government (part 1)

Recently, I have been using my down time (what little there is) to follow the debt crisis. I really can't get enough. I read almost everything the various media sites put out. Unfortunately, my knowledge of the financial world is extremely limited. I took economics in college, but only came away with supply & demand, the "trickle-down-effect," and guns & butter. Therefore, I read to educate myself in order to better understand the madness swirling around us.

I also read because I find the two sides extremely arrogant in their thinking. It's comical and saddening. Again, I have no clue what should be done. However, I am knowledgeable enough to understand there is not a "one-way" solution to the problem. Multiple tactics will be needed to correct our growing debt. Apparently, the two sides don't agree. They declare their "solution" as the only means by which America can be saved. All other ideas are stupid, worthless, and, ultimately, going to make things terribly worse. No wonder action has been moving at a tortoise pace.

But as I read, my mind keeps coming back to a quote I thought was far more famous than it is. I don't remember anything about the man (Cal Thomas), nor can I say where I first heard his comment. It's not Scripture so we can't take it as inerrant or inspired, but it does contain truths in it.

In a free society, government reflects the soul of its people. If people want change at the top, they will have to live in different ways. Our major social problems are not the cause of our decadence. They are a reflection of it.


People hate government these days. They see it as corrupt, self-motivated, and captivated by greed. Very little is done in the interest of the people. I would be one to agree with those statements. However, I will not pass all the blame on those serving in Washington. True. They should be held responsible as elected officials. Equally true. The finger should be pointing just as emphatically back at us.

Our government is doing exactly what it's people have been doing for decades: spending money they don't have. Both load up massive debts they will never be able to pay back in order to maintain lifestyles they can't afford. And the blame, I believe, goes much deeper than finances.

There is a large outcry, often from Christians, about the trajectory of our nation's morality. We claim laws have been passed which undermine the Judeo-Christian values our country was founded upon. Things clearly viewed as wrong in the past are now embraced as products of enlightenment, tolerance, and progress. Again, laws have been passed to allow such things. There is no denying that. However, the laws are merely responding to the "soul of its people."

Government hasn't ruined our morality. It has only added water to an already slippery slope. 

• Prayer got removed from schools. Was it even in most of our homes? 
• God's name was left out of the pledge. When was God's name last used other than as a profanity or comfortable tag at the end of a patriotic speech? 
• God's laws were torn down from courthouses. How many of us even know God's laws, let along follow them? 
• New laws have redefined marriage. How do we define what it used to be? Divorce? Adultery? Abuse? Swinging? Promiscuity? Self-serving? (And I could go on). 
• Laws turned killing innocent children into a matter of "choice" and "rights." Have we not been begging for the rights and freedoms to serve our own interests above all else?
• Government is isolating God to the private sector. When have we ever been public about God other than showing up at church?
• And the list doesn't stop here.

Government didn't pull the rug out from under us. It gave us exactly what our lives demanded. Romans 1 is playing out before our eyes. We've been serving, worshiping, and glorifying self regardless of the consequences (And I am willing to throw Christians into this mix as well. We have allowed various compromises in our own lives which blatantly contradict Scripture. We look eerily similar to the rest of the world without any problem. We seek after, indulge in, and honor the same things as everyone else). Now, our government has fallen in line. And all of the results are terrible.

I pray for God's name to be exalted in government again. I pray for His perfect laws to be upheld. I pray for marriage to be valued as sacred and God-ordained. I pray for abortion to cease. I pray for the poor, needy, and sick to receive mercy. Ultimately, I pray for God's grace to be made evident in our government. But even as Mr. Thomas said, the change must come from the people first. God's grace must be evident in the lives of His people. And herein lies the problem.

(part 2 still to come)