The Search For Solutions to Our Nation's Woes
By Andy Diestelkamp
We live in a complicated world. Things are not always what they seem to be.
Solutions are not as easy as some would have us think they are. Those in
positions of power and influence want us to believe that they have the answers.
We are in the midst of an economic crisis. Have you really understood the
explanations of the problems? Have you understood the proposed solutions? If so,
I welcome you to email me and explain them to me in layman’s terms because
everything I am hearing is way above my pay grade.
For years we have been sending soldiers to Iraq and Afghanistan allegedly as a
part of a war on terrorism. It is a war that has become extremely unpopular.
Foreign policy is complicated. Different cultures, different religions,
different values, and different goals result in issues that most ordinary folks
do not comprehend. Do you really understand what is going on? If so, please,
explain it to me.
In the last national election both presidential candidates told us that they
were candidates of change and that they had plans for fixing what is wrong with
our nation. The implication was that they have a grasp on complicated issues
such as the economy and foreign policy and that we could trust them to lead
America into its finest years.
However, what is wrong with America is what is wrong with humanity at large, and
it will not be fixed with men, money, or missiles. “Where do wars and fights
come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in
your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot
obtain...” (Jas. 4:1,2). Selfishness and greed are core problems that can only
be effectively addressed in a moral context which accepts that there are
fundamental and absolute standards of right and wrong. When we reject these
basic standards, we reject what makes us human beings created in the image of
God. When we reject that spiritual pedigree, then we are left as animals to bite
and devour one another as we seek to be leaders of the pack.
It is the spiritual and moral degradation of “we the people” that has harmed
this nation more than anything else. Nothing better illustrates this than the
sanction and practice of abortion. I am not saying that abortion is the only
thing that is wrong with this nation; neither am I saying that if we stopped
killing the unborn, all of our problems would be solved. I am saying that the
selfish attitudes which permit the virtually unrestricted liberty of terminating
unwanted human life is typical of what ails our nation.
For all of our alleged progress and intelligence, we certainly play dumb when it
suits our purposes. We keep ourselves ignorant so that we can pretend to protect
ourselves from any culpability, liability, or just plain ability to be of any
help in getting to the root of a problem. This intellectual filibustering
masquerades as humility when, in fact, it is self-serving.
In 1973, Justice Blackmun (writing for the majority in Roe v. Wade) said, “We
need not resolve the difficult question of when life begins. When those trained
in the respective disciplines of medicine, philosophy, and theology are unable
to arrive at any consensus, the judiciary, at this point in the development of
man’s knowledge, is not in a position to speculate as to the answer.” The irony
is that the court then acted on its alleged ignorance and determined that the
unborn are not human lives worthy of protection under the law.
From a scientific and biological perspective, there is absolutely no question
about when humans come into being; it is at conception. A two year old could
look at an embryo at seven-weeks gestation and know he was looking at a fellow
human being. Yet that unborn child has no legal protection under the laws of our
nation. Therefore, when any politician says that answering the question of when
life begins is beyond his ability, we have to question his ability to handle
more complicated issues (i.e., economy, foreign policy) and/or his honesty.
Salvation from our national ills will not come from any man, woman, or political
party. Indeed, if there is to be any salvation it can only come from one source,
the grace of God. Do not build your house on the ever-shifting sands of politics
or economics but on the solid rock of the teaching of Jesus (Matt. 7:24,25) and
His apostles and prophets (Eph. 2:20). Any politician, economist, or scientist
who does not build his house there will inevitably propose policies and theories
which have relatively little value in solving the largest of human problems.
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