The Age of Ignorance

As I write this series, looking things up about history and how we got to where we are, I can’t help but wonder how future historians will view our time and age (assuming that humanity still exists as we know it in the future). I have to wonder if they will view this age as “The age of ignorance” Why? Because I don’t believe that schools today are encouraging education as much as indoctrination.  I just graduated from a secular university a couple of years ago, with a degree in Psychology, but almost everything that I learned, I could have learned on the internet.  Lori (my wife) was actually told by one teacher when she asked a question… “Just google it”. While I don’t regret getting the degree, I don’t know that it made me any smarter, but it was very clear that there was an agenda toward social engineering or indoctrination. Even K-12 from what I’ve seen is much less focused on being sure that the kids can survive beyond school than they were when I was a kid.  I’m not saying that it’s all on the schools, the parents need to play their part as well, (and oftentimes that doesn’t happen), but what I am saying is that schools that are run by a federal government, treat kids as statistics and not kids, and that can create problems.

When people are taught not to think they will believe whatever they are told without question.  Prior to the reformation and the age of enlightenment, that was part of what was going on. People blindly believed what the church told them without question, and because their parents were just as uninformed, and blindly followed what the church told them, nobody questioned anything.

Along comes the reformation, and the exposure of the corruption within the church and all of a sudden there was division. Those that didn’t want to think about it, called church divisive, and those who did created multiple religions.

As the “Age of Enlightenment” hit humanity, the major thought process went from the Bible being the ultimate authority, to “Reason” and “Science” having all the answers. Add to that all the division within the religious community, and religion started to become illogical rather than valuable.

By the 19^th century governments started to get involved with the education of their people to create loyal citizens and workers. The church who once had total influence over people through “Divine authority” controlling their education and their future, now had much less influence throughout society, causing religion to be secondary, rather than the most important thing.

After the second world war, governments started to become the providers of healthcare, and charity, causing people to rely on the government rather than the church.  In essence making religion as a whole redundant, and to some obsolete.

While all of that looked a little different in the United States, being as those fleeing the state churches came across the ocean to obtain religious freedom. Enlightenment in America was pro-religious and therefore protected the church. And prior to the 1950’s, as public schools started to become more secular, Christian schools were built to counter that influence, making Christianity much more prominent and influenceable in the United States for a much longer timeframe.  Unfortunately, as time continues, we are continuing to go down the same road as Europe did, just at a slower pace.  The irony is that in the past, people were ignorant because of a lack of information; now, they are ignorant because of too much information.

So why does any of this matter to us? Because as we watch all of this continue to take place, it would be foolish on our part to sit back and do nothing.  If this trend is to be rectified, it starts with us. First it starts with us in our homes as we respect the authority of Scripture, and teach our children and grandchildren to do the same. I think that it’s safe to say that God knew what He was saying when He told us…

 Deuteronomy 6:6-7
⁶ And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. ⁷ You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

And yet they didn’t follow through with that, but how often are we any better. The psalmist Asaph put it this way

Psalms 78:1-7
¹ Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;
incline your ears to the words of my mouth!
² I will open my mouth in a parable;
I will utter dark sayings from of old,
³ things that we have heard and known,
that our fathers have told us.
⁴ We will not hide them from their children,
but tell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might,
and the wonders that he has done.
⁵ He established a testimony in Jacob
and appointed a law in Israel,
which he commanded our fathers
to teach to their children,
⁶ that the next generation might know them,
the children yet unborn,
and arise and tell them to their children,
⁷ so that they should set their hope in God
and not forget the works of God,
but keep his commandments;

And just in case you’re thinking “well that’s the Old Testament”

Even Paul says

Ephesians 6:4
⁴ Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Obviously, those aren’t the only verses on the subject, but I think it is clear that we have that responsibility, and far too often in our world today, it is being neglected.

Another thing that we really need to focus on is our critical thinking skills.  If you’ve been to any of our services here at Pleasant Grove, you know that I will constantly push people to be in their Bible daily, and not to blindly believe me.  I always figure if Paul was not too good to be double checked by the Bereans, (Acts 17:11) who am I to believe that I am, so double check me.   Some might ask “Are critical thinking skills Biblical, shouldn’t I just blindly be obedient?” If you’ve ever thought along those lines, I would encourage you to read 2 Corinthians 10:5, 2 Timothy 2:15, 1 Peter 1:13, and Proverbs 14:15, but I think the one that really clarifies it is….

Colossians 2:8
⁸ See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.

If we are not considering what God’s Word actually says, we can be easily deceived. How else would people like Jim Jones be able to do what he did?

A third thing that the shift away from God should inspire us to consider, to keep us from being redundant with the government, is a true loving fellowship. While the government may be the ones who provide a lion’s share of the charity in today’s world, they really don’t provide a place to belong.  In general, we are social beings, and we want to be loved and accepted. A church, following Scripture can provide that. Sadly there are churches that are quite judgmental and can turn people away from God, but a loving church, one who knows that we all struggle will lift people up, not tear them down.  We are told in….

Hebrews 10:24-25
²⁴ And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, ²⁵ not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Oftentimes people don’t see “stirring our Christian brothers and sisters up to love and good works” as part of our Christian obligation, but obviously it is, or God wouldn’t have put it in here.  Rather than condemn somebody when they see the world differently than we do, or make a mistake that God has gotten us past already, why don’t we look at life from their perspective, pray for them and love them the way God has called us to. I’m not saying accept their sin, but agree to disagree, and love them through the sin.  Remember, God has us all on different paths, so some of us struggle with things differently than others, but ultimately our goal with someone in sin should be to restore their relationship with Christ, not condemn them.

Obviously, each of us doing these things is not going to fix the world, but it’s not going to make it worse either.  They say that the answer to the question “How do you eat an elephant?” is “One bite at a time.”, so how do we turn the world back to God…. One obedient Christian at a time.

Thank you for reading this, as always, I would encourage you to spend time in His Word, in prayer and in the fellowship of other believers.  And if you haven’t visited already, I would encourage you to come visit our little church on the hill, it’s worth the drive.

 

Bro. Jason