How we view life events depends very much on the lenses we look at life through. For instance the New Zealanders although traditionally having a centre right wing perspective on the economy but from a social standpoint are also particularly liberal toward social issues in our society. This has come from a basis of work hard and you will succeed attitude that followed WWII when there was considerable opportunity to have access to the materials of wealth creation and to move through the different schemas of social class.
In other words in the Western World there developed a large and affluent middle class that had access to owning their own houses, businesses and education for their children but as we have moved through to the close of the twentieth century and into the twenty first century this situation has changed radically. In the last thirty years the middle class has disintegrated mainly as a result of Neoliberal economic policies which have effectively transferred wealth to the top rung of our society and removed the middle class almost entirely.
The result is especially visible in the United States where a large but mostly disenfranchised group of mainly conservative Americans voted for President Donald Trump. The news media and political polling institutions were taken completely unaware by this conservative group of new poor people actually voting in the election and bringing Trump to power in a landslide. At the time there were reported to be forty nine million Americans on food stamps and forty seven million who were of working age but not in paid employment and not registered as unemployed, so not seeking a job. One assumes this situation was the new normal as a result of the transfer to China of much of the United States industrial capacity in the early years of this century.
In New Zealand we have a similar large social group who are not seeking work but who are mainly on a benefit of some kind. Despite social welfare a significant number of people are slipping through the system and becoming homeless and desperately poor. Addiction is becoming an increasingly influential factor in the social decline of people in this group. Obviously the daily realities of a person’s life will temper the way they view society and its inequalities. It wouldn’t surprise if left wing policies like the redistribution of wealth from the wealthy to the poor would be attractive to people in that situation.
Socialism is political philosophy that describes a large number of lenses that can explain how people view society, politics and life. For instance, those who are of a right wing leaning and who are independently wealthy or have had a successful business or career and have amassed some assets like a home and vehicles, or a second home, tend to view life through the capitalist lens or from a Neoliberal perspective. The fascist, social conservative and Christian lenses would fit on this side of the continuum as well. On this side of politics they might see relatively few people as being qualified to hold the reigns of power and as being able to govern. They feel that some should be leaders and most should be content with the working life.
Those of a left wing leaning often look at life through the secular lenses. These might include socialism, communism, LGBTQ+, humanism, evolution, feminism and liberalism. People on this side of the continuum see caring for your fellow man as important and the redistribution of wealth as a goal. Personal rights are also important to this group. They are competitive though and those who oppose their philosophies could well be seen by them as detrimental to society. They might argue that morality and religion are outmoded concepts holding mankind back from achieving his ultimate destiny. Therefore those who hold to outmoded ideals should be firmly dissuaded from pursuing them for the good of all mankind. It could be said that those who support conservative policies, who are right wing in their thinking, anti-vaccination or don’t believe in the conservation of native species or that man made climate change is a real thing could be seen by this group as a danger to society. These folk call themselves democrats and progressive liberals but are increasingly about controlling the dominant discourse in our time. Hate speech and curbing freedom of speech have become the focus of the far left agenda.
Increasingly the philosophy of the left is embedding the teachings of eastern mysticism into the secular humanist model. Interfaith mysticism which is not so much the new kid on the block as the return of the old system of spiritual darkness which has even invaded Christianity. New Age Mysticism which includes Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism has combined with the martial arts, yoga and so called eastern wisdom and is leading the whole world toward darkness and the devil. It is being touted as enlightenment when it is really a process of personal enslavement to self worship and Satan. This philosophy is a complex set of lenses with which to view the world and yet come out with the same lies that caused Adam and Eve to doubt Jehovah and enter into disobedience leading to eternal separation from God. It is similar to the worship of pagan idols that invaded Judaism in the time of the Kings of Israel. It is a blight on humanity.
Central to this way of thinking is Monism which holds the God is one with the Universe. They are the same thing. Hence in New Age mysticism the existence of the force is put forward as an energy field that links every living thing with the Universe. To know enlightenment is to grow in knowledge and wisdom from within and to increase the experience of unity within the force that binds all living things together. Spiritual darkness at its zenith and Self is God.
Dualism expands upon monism by adding opposing elements. In the Star Wars saga we see this concept brought forth in the light side and the dark side of the force. In Taoism we have yin and yang as the opposing force bringing balance to Universe. In Christianity we have Jehovah and Satan this is the real battle. This type of thinking pervades the pagan religions that oppose Jehovah in their various modern guises.
If we include all of this mystical thinking in secular living then we quickly become stuck fast in legalism. This is not the first time that Satan has used this approach to enslave people. Cuneiform cylinders have been found from the days of ancient Babylon that proscribe the jobs of workmen in the empire of that time. These things get right down to the nuts and bolts of skills required, standards expected, hours involved and pay scales offered. They represent a legislation by the government over the people groups of Babylon.
So when we see the United Nations put pressure on governments to give rights and education to secular groups and the people as a whole. When they say these rights give legal freedoms to the groups identified and when the rights enshrine that lens in law saying that a person who is of a certain race or religion or, sexual preference has a right to certain freedoms. We have to ask one pertinent question. Does the law ever set anyone free?
If the freedom legislated leads a person to break God’s law is that setting the person free? If the freedom states that other people must treat you in a certain way is that going to bring a change of heart in the person who is an oppressor. Or is this merely the sophistry of the Wiley Old Serpent that is Satan the Devil touting that his laws will bring you freedom from the laws of God when he is just bringing you enslavement and death. Just following the same model he used on Adam and Eve and has used to mislead foolish men throughout history. How many have perished by listening to his lies and how many have met death at the hands of those led to commit heinous crimes they believed were justified because of his lies.
It all comes down to how you look at things. A thief can justify his thievery if in his mind he was poor and had no choice. A husband can justify adultery if he has a perceived grievance with his wife that to his mind makes his actions acceptable to him. The devil has spent the whole of human history talking to people and then putting points of view that change the way they view important issues. For instance, “Why should I care about the poor and less fortunate than myself? Haven’t I gotten to be wealthy but my own talents and hard work? Satan has found ways to justify all manner of wickedness and has even developed a system of philosophy that educates men in how to view and understand the actions of their fellow men. Thus he justifies wars and persecution of all those whose thoughts contradict the philosophies of his followers.
Romans chapter 7 makes this point starting at verse 4 Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. 5 For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death. 6 But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.
You see Satan seeks to develop a world full of the most prescriptive laws to control every human citizen to the intent of their thoughts. He shares a philosophy which teaches it’s followers how to evaluate and judge their fellow citizens by looking through lenses at each other. But God who wrote the Laws of Righteousness has given His only Son Jesus Christ to die for us and as the scripture above says “In the body of Christ we are able to die to the law that we might bear fruit for God. Now released from the law, no longer bound, serving in the newness of the Spirit.”
Christ Jesus fulfills the law and in him we are set free from the law, in that in the Spirit we can overcome the law and finally be the men and women the Jehovah envisioned before we were ever born.
Alter Call
Friends I want you to know that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, that whosoever believes on him shall not perish but inherit eternal life. You need to understand that you are not alone in needing his forgiveness. Romans 3:10 “There is none righteous, not even one.” Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and all fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” So won’t you believe on him that your sins may be forgiven and that you may receive the free gift of God which is eternal life Christ Jesus our Lord?
Reference List
All Scriptures Reproduced from BibleGateway.com http://www.biblegateway.com
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