Technology, Freedom, and the Kingdom of God

We all owe a great debt to technology. We enjoy driving our cars, using the internet, making coffee in our kitchens, and having indoor plumbing. As we look back in history, we recognize that living in this century we stand on the shoulders of those who invented the printing press, sparked the industrial revolution, founded railways, created telephones, air conditioning, modern medicine and so much more.

The Protestant Reformation freed mankind from a somewhat magical or mystical view of the material world. Although not alone among Christian groups, Protestants asserted that God created the universe—earth, sun, and all the stars—an ordered universe. And they emphasized, more than other groups, that the operating principles of the created world around us could be discovered and these discoveries utilized to benefit mankind. And so along came Newton, Faraday, Boyle, Kepler, Planck and many others.

Most of these discoveries and the inventions they inspired have been of great benefit to humanity lifting untold millions from a baneful existence. We have seen enormous progress. Out of the reformation there also originated an emphasis on the equality of all people as created in the image of God. Western democracies were birthed. Freedom, responsibility, progress, and other democratic ideals were promoted.

Yet as people prospered, they became more and more estranged from the God who created them with the very innate abilities that produced progress. With progress has come hubris, the belief in our invincibility, and a greatly diminished awareness of our dependence on God. We seem to think that nothing can stop the progress of civilization if we bow to science and technology while scorning so-called primitive beliefs in God. Along with this blindness to the real source of our technical benefits has come a carelessness about ethics and the ten commandments that defines the dimensions of a good and righteous society.

However, as the wars of the twentieth century and the chaos of international relations in this new century have demonstrated, there are destructive elements at work. What elements? The innate tendency of humans towards selfishness, pride, independence, violence, lawlessness,—in a word, sin. Mankind is governed not by a bent towards doing what is good and right but towards whatever will gratify innate desires. “For all sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Good intentions are often diluted and often misdirected by the prevalent imperfections and even evils of society in general.

Jesus came to redeem us from this destructive and selfish bent. He came to establish the kingdom of God peopled by those of ethical character. The beatitudes and the teaching which follows in the Sermon on the Mount defines character. (Matthew chapters 5,6,7) Of course, we cannot embrace such a radical change or even recognize its need without a heart change, the new birth. Jesus confronted noted religious scholar, Nicodemus, with this need in John 3; “You must be born again.” Paul writes, “He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior” (Titus 3:5).

Thus, the gospel of Jesus Christ, including his birth, what he taught, his miracles, his death on the cross for our sins, his resurrection and ascension to heaven, and his reigning rule is the only hope, not technology. Without a revival of gospel-transformation society is headed for dark days.

In earlier centuries, philosophers laughed at the horrific images described in Revelation as mere literary imaginings. “A great star blazing like a torch, fell from the sky…There came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, and a severe earthquake…Every island fled away…from the sky huge hailstones” (Rev. 8:10; 16:18,21). Then came 1945 and the detonation of atom bombs. As the nuclear arms race accelerated, any earthly catastrophe became possible. Currently our TV’s report on terrible storms, tsunamis, earthquakes, and the approach of meteorites. With the rise of the internet and global communication–but especially the break-neck advance of Artificial Intelligence–ominous scenarios are no longer science fiction. Imbedded microchips limiting buying and selling? One world government? The images of Revelation have become all too possible.

Meanwhile, we quite rightly value free speech, free markets, democracy, and benevolent technology. But we must not forget that the most important value is missing from this list of values.

What is missing is a commitment to God. We think we are so advanced, so intelligent yet we have neglected the basics. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Prov. 9:10) George Grant in his essay, which has much to say about the rise of technology, has written, “Reverence rather than freedom is the matrix of nobility.”[1] But reverence is now as scarce as hen’s teeth.

The challenge of the Master continues. Let us find certainty and true freedom through a recovery of reverence and faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Please check out my new book, Doctrine in Denim, a handy guide to all the essential doctrines of the Christian faith in concise, readable chapters. Available at all Amazon sites. https://www.amazon.com/Doctrine-Denim-Devotional-Essential-Doctrines/dp/B0FXTFYF31/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

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[1] George Grant, Technology and Empire, 1969, Anansi, Toronto, p. 43

Are We Guilty Just Because of our Skin Colour?

Today’s radical justice warriors try to tell us that if we are white we are guilty of white supremacy; if male, of oppressive male patriarchy. Why? They have a theory that people are not only accountable for their own sins of oppression but for those of their ancestors and those of their whole racial grouping, if white. Supposedly, if our skin colour is white [Are there degrees of whiteness?] we belong to a race whose identity is defined by oppressing others. As a result, we have children being taught in school and youth in university that the overarching “truth” that explains life is that some are oppressors and some the oppressed, the victims.

This is pure revisionist Marxism. Instead of promoting social harmony and progress this theory encourages victimology, social division, resentment, anger, jealousy and a host of other ills. The history of the 20^th century under Nazism, Stalinism, and Maoism ought to have cured us from ideas such as Critical Race Theory.

Sadly, this “truth” is being used to challenge the very foundations of western democracies. The goal seems to be to demolish societies based on the freedom and value of all individuals and instead divide people into classes, victims and oppressors. A new society is supposed to arise from the ashes when one class defined by skin colour accepts their guilt. And being part of that class of people who generations ago participated in historic wrongs, for example, slavery or colonialism, means they should accept and repent of their ancestral guilt.

But what do Jeremiah and Ezekiel have to say about this totally unjust idea? The LORD declares, “In those days people will no longer say, ‘the fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’ Instead, everyone will die for his own sin, whoever eats sour grapes —his own teeth will be set on edge” (Jer. 31:29,30). In other words, we will be held guilty for our own sins, not those of our fathers and forebears.

Ezekiel also clarifies the importance of personal not ancestral or class guilt. “The soul who sins is the one who will die. The son will not share the guilt of the father, nor will the father share the guilt of the son” (Ez. 18:20). It is not only irrational to keep charging the descendants of colonialists and slave-holders with personal guilt, but it is totally UNJUST.

Western democracies have created the most prosperous and free societies in the history of the world. More than at any other time, people from with many skin colours and from many races have the opportunity to prosper. Of course, this does not mean that those of us living today should not do all in our power to alleviate any injustices we see. We should all work to demolish inequities that hinder personal thriving. Social progress must continue with freedom and opportunity for all.

But you say, did Exodus and Deuteronomy not say that the LORD is “punishing the children for the sins of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of hose who hate me” (Deut. 5:9. See also Ex. 20:5) We must not misunderstand this. The only sense in which guilt is passed on from generation to generation occurs when descendants deliberately or unconsciously adopt the sinful patterns of their forbears. Ezekiel explains that a child is free of parental guilt who “sees the sins his father commits, and …does not do such things” (Ez. 18:14).

Sadly, as I have seen in a number of people I know, hatred of God or denial of God is passed down from father to child to grandchildren. Bad habits and ideas are also passed on. Children may inherit their parents’ addiction to swearing, or cheating on taxes, or immorality or a hundred other evils. But each of us personally must choose to reject any pattern we see in our parents that is unjust or evil. We will be called to give an account for our own lives.

Charging individuals of a particular race with guilt by association with their ancestors is totally racist.

(Let me know your thoughts on this subject. If you appreciate this blog, please pass it on. Further articles, books, and stories at: http://www.countrywindow.ca Facebook: Eric E Wright Twitter: @EricEWright1 LinkedIn: Eric Wright ––)

What Refugees Remind Me About Thanksgiving

Pictures of refugees fleeing their homes in Syria and Iraq, cry out for men and women of good will to respond with compassion. On a practical level, a group of five churches in our town, among others, have banded together to help bring five to seven families here to start a new life. Unfortunately, red tape may seriously delay their arrival.

Day after day the devastation and cruelty, the destruction and misery grinds on in the Middle East. We pray for it to cease. We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing…The wicked oppressing cease them from distressing!

Meanwhile the misery of those in refugee camps remind me of how much we have for which to give thanks. Enter His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise.

We are safe from the rockets that fly by day, and the bombs that fall at night. We take safety so much for granted! We can sleep at night without fear of being captured and tortured by inhuman monsters. God, of our fathers,…From war’s alarms, from deadly pestilence, be Thy strong arm our ever sure defense.

We live in lands blessed with a beauty that is unspoiled by war and destruction. For the beauty of the earth…Hill and vale, and tree and flow’r.

We have roofs over our heads, soft beds to sleep in, and kitchens in which to cook our abundant food. Refrigerators to keep things from spoiling. Furnaces and air-conditioners. Grocery stores with a bewildering array of foods. Malls chock full of every kind of consumer product from clothing to books and shoes. Now thank we all our God with heart and hands and voices…who from our mothers’ arms hath blessed us on our way.

Beyond our cities and towns, farmers work long hours to supply our population and people in other countries with an abundance of food. Come ye thankful people come. Raise the song of harvest home.

We have running water at our finger tips and sewage systems to drain away our waste, not onto the street but somewhere beyond our thought and care.

Every day, we open our closets and let our eyes wander over the various choices we have in what to wear. We have blankets and coats for the winter. Imagine, having only the clothes on your back. Imagine trekking to safety in worn out shoes. We thank Thee, then, O Father, for all things bright and good,…our life, our health, our food.

We have newspapers and bookstores and libraries and access to the Internet. We are wealthy in information and free to travel along our highways and through our skies.

We have abundant hospitals, clinics, and doctors plus a bewildering array of other health care providers. Our drug stores are well stocked with medicines. Fire brigades and police forces are there when needed.

We have the freedom to vote; the freedom to speak out against tyranny and evil. And in spite of concerns about the deterioration of religious freedom, we still have freedom to gather in our churches and worship God according to our conscience. In everything we give thanks for what we have, while we intercede for the suffering churches of the Middle East.

But most of all we give thanks for the Bible and for the Holy Spirit who opened to our hearts the good news of Jesus who died for our sins and rose that we might have new life. We thank Thee for Him—Thy unspeakable gift without whom all others were vain…For Jesus, our Light, our Salvation, our All, Our Hope till His coming again.

(Further articles, books, and stories at: http://www.countrywindow.ca Facebook: Eric E Wright Twitter: @EricEWright1 LinkedIn: Eric Wright )

Christmas Traditions, Religious Ritual, and Christian Freedom

Most families have treasured Christmas traditions. The sending and receiving of Christmas cards. Buying Christmas gifts. Searching for and decorating the perfect tree. Attending the Christmas Eve Candlelight service. Gathering the whole extended family together for a turkey dinner.

But it must seem strange to those from other religious backgrounds that evangelical Christians have no rigid religious rituals that they must observe. This will be especially so for Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, or Shinto friends for whom external rituals are prescribed. Our Orthodox, Ukrainian or Roman Catholic friends may even consider this lack of ritual as an erosion of faith. And for some this dearth of fixed traditions may indeed indicate disinterest or a lack of faith in the reality of Christmas.

But to understand gospel freedom from ritual, we must consider the differences between the Old and New Testaments; the old and new covenants. Out of a pagan culture rife with superstition, human sacrifice, cruelty and oppression God called Abraham to be the progenitor of a purified people living in a just society—Israel. God gave to Moses the laws for this new nation. To remind them of the Lord’s centrality in national life, God gave them daily rituals, Sabbath rules, and seven festivals which the people were required to keep: Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, Weeks or Pentecost, Trumpets or Rosh Hashanah, Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur, and Tabernacles. To these festivals Jews later added a seven day long festival, Chanukah, to celebrate the re-dedication of the temple in 165 BC after its desecration by the Syrians. Clearly, obedience to law and ritual was mandated for those under the old covenant.

However, in the New Testament we search in vain for required rituals. There is nothing about how to celebrate Christmas, Easter, or Pentecost. We are free to innovate. Only two important ordinances—baptism and communion—are mentioned.

Why this lack of prescribed rituals in the new covenant? Because external religiosity always fails to generate genuine devotion. God’s purpose in the old covenant was to demonstrate how external ritual and law is powerless to make us holy; is totally incapable of changing our fallen natures. Israel’s utter failure to keep the old covenant paved the way for something new.

Jeremiah and Ezekieh saw this problem and predicted a new covenant: “The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel…I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts”(Heb. 8:8,10). Hebrews explains, “By calling this covenant new, he has made the first one obsolete”(Heb. 8:13).

Jesus came to introduce this new covenant, but in doing so repeatedly clashed with those who loved the external trappings of religion found in the old covenant. Jesus said, “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men”(Matt. 15:8-9). “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean…inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness”(Matt. 23:27). Very tough words.

Clearly, obeying God’s law of love from heart and mind is the key to being a new covenant person. But the problem, as the whole Old  Testament points out, has no human solution. “The heart is deceitful and desperately wicked”(Jer. 17:9). For real devotion to occur, we need heart surgery and mental transformation. Jesus explained this to Nicodemus. “No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again….of the Spirit”(John 3:3,5).

Paul explained what being born again means to Titus. “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared [through Christ’s coming at Christmas] he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior”(Titus 3:4-6).

The new covenant question is not have you kept the traditions but have you been reborn through the Holy Spirit? How does this come about? The instant, you or I, sincerely pray to God confessing our sins and believe in our hearts that Jesus died and rose again for our salvation, the Holy Spirit changes us from within. He creates a new heart that loves God and others. The work of transforming our lifestyle really begins.

Jesus came at Christmas to establish a new covenant people who worship God from the heart. Sadly, we often tend to prefer ritual and law over heart devotion. When some of the early church leaders sought to re-impose the old covenant laws, Peter stood and said: “”Why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear”(Acts 15:10)?

And so we find no Christmas or Easter rituals in the New Testament. A call to celebration and worship? Yes! And a challenge to infuse everything we do with heart devotion to the glorious Triune God. Lord, with your help, may all our celebrations come from deep within.

Developing a Grateful Lifestyle

Becoming a thankful person is always in season. With the US thanksgiving ahead and Canadian thanksgiving behind an emphasis on gratefulness is especially appropriate. But as soon as we mention national entities, patriotism sometimes triumphs over thankfulness. Humility reminds us to look beyond national stereotypes. As Paul points out to the Corinthian church, boasting is not only a form of ingratitude for God’s gifts but a form of stealing the credit from God for the good things we have and are. For “what do you have that you did not receive”(1 Cor 4:7)?

Am I a Canadian? Yes. But I have nothing to boast about. Is my wife, Mary Helen an American? Yes. She has nothing to boast about. Why? By God’s providence, we live in this geographic corner of the world. By God’s providence we are the benefactors of the efforts and interaction of a myriad of people, ideas and happenings over many years. This includes ideals of freedom and morality inspired by the Bible. In many ways, we are of all people most blessed. So, let me ponder some of the overlooked things we have for which to be grateful.

Our government. In spite of occasional scandals or inefficiencies, by and large, our government officials seek our welfare. Our armed forces protect us from external enemies who would destroy our democratic way of life. Our governments give generously to programs in other countries. Mary Helen and I both receive pension and old age security benefits, without which we could not pay our bills. Besides we receive various rebates. We are very grateful.

Our municipal and provincial governments. We drive on good roads with just a few potholes. We enjoy parks. Our grandchildren go to good schools. Our home is protected by firemen and police. We love our local library. Electricity makes our lives convenient. We are grateful.

Our health care system. Debatable? Rarely to us. We gratefully make appointments with doctors, labs, and go to the local hospital. It is all free. We pay $6.11 per prescription after a reasonable yearly deductible for necessary medicine. A bargain indeed!

Local and national businesses. We are grateful for technicians who fix our furnace, repair our telephone connections, and our car. We’re thankful for relatively reasonable Internet connection, and for banks, grocery stores, coffee shops, bookstores, and many more businesses.

Our farmers. We are grateful for the hard work and productivity of our farmers and for local markets where we can buy fresh produce.

We could, and should, make many additions to this list: the volunteers who raise money for charities and medical research plus the churches where we can worship freely without fear of harassment. Truly in this corner of the world we are blessed. Thank you Father!