Who am I? Why am I here?

Thus famously, or infamously, said Admiral James Stockdale during a vice presidential debate in 1992. Stockdale had been chosen by Ross Perot, the independent presidential candidate, to run against George Bush the first and Dan Quayle during that year's presidential campaign. Many analysts at the time, blamed Perot for taking enough conservative votes away from Bush and giving Bill Clinton the victory in that year's elections. Whether that was in fact correct or not, we'll never know, but undeniably Clinton ended up winning the presidency not with a majority but with a simple plurality. 

Of course, as history will attest, the coming of Clinton to the highest office in the land marked, in a way it had not before, the time when our society went literally down the tubes. Clinton would be embroiled in a series of sexual scandals culminating in the famous Monica Lewinsky scandal that nearly derailed his presidency. At the time, Clinton became only the second president in US history to have been impeached. Although he survived that effort, primarily because the senate was in Democratic hands, his term in office will forever be stained by that sordid affair. 

I bring this up because that era accelerated the downturn that US society had been in since primarily the 1960's. The "Me Generation" had begun to bring to the public mind the fact that American public structure was coming apart at the seams. The war in Vietnam, the drug culture, and the general attitude of the people of that era brought a division to society that had not been present perhaps since the Civil War. The biggest effect of all this was not so much in the political arena, though that certainly was radically altered, but primarily in the sexual mores of the time and the time that has followed. 

Since that time, sex has been at the forefront of society in one way or another. Not that sexuality and sensuality have ever been absent from the public's mind. But now sex began to dominate mass media and to be constantly pushed from every possible outlet. The advent of contraceptives made it easier for people to engage in sexual activity without worrying about pregnancy. Later, with the Supreme Court's decision in the Rowe vs. Wade case, people didn't even need to worry about contraceptives. Now, they could simply go to the ironically named "parental planning" clinic and simply terminate their pregnancy.  

We then come to our own day, when sex is being even more strongly pushed to the point where even schools are all in for the sexual revolution. In San Francisco, for example the school board is seen in a video obtained by a conservative news outlet, speaking about how the schools will indoctrinate children in the perverse liberal sexual ethic. During the course of the video, one person is heard saying that one of the questions that the children will be asked is whether their physical characteristics, as in their genitals, match the way they feel about themselves. In other words, do their feelings about themselves match what their bodies are telling them. The obvious implication is that, if the child feels differently, then what he or she feels is much more important than what they look like. Do not believe your lying eyes, we could say!

Right thinking people look at these things and are justifiably horrified. How can it be possible that anyone with an ounce of common sense think that doing these things to children is anything other than child abuse? Therein lies the issue. These folks are not right thinking people. They are among those who are unregenerate and as such they will act like it. In their corrupted and sin addled minds, such ideas are perfectly logical. This is the same problem that leads people to think that the cornucopia of perversions that they engage in somehow demonstrate their freedom and virtue. In reality, all they do is show their enslavement to sin. It is also the same problem that leads to our society's post-modern idea that there is no such thing as absolute truth. There is a perverse logic here: if there is no such thing as absolute, objective truth then whatever you feel is more important than anything else. Thus, they kill an unborn child because they have some physical or mental problem with nary a thought of guilt while at the same time celebrating those with mental disabilities in programs like Special Olympics.

The moral in all of this is that the church has to be vigilant. We're swimming in a sea of depravity and the morals of the people around us can very easily splash unto us. At the same time, we need to understand that we must influence the world for good and not simply stand by, as the quietists, hoping that just not being like them will lead them to the truth. Let us say with Thomas "let us go that we may die with Him" (John 11:16), but then follow through on that pledge, just like Thomas eventually did, howbeit after one very big stumble.