Posted on 05/22/2010 9:29:03 PM PDT by pastorbillrandles
godless righteousness
Do you remember the 1960's social and moral revolution? The youth movement of the left were out to break all of the rules, and liberate society from the bondage of the past. As one of the anthems of the time proclaimed,"Whole world, whole world ,easy to see, that people every where just want to be free".
Isn't it ironic that those same 'revolutionaries',now come of age , have created a society which is vastly more restricted than the one they worked so hard to undermine? We now live in a 'Brave new world' where every aspect of life is hyper regulated, where speech is scrutinised to the point of absurdity and even thought is criminalised!(Hate crimes laws)
And though they have cast off the shackles of "any fear of God" they have their concept of 'righteousness'. They are religious about global warming, saving the planet,'tolerance' of all religions(except evangeical christianity), Women's rights,transgender acceptance and multiculturalism.
My theory is that because they arel made in the Image of God, and because they have come out of a culture which had a strong Christian consensus, they must have a form of godliness,even though they don't believe in God! Therefore they cultivate a 'godless righteousness'.
The idea of being made accountable for the sins enumerated in the ten commandments has been rejected by the left, by and large, but they have their own tablets of stone. "Thou shalt not Judge another, Thou shalt not smoke,(in public or in private), thou shalt not say there are any absolutes, Thou shalt not think One culture to be any greater than another, Thou shalt not infringe on a womans right to choose..." etc.
It has often been pointed out that as long as these pieties have been observed nothing else a person does matters to the left.All personal behaviour can be excused as long as these positions are held.
The real sins, which have proliferated and intensified by the sexual revolution, for example, rampant fornication, homosexuality, adultery,and abortion, affect the consciences of those who practice and promote them whether they believe in God or not. That s part of the reason why the Left has developed and alternate righteousness , to try to feel good about themselves, and to assure themselves that because they support x cause, or wear the ribbon in solidarity with Y cause. They are 'good people" no matter what their personal behaviour.
The tragedy is that this 'godless righteousness' is a sham, and about as satisfying as Adam and Eve's fig leaves. It can't cover up the shame of sin,it cannot truly heal the conscience, and it definitely cannot reconcile anyone to a Holy and Loving God.
There is a real Righteousness-(Right Standing) that comes by humbly acknowledging to the real God,that we have sinned against him, and that we believe in Jesus, who came to offer Himself to God as a sacrafice for our sins. This Righteousness can only be recieved as a Gift from God, but He freely gives it to those who accept jesus Christ!
Hmmm.
As an atheist, I think the Right is way to obsessed with the feeling of being a victim of the godless Left. I think the issue is much, MUCH more about cultural engineering. While most Leftist have a chip on their shoulder about God and religion, they're much more focused on cultural order and the function of government being about re-education. The Right seems far more concerned with the religious aspect which, in the big picture, isn't something the Left cares about one way or another--they see all religions as being "Other" to them. There are plenty of Leftist Christians (there's a history of Leftist Catholics, in particular), and I think the obsession with being victimized over religion is actually a symptom; Leftist believe that once they've made their little worker's paradise here on Earth, religion will just fall away.
Not saying there aren't attacks on religion, but that they're not 1/100th of the real issue.
It is true that God's laws are etched on every man's heart. Some semblance of right and wrong are known by most, even by those that reject God. But those that bow to someone or something other than God can only be called "Self Righteous".
“....to assure themselves that because they support x cause, or wear the ribbon in solidarity with Y cause. They are ‘good people” no matter what their personal behaviour.”
I make a similar point toward the end of the final lecture of my Western Civilization class:
http://www3.northern.edu/marmorsa/reform2lec.htm
As a white American of European descent, I think the Africans are too obsessed with the Hutu and Tutsi fight. If I identified with either one, I would probably have an opinion, and a strong one at that.
Christians understand that Christian American culture is being destroyed by the left. But please don't call Christians victims. We have been emancipated.
Very Heavy Words, Thank you.
Amen Brother!! Tell it like it is!! They can’t handle truth! For those who don’t beleive in God. How do you think you were created? If God didn’t create you than who or what did? Did we crawl out of the oceans as one celled amoebas and evolve from that? I don’t think so.
Amen Brother!! Tell it like it is!! They can’t handle truth! For those who don’t beleive in God. How do you think you were created? If God didn’t create you than who or what did? Did we crawl out of the oceans as one celled amoebas and evolve from that? I don’t think so.
I’ve had many an atheist attempt to make the case to me that humanity can be good without God. God sets the standard for morality. It is evident that we have all fallen short of that standard. The most important commandment is to love the Lord your God with all of your heart, mind, soul, and strength. Anything less is sin - sin is unrighteousness.
“They are religious about global warming, saving the planet,’tolerance’ of all religions(except evangeical christianity), Women’s rights,transgender acceptance and multiculturalism.”
= Liberation Theology = Christian Communism or Socialism = Heresy
Are you trolling, or have you actually never taken a science class? If you want to ask a tough question, it should be about abiogenesis, since the evolution from amoebas to complex multicellular life is comparatively straightforward. The reality is that any scientist will tell you that no one knows, because that is the intellectually honest answer.
It is self-evident to me that, just as something cannot come from nothing, life cannot come from non-life. God is Life, among His countless attributes.
Science is good at connecting the dots within creation, but scientists run into profundities when attempting to explain origins and ends.
Jesus said "I am the Alpha and the Omega". That is a metaphysical statement, not analyzable by the scientific method. But it says a lot for me! Only God truely creates and only God destroys.
“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”- John Adams
You are right-thank you
Wow, that was good, painful but good, thanks brother
As for the "Christian Left", I believe that is what happens after "higher criticism" hollows out whatever real faith in God these people once had, leaving them with a religion whose only justification of existance is as a social services institution.
spot on
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