Extremism

Extremism is defined by wikipedia as"a term used to describe the actions or ideologies of individuals or groups outside the perceived political center of a society; or otherwise claimed to violate common moral standards."

Everyone from President Bush (in the days immediately following 9/11), to the imam behind the World Trade Center mosque/cultural center, have told us our problem is not with Islam, but with Islamic extremists. Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf expanded the problem when he explained it, saying that extremists from all religions are the problem, and religious moderates just need to come together.

But labeling "extremism" as the problem is a slippery slope. Our society speaks of common moral standards, but rejects the idea that there is a knowable, reasonable and ultimately true ethical norm that we should look to in forming our morality. Morality is what a society actually does; ethics is what a society should do, and with our loving embrace of post-modernism our society essentially turns to its own morality for its morality. If you think this sounds like nonsense, it is; it is a logical absurdity to say that nothing is absolutely true ethically.

The real problem is, if we have nothing to look at but our own morality, and we reject all ethical norms, then anyone who even suggests there is an ethical norm can now be labeled as an extremist. If in church I preach the final authority of the Bible, I am a religious extremist. If in government I preach the authority of the Constitution as it written by the Founders, I am a political extremist. And since we have labeled extremism the problem, I am only safe so long as I never stand up for anything and say "this is truth; we should do this for this reason."

This really defines much of our lives as Americans. We have become a nation where our highest virtue is expressed in the phrase "live and let live." Very few are threatened by Christianity, if all we make it as the church is a feel-good social experience we have on Sunday (Wednesday is also largely permissible). But if we dare to say "as we study Creation we hear the spoken Word of God; here in the Bible we read the written Word of God; here in the person of Jesus Christ we see the incarnate Word of God," we have committed that gravest of cultural sins, extremism. We have said that something is absolutely true - and in a nation of people striving to be seen as caring, knowing and tolerant, we find that this rigid stance on our part cannot be tolerated.

And isn't that intolerance, in the end, just a tad bit extreme?

The Bible is Old! Is It Even Relevant Today?

This is a very common question, especially from young people inside the church who are seeking answers to tough questions. Several variations include:

What can the Bible have to say about modern day problems?
Society is so different, that stuff can’t apply now.
They were so primitive, we’ve come so far from then – times have changed.

The problem with all these statements is the underlying assumption: that society has altered to the point that the Bible can no longer speak its Truth on the issues surrounding us. This is a lie that comes to us from evolutionary theory being applied not just to science, but sociology and history: the idea that society itself is evolving, and that humanity’s various cultures have become something that they were not in the days of the Bible. When we look at the technologies that rule our lives today, they seem to bear this out: life does look a lot different now than it did in during Jesus’ earthly days. But are we truly superior? Does the ability to quickly navigate the virtual world of the Internet, or deftly manipulate the buttons of my iPod to bring forth sound, really demonstrate that I am a superior being to those of earlier cultures?

If we ask ourselves some hard questions, particularly those of us in urban areas, how many real skills to do we actually have? If the power went out tomorrow and didn’t come back on, could we even survive for a month? Sure, we’ve learned how to use computers, cars, and all sorts of neat gadgets. But do you really believe that if Paul had been shown a computer and given some basic instruction, he could not have used it?

Consider several passages of Scripture:

Genesis 1-2, the account of Creation. Adam and Eve were both created directly by God Himself, prior to the Fall. Has anyone lived in a state of physical perfection since then?
Genesis 3, the Fall itself. Things were perfect until sin, at which point death entered the world. Most people would call that a negative.
Genesis 5-6, the genealogy from Adam to Noah. Are people living longer, better lives today than at the beginning? And when people’s lives were longer, what were they doing with their time?
1 Kings 3:5-14, of the wisdom of King Solomon. The Bible is specific here that no one who ever lived or ever will live has been or will be as wise as Solomon was.
Ecclesiastes 1, written by King Solomon about the nature of man and the world. He tells us directly that there is nothing new under the sun: man does today what man has done from the beginning of time, and he will do it again and again unto the end of time.

So then, if the most physically perfect and wisest have already lived thousands of years ago, and we live shorter lives even more affected by sin and death than those who came before us…
In which direction is time truly marching?

Truly, the very first men struggled with obedience to God and with sin. Sin grew until there was one – one! – righteous man left in the entire world. In starting over with Noah’s family, we watched the cycle repeat (Genesis 11) up until Babel, at which point people and languages were scattered. Now we live the shorter lives that God ordained so that we cannot explore the evil of our flesh to the fullness we did before (Genesis 6:3). Many today would point out that we are moving toward a one-world government; we worry about this new development. But what have we just seen from Scripture? This is not new, it’s been tried (and it failed, we must note)! The fact is that our lives are the same as always. We’re born. We marry. We have families, and try our best to provide for them. We live, and then we die. And what do we struggle with today? Obedience to God and with sin. Technology has given us new ways to express our basic natures, but it’s the same basic nature still being expressed. There is nothing new under the sun, and the Bible is no less relevant today than it ever was. Truly, it is more desperately needed today than it has ever been because history is moving in one direction, and it’s not the one we’d like to think.

Art

When asked about evolution sometimes, I will mention Art. How does our appreciation of the beautiful - the enjoyment of our senses in an experience that has nothing to do with the need for simple survival - how do these things reconcile with random biological processes advancing species to 'our level' over billions of years? Great Art elevates us, it gives a glimpse, it shares with us a tiny sliver of a single note of the Song that is Eternity. I submit to you that Great Art is the highest mortal expression of design, and it can be a powerful instrument (pardon the pun) to point us to our Creator.

But Art, like so much else, has become corrupted. Not so much Art itself, but our ability to recognize it, and label it properly. Like all else, Evil hates Art and seeks to corrupt it. Having no ability of its own to create, Evil seeks to distort, to subtly alter.

I am not reflecting on a specific piece of art here, but there are so many examples. As a society we have sacrificed our sense of wonder on the altar of the Now, always thinking more information is better, more input is better, and never focusing on the quality.

We (as a culture) don't have the attention span anymore, thanks in large part to technology. Our collective cynicism bars us from enjoying so many simple things in life. What passes for Art now seems designed to shock, to horrify, to do anything to jar us awake from our apathetic slumber. We have ceased to believe in a Creator, and so we no longer view the created as His handiwork, or ourselves as His image. We explore the dark recesses of the soul without any regard for the consequences of our discovery, thinking only that the discovery itself is what's important. We tear open box after box with speed that Pandora would envy. And with each new horror explored, as we further understand the human capacity for evil even as we deny it in ourselves, the apathy grows to consume that also; soon, we are no longer horrified, and that thought alone should horrify us.

We have become lost, disorientated, and the madness seems to be everywhere-it seems to be normal.

But there is a Compass (though not golden), there is a way to orientate ourselves in the darkness that surrounds us. There is a Light, if we will only be still and see it. For the Creator of all gave us Art; he gave us vision, and ears that delight in music, and minds to consider the great questions of the ages. He gave us mouths, to question and to answer, to speak Truth - His Truth. He gave us the divine spark, our ability to be awed, to look about the creation in wonder of the Creator. It is sad to me how many Christians seek to avoid the Arts whenever possible, instead of engaging in them in positive ways. Writing, music, dance, painting, photography; these have the capacity for some of the greatest Good (and Evil) a society can achieve. Great Art endures by it's very nature, and so we must strive - as Christians, as Americans - to do what we can to create art that both endures, and glorifies the Lord, the High King of Heaven, Creator of all.

When a song, or a poem, or a picture touches your heart, share it with me please. I will endeavour to do the same for you.