In 1774, future President John Adams penned the following:
We see every day that our imaginations are so strong and our reason so weak, the charms of
wealth and power are so enchanting, and the belief of future punishments so faint that men
find ways to persuade themselves to believe any absurdity, to submit to any prostitution,
rather than forego their wishes and desires. Their reason becomes at last an eloquent
advocate on the side of their passions, and [they] bring themselves to believe that black is
white, that vice is virtue, that folly is wisdom and eternity a moment . . .”
Not much has changed in 246 years. People are still so driven by wealth, power, wishes, desires, and passions that we have learned to rationalize our behaviors. We have taken the very things that God has called wrong, or sin, and made them, somehow, contemporary and progressive and even virtuous. Whether on the social, political, or personal fronts, we can see this kind of “folly,” that President Adams talked about, on display in just about any direction you turn. All you have to do is switch on the evening news, pick up a magazine or newspaper, or venture onto social media. Labeling something true that is false does not make it so. But that trend is rampant as “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.”
If we are to live lives of purpose, we need to become proclaimers of truth and righteousness. We’ll have to take a stand and it may not always be easy. But there is no place I would rather stand than with God. We need to do so and our tattered culture aches for us to.