In our foolishness, our society has answered that question, “we do.” We decide right from wrong; we decide what ought to be done. We each determine our own “natures.”

We can see what happens when we reject nature (and nature’s God) in the destruction of discontent protestors, the suicide rate of the sexually confused, the glazed over expression of drug addicts, the slack-jawed stare of the screen-addicted child whose parents don’t want to deal with him.  Rock band “Theory of a Deadman” sums it up like this in their song “Rx:”

“Crushin’ candy, crushin’ pills; Got no job, mom pays my bills; Textin’ exes, get my fill; Sweatin’ bullets, Netflix chills; World’s out there singin’ the blues; Twenty more dead on the evening news; Think to myself, “Really, what’s the use?”; I’m just like you, I was born to lose.

“Why, oh, why can’t you just fix me? When all I want’s to feel numb; But the medication’s all gone; Why, oh, why does God hate me? When all I want’s to get high; And forget this so-called life.

“I am so frickin’ bored; Nothin’ to do today; I guess I’ll sit around and medicate”

The bridge finishes with: “Everyone’s high… right now; And no one’s ever coming down!”

The song’s got a point. Between drugs, porn, gambling, video games, shopping, drama, alcohol, food, work, money, etc., it seems like everyone is looking to something to take the edge off, because the purpose our culture sets for us – our perpetual pleasure – is unattainable. So, we are never fulfilled.

The abuse of these goods are the result of our attempts to define reality for ourselves, to “exchange the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man…” For all of our technological advancements in our attempts to reshape nature according to our own ideals, all we’ve come up with is a million ways to numb ourselves to it.

Mankind’s purpose, according to Genesis 1:26-28, is to “have dominion… over all the earth.” Rather, we are conquered by our own basest instincts through our idolatry of our selves.

As a people, we’ve said in our hearts that there is no God – and our foolishness is evident. We’ve been created in the image of God and given the duty of stewarding his beautiful world. Instead, we reject this glorious design and act like the animals we’re placed over.

But if we’re going to act like animals, may we be Christ’s sheep. John 10:9-11 says, “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”

How much better is Christ’s “abundant life” than the “highs” that this world offers?

 

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