Why cancel talk of the nation

As Christians we must recognize that nations will rise and fall just as individuals will be born and die. Our civilization will not last indefinitely, but will eventually pass off the scene. We should not put our trust in the things of this world for they are destined for destruction. Instead, we should put our faith in God and His word. Nations most often fall from within, and this fall is usually due to a decline in the moral and spiritual values in the family.

As families go, so goes a nation. This has been the main premise of thinkers from British historian J. Unwin to Russian sociologist Pitirim Sorokin who have studied civilizations that have collapsed. Notice how these seven stages parallel what is happening in our nation today. In the first stage, men ceased to lead their families in worship.

Spiritual and moral development became secondary. Their view of God became naturalistic, mathematical, and mechanical. In the second stage, men selfishly neglected care of their wives and children to pursue material wealth, political and military power, and cultural development. Material values began to dominate thought, and the man began to exalt his own role as an individual.

Men who were preoccupied with business or war either neglected their wives sexually or became involved with lower-class women or with homosexuality. Ultimately, a double standard of morality developed.

The fourth stage affected women. The role of women at home and with children lost value and status. Women were neglected and their roles devalued.

Soon they revolted to gain access to material wealth and also freedom for sex outside marriage. Women also began to minimize having sex relations to conceive children, and the emphasis became sex for pleasure. Marriage laws were changed to make divorce easy. In the fifth stage, husbands and wives competed against each other for money, home leadership, and the affection of their children. This resulted in hostility and frustration and possible homosexuality in the children.

Many marriages ended in separation and divorce. Many children were unwanted, aborted, abandoned, molested, and undisciplined. The more undisciplined children became, the more social pressure there was not to have children. The breakdown of the home produced anarchy. In the sixth stage, selfish individualism grew and carried over into society, fragmenting it into smaller and smaller group loyalties.

The nation was thus weakened by internal conflict. The decrease in the birthrate produced an older population that had less ability to defend itself and less will to do so, making the nation more vulnerable to its enemies. Finally, unbelief in God became more complete, parental authority diminished, and ethical and moral principles disappeared, affecting the economy and government.

Thus, by internal weakness and fragmentation the societies came apart. There was no way to save them except by a dictator who arose from within or by barbarians who invaded from without. Although this is an ancient pattern of decline found in Greece and Rome, it is relevant today.

Families are the foundation of a nation. When the family crumbles, the nation falls because nations are built upon family units. They are the true driving social force. A nation will not be strong unless the family is strong. That was true in the ancient world and it is true today.

One unforgettable law has been learned through all the disasters and injustices of the last thousand years: If things go well with the family, life is worth living; when the family falters, life falls apart.

There are many factors in the decline of a nation. Certainly a major one is the breakdown of the family. But another potent but less perceptible force is the power of ideas. False ideas are bringing about the decline of western culture. Carl F. Henry, in his book Twilight of a Great Civilization , says:. There is a new barbarism.

This barbarism has embraced a new pagan mentality. Today we live in a world where biblical absolutes are ignored, and unless we return to these biblical truths, our nation will continue to decline. To understand how we have arrived at this appalling situation, we need to go back a century and look at the influence of five intellectual leaders who still profoundly affect the modern world. The first person is Charles Darwin His writings blurred the distinction between humans and animals since he taught that we are merely part of an evolutionary progression from lower forms of life.

Darwinism, as it came to be called, not only affected the field of biology, but became the foundation for the fields of anthropology, sociology, and psychology. The second person is Karl Marx He and Friedrich Engels published the Communist Manifesto around , and Marx devoted his life to writing about the demise of capitalism and coming of communism.

He understood the importance of ideas. The twenty-six lead soldiers are the keys on a typewriter. The pervasive influence of communism in the world today is testimony to the truthfulness of his statement. The third person is Julius Wellhausen Although he may not be as well known as the other two men mentioned, his influence was just as profound.

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The podcast examines the underlying tension between cultural forces versus structural forces and which is more to blame for poverty. Structural forces include ones ingrained into society: segregation, discrimination, and impersonal changes in the economy.

Wilson and Columbia sociologist Sudhir Venkatesh agree that the presence of an end goal, a purpose, and something to work for are aspects of the bridging of the two concepts, and are often what can determine if poverty is perpetuated or eliminated in a family.

Wilson agrees, adding that introducing resources and means of opportunities can be the key for people in poverty to escape both of these forces. You are commenting using your WordPress. You are commenting using your Google account.