Posted on 12/01/2018 5:59:10 AM PST by Kaslin
Over the last decade, America has moved drastically to the left. Not only are more people on the left than ever before, the left is further left than it’s ever been. This radical brand of progressivism has come to be known as “leftism”—an extreme yet increasingly dominant segment of the political spectrum.
At the same time, America has grown more secular. According to Pew, “religious nones” are rapidly growing in number. These “nones” are most concentrated among millennials: 36% of millennials are religiously unaffiliated. Millennials happen to also be America’s most politically progressive generation.
This probably isn’t a coincidence, especially since the same trends have occurred in a similar way in other parts of the world, such as Europe. While correlation doesn’t prove causation, politics and religion are so closely related that it’s hard to believe the simultaneous popularization of extreme leftism and secularism is insignificant.
My theory is this: the country hasn’t actually become less religious. Many people have simply replaced traditional religion with leftism. Rather than associating with Christianity, for example, which demands repentance and promises persecution, they have opted for a religion that conveniently offers a sense of righteousness but denies the need to take responsibility for their own actions.
Leftism provides many of the same comforts that religion does without the expectation of personal sacrifice. Its adherents can feel that they’re caring for the “least of these” because they vote for policies that empower the government to offer more welfare to the poor. It is a lazy form of compassion, and it is appealing to those who want to pat themselves on the back without having to voluntarily spend of their own time, energy or money.
On a personal level, unlike Christianity, leftism doesn’t worry its adherents with sin and life-change. The only sin is to say there’s sin. The only wrong is to say there’s wrong. The highest virtue is one’s own happiness, and the only truth is that which one finds in themselves. This, of course, is antithetical to what the Bible teaches, which is part of why it is very difficult—if not altogether impossible—to be a Bible-believing Christian and a radical leftist.
But there’s another reason. While leftism may not require personal responsibility, generosity or morality, it does demand everything of its devotees. It aims to conform the mind, the heart and the soul fully to its agenda. There is no room in leftism for disagreement on abortion, gender, sexuality, immigration, race or economics. All reasoning must be guided by intersectionality. All thoughts must be centered on some vague notion of social justice. There is no tolerance for defection.
That’s a problem for religious people, who are bound to a higher calling than that of any political ideology, and whose values are often incongruent with the controlling ethics of leftism. Many religious people are against abortion. Many religious people are for traditional marriage. Many religious people fear that too much government will mean less religious liberty. So, these religious people have a choice to make: allow their spiritual principles to submit to leftism, or allow their politics to be guided by their spiritual principles, which, undoubtedly, disqualifies them from being a “good” leftist.
Christianity, in particular, is incongruent with this brand of leftism. Jesus asks his disciples to deny themselves, take up their crosses and follow Him (Luke 9:23). So does leftism. Jesus asks for Christians’ whole hearts. So does leftism. No person can serve two masters (Matthew 6:24). Those who identify as Christians and as leftists have either not yet discovered the complete sacrifice that will eventually be asked of them by leftism, or they’ve already abandoned their religious views in favor of their political ideology.
Leftism is not just against traditional religion; it has replaced it. It is its own religion. And, like all religions, it excludes adherence to any competing value system. It is its religious nature that has made its believers so fiercely defensive. It is why they cannot stand disagreement. Those who disagree are not just wrong, they’re blasphemers, heretics and apostates who must be dealt with accordingly.
Religious people can have legitimate differences on policy without forsaking their values. They can honestly disagree on taxation, immigration, guns, welfare and healthcare and still unite under the banner of their faith. Since God transcends political parties, and is therefore neither a “conservative” nor a “progressive,” there is room for debate between religious people of various political views. But it is very difficult for religious people to ascribe to any ideology that both opposes their beliefs and demands all-consuming worship the way leftism does.
That is why so many, it seems, have abandoned the perceived strictness of religious institutions and opted instead for the religion of leftism, which simply requires that you leave all moral, social and economic decisions up to the progressive powers-that-be. What they may soon realize, however, is that the government is not—and never has been—a merciful god.
for leftards big gov is omnipotent, omniscient,and all good.
Yes, but ONLY as long as BIG GOV allows the leftards to “deny the need to take responsibility for their own actions.”
As the political goal of the Left unveils itself as nothing short of Global Totalitarian Government, so the religion of the Left is unveiling itself as nothing short of the worship of Satan.
The Left’s worship of Satan will shortly come to full fruition - after Jesus takes the church out of the earth - with the revealing and worldwide rule and worship of of the “beast” of Revelation.
The left will end up being in service to a cruel God in the end. The young are giddy with power right now but the equality they seek without responsibility and truth standing behind it will find them enslaved to a system they cannot imagine at present. Perhaps it will be a global government, run by a dictator who does not speak their language who will use whomever fits the plan and discard the rest. For any young person being tempted to follow such destructive insanity, THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS, by C.S. Lewis, one of history’s most intelligent and rational authors, might be an eye opener. C.S. Lewis has likened HELL to the bureaucracy of a police state, which, as far as I can see, is exactly what the left desires and each leftist “celebrity” lusts to be top dog of that very “Hell.” As a Christian, I pray that some kind of surprising event will awaken the adults in this nation, and especially those immigrants who have come here legally seeking the better life they have been told exists here, so they will recognize the insanities they are being fed by a press out of control and work to oppose them at the voting booth and through the way they live their own lives. It would not be the first time America was rescued by immigrants willing to work hard and recognize what is true and what is false in the human family. Thanks to Kaslin for an excellent article.
True leftists are going to have a very rude awakening at some point.
The crowded areas are overwhelmingly "socialistic" whereas the less-populated areas have a healthy respect for the freedoms of others and a sense of personal responsibility for the outcomes of one's actions.
Isaiah 5:8,11,18,20-22; 10:1; 29:15 (KJV):
8Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth!
11 Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them!
18 Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope:
20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
21 Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!
22 Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink:
1 Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness which they have prescribed;
15 Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?
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These are all characteristics of overcrowded areas, where privacy is non-existent, conflicts outrageous, and murder rampant. Think of Kurt Russell = "Snake Plissken" in "Escape From New York/LA" for starters.
The Declaration of Indepenence and the Constitution was great for a sparsely settled world, where if you didn't like your environment or weren't wanted, you could just pull up your stakes and move on. But I'm not sure that they will work in cities that are just warrens of (Democ)rats nests pressing each other, however elegant.
Are they governable? One wonders.
Jesus told a parable to the religious/self-righteous in Luke 18:9, “And He also told this parable to certain ones who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt.”
The VERY DEFINITION OF A PROGRESSIVE! Yes, Liberalism, Progressivism/Marxism is the worst and most self-deceptive of all man-make religions. Libs are the most self-righteous of all.
Read the whole parable please. A repeat post of mine......
When the church disappears from earth, in a few decades IMO, after the initial shock, the Left (as in “Left Behind”) will echo the lie that THEY, the Left, are the chosen ones and the others (the church) were judged and done way with. (Many movie these days portray some version of this.)
No sooner will these declarations be on their lips, than the earth will suddenly plunge into seven years of astonishing and horrific darkness and death such as never has been seen or imaged. Half of the world is dead in three and a half years (Rev. 6:8 + Rev. 9:18) and other than a part of Israel, the remaining world is dead by the end of the second three and half years (Rev. 19:21).
Yes, The Left is in for a VERY rude awakening. However, our job is to bring as many to Christ as possible before that horrific day of the wrath of the Lamb.
All civilizations eventually fall. Strange how prosperity plays a big part. I’ve been watching this most of my life....but now it is accelerating.
Good to see that more people are catching on to the idea that Leftism (secular humanism) is a religion and that it is opposed to Christianity.
“When people stop believing in God, they don’t believe in nothing — they believe in anything.” - G.K. Chesterton
bump
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