People carry banners and signs as they participate in a marriage equality march in Melbourne, Australia, August 26, 2017. (Photo: Reuters)
Who in their right mind, jumps in a van, and mows people down on a busy walkway?
I am seriously asking the question in recent days, ‘Has the world gone mad?’
Charlottesville. Barcelona. The Same Sex Marriage debate. Pauline Hanson wearing a Burqa in Parliament. Donald Trump. Drug busts. Murder cases. Civil unrest in the Middle East. Donald Trump. You know what I mean.
We live in a vastly different world from a decade ago. Maybe I need to drink more coffee, but it is difficult not to be a little more pessimistic about world affairs in recent days.
I find myself enjoying watching Peppa Pig and a little Sesame Street in the morning. Sorry, I digress and by the way I do have small children.
Oh, how I would love to be Peppa. Not a care in the world, making cheeky jokes about Daddy Pig and jumping in muddy puddles. The hardest decision for the day is whether she should ride in the toy train.
If only I could turn back time, and live ignorant of global affairs; eat my Weetbix, drink my orange juice and try to get another A+ in my next Maths assignment. Then I could come home, make my bed and watch a little ‘Young Talent Time.’ Ahh, the memories.
Then I wouldn’t have to think about articulating arguments related to Sharia Law, or what my opinion is about marriage equality. I could relax and be ignorant of the potential for nuclear war between the United States and a grumpy North Korean with self-esteem issues. I would be free from verbally charged debates on social media and I wouldn’t have to try to hold the middle ground on the latest political hot potato. We live in an age of the arm chair critic.
Aren’t we better off now?
We can all agree, the world ‘ain’t like it used to be’. Technologically the world is more sophisticated. Morally and ethically we are more liberal. Politically we are more motivated. Globally we are more mindful. On the surface, everything seems peachy.
So why then are we so angry? Why are we offended so easy? Why are we continually ready to bite someone’s head off? Why are we seemingly so dissatisfied with who we’ve become?
I have an opinion that I put forward tentatively:
We have rejected God, and are now clutching at any straws we can to make sense of life without an eternal perspective.
That sums up the madness in my mind, in one sentence.
See, we cannot make proper sense of morality and ethics without Jesus Christ. We cannot embrace who we truly are if we deny whose we are. We’ve tried to make a way in life without God, and now we’re confused on why it’s not working out for us.
Scientific humanism has been found wanting.
The Bible has some clear words, ‘For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened’ (Romans chapter 1, verses 20 and 21).
What can we do about it?
suggest we need to do a few important things:
- We should acknowledge God as the creator, preserver, governor of all things
- We should establish a code of ethics upon the teachings of Jesus Christ
- We should be a little less quick to judge, and little quicker to love
- We should spend more time seeking to understand than to be understood
The world may have gone mad. Though, that doesn’t mean you have to as well.
Pete Brookshaw is the Senior Minister of The Salvation Army Craigieburn. He has a Bachelor of both Business and Theology and is passionate about the church being dynamic and effective in the world and creating communities of faith that are outward-focused, innovative, passionate about the lost and committed to societal change. He has been blogging since 2006 at www.petebrookshaw.com about leadership and faith.
Peter Brookshaw’s previous articles may be viewed at
http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/peter-brookshaw.html
Pete Brookshaw is the Senior Minister of The Salvation Army Craigieburn. He has a Bachelor of both Business and Theology and is passionate about the church being dynamic and effective in the world and creating communities of faith that are outward-focused, innovative, passionate about the lost and committed to societal change. He has been blogging since 2006 at http://www.petebrookshaw.com about leadership and faith and you can find him on:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/petebrookshaw
Twitter: www.twitter.com/petebrookshaw
Peter Brookshaw’s previous articles may be viewed at http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/peter-brookshaw.html