It happened today. The Devil’s Confetti. The Pillow Fight Aftermath From H*ll.
It snowed.
Not much. Just for a few minutes. But I looked out the window and the white stuff was whirling in a vortex of low pressure in the parking lot. If this were a zombie movie, this would be the scene where the chicken is found nailed to the door, sending the symbolic message, “We know where you live, and your feeble science has no power to save you from our malice.”
Every year that passes, the summer seems shorter.
Fortunately, the winters seem shorter too.
But not as short as the summers.
Thanks to Phil for forwarding the news to me: The Chicago Viking Ship, for which I agitated in this space a while back, has won a preservation grant, thanks in part to your votes. The site is a little vague as to exactly how much money will be forked over, but the ship project is in the top tier.
I don’t often see good news from Denmark, but I’m happy to report that a center-right coalition won the parliamentary elections there Tuesday. “Center-right” doesn’t mean quite the same thing in Denmark as it does in America, but it’s still good news, from my slanted perspective.
I’ve largely written off Europe. I’ve come to terms with the fact that the old Europe, the one we loved from the movies, is gone forever. But perhaps a few things can be saved. Perhaps it won’t become an Islamic continent. Perhaps the Europeans are beginning to notice that the wonderful new world they’ve been promised doesn’t match the reality developing around them. “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” after all, is a Danish story.
What they really need, in my opinion, is a return to Christ. But, as the Lord Himself noted, it’s harder for a camel to go through a needle’s eye than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom. Prosperity, it seems to me, is Europe’s big problem.
America’s too.
Not to underscore your (imho dead-on) conclusion, but I do feel the world would be better if people would remember the Disciples’ response to Christ’s comment:
“Who, then, can be saved?”
This from men who have supposedly “left all” in order to follow Jesus, whose emblematic leader (Peter) was so dependent on Jesus that he asked “where else can I go. You have words of eternal life.”
I guess my point is–while the world wants to find answers in wealth, I’m not convinced that the answer lies in poverty either. The answer lies in God, who can do the impossible.
Entirely correct. It’s just that prosperity is the problem in the present case.
But I’ve also noted here before (and I’m willing to be corrected) that I don’t think there’s ever been a real Christian revival among an already prosperous population in the entire history of the church.
Hmm. I’m not sure prosperity is the problem. I work for a very wealthy man, and my personal experience with him has changed the way I view money and prosperity.
For most people, more money = more worries. Prosperity seems to be a burden.
Though I like the root of your question. Why is Europe experiencing a long dark night of the soul?
That’s an excellent point, Mark. And very true. My own response, off the top of my head, is that Christ recognized that too, but also recognized that the last place a rich man tends to turn in his worries is to God.
Of course I’ve never been rich (by American standards, at least).
And my question still stands–has there ever been a Christian revival in a prosperous population?
Were those who responded to Edwards’ and Whitefield’s preaching prosperous? I haven’t read much about them, but I didn’t think they were all poverty stricken.
I would be interested to know the answer to that.
Also note that my point is not that the rich can’t be saved. Obviously they can, and have, as the rest of us have, by grace.
I’m just trying to get a handle on what Jesus said, which seems to me to imply that prosperity creates unique spiritual stumbling blocks. And when a whole society is prosperous, the spiritual dangers are serious.
Could it be that in their prosperity they have a security that does not cause them to run to Christ, if they are not in need? How often do we, even as Christians, remember to praise God or even call on God when things are going well? But we are very quick to call on him when things are not going so well. Security (or at least perceived security) that comes through prosperity can be a barrier to someone being open to the Gospel (which is why I believe Christ said you cannot serve both God and money), though obviously Christ through his Holy Spirit can break through that barrier to open their eyes to it.
As for Europe, in my limited studies in history that I had with my major in college, it would seem that they have become so secular as to become areligious, if that is such a term. America has had a trend of this in the past few decades from even the mid-20th century when most people might be found on church on a Sunday. With the churches (and its congregations) having less influence over time in Europe, a vacuum/void was created in which the governments of Europe stepped in to fill.
Great post.