There's a wonderful song I know by the Michael Gungor Band called "Beautiful Things", the song concerns itself with how God in his infinite power, love, mercy and goodness makes us, depraved men, empty men, into beautiful things for His Glory. Why do I bring this up? Well let me explain.
The World around us attempts and succeeds rather well at delivering nearly the same message. They shout this declaration from the highest mountains, a message to the gays, the suicidal, the freaks, the geeks, the oppressed, the huddled and tired masses of hollow Men in the world today. They proclaim, with exuberance, "you are beautiful, you are normal, you are cool, you are accepted." So what's the problem with this message? Am I just a big meanie who thinks people should suck it up or sit down and shut up? Not at all but the message is still flawed, offering no real substance to anybody seeking guidance or acceptance, no fullfillment to those whom Eliot called "the hollow men, the stuffed men, head piece filled with straw." Though we may find friends and support among our peers, where is the Truth, the Love, where is God in all these crazy matters among mortals?
He's nowhere to be found, though He is by no means "dead" as Nietche once declared. Though the battle cry of "acceptance" leaves one thing out of the equation. The God factor, the true Love, the not only Accepter but the Filler of the empty souls. Men are free to wallow in their own depravity if no one is telling them to change, gays are free to be gay, killers are free to kill, men are able to make themselves gods, ignorance is aloud to abound. "Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them." (Romans 1:24 ESV) Eventually God will just turn us over to ourselves and our madness but it in no ways diminishes his Soveriegnty or His Calling of some Men unto Himself. We will all be accepted on earth, sure, no matter where we go there will be no hatred, no talk of "so and so is a queer or a darkie or a retard" or any of that mess. We'll all be the same, we'll all be one, holding hands and rejoicing together as a World that conquered hatred and all those "isms". But we will still be again in the words of Eliot "The hollow men, the stuffed men, leaning together." What hope will we have, not against Hate but what hope for our very Life, our very soul? The answer, none, zero, zilch, to paraphrase the eccentric Willy Wonka, "We get NOTHING, WE LOSE!!! GOOD DAY SIR!!!" We follow fading stars right down the path of Darkness and destruction and we miss out on the real beauty we could become in Christ, the real Love we could experience, our Redemption and ultimately the eternal joy of Heaven BUT we are accepted, and we don't have to change what we call our good lives, four walls, white picket fence, money in our wallets, shoes on our feet, able to do whatever we wish without consequence.
If we know Christ then we know the words of Paul "What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means!" (Romans 6:1 ESV) If we do not know Christ, we could be urged to consider, not only the consequences of a hollow life but the joys that await an eternal life. The Healing, the Love, the Never Being Alone, the Redemption of our very Lives to the One who created them in the Beginning. The Real Acceptance of Jesus and not the foolish acceptance of a depraved World.
Captain America
Good observations. It's a lot easier to feel accepted as who we are than to feel the love of God that nudges us to be better than what we are right now. And the youth isn't taught to strive for better anymore. They're taught they're special just because they're there and that the world revolves around them. Who would want to walk the straight and narrow after hearing that for most of their life!
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