I recently watched a 12-episode docudrama whose main characters were all involved in the construction of the Titanic in Belfast, Ireland, in the early 1900s. It was good, but there was a certain pall cast over the whole thing because no matter how much I wanted a different ending, I knew the massive, luxurious ship was going to sink to the bottom of the North Atlantic Ocean.
I’m experiencing similar feelings of impending doom now as I watch division, lawlessness, and violence escalate in our nation. Unless something changes, it’s not going to end well.
Seattle should serve as a huge cautionary tale. When anarchists took over six blocks of that city and dubbed their dysfunctional kingdom CHAZ (later CHOP), I didn’t know exactly what kind of mayhem would ensue inside that “autonomous zone,” but I knew mayhem most definitely would ensue.
Sure enough, reports quickly emerged of squalor, infighting, robberies, assaults, rape and even murder. Far from the “summer of love” naively predicted by Seattle’s mayor, CHOP was instead an example of what happens when fallen human nature is allowed to run amok. It wasn’t pretty. It never is, and never has been.
Way back in the Garden of Eden, God gave the first humans, Adam and Eve, one rule to follow: “See that tree over there? Don’t eat its fruit.” That was it. They could eat all the other fruit, but not that one.
Then along came Satan, the fallen angel who was obsessed (and still is) with destroying everything God loves. He slithered into the garden, craftily focused the couple’s attention and desire on the one and only forbidden fruit, whispered a few lies about God’s character and motive, and Adam and Eve took the bait. Right off the bat, humanity ran amok.
That act of disobedience severed Adam and Eve’s fellowship with God and brought a curse upon everyone who came after them. We’re now born disconnected from our Creator, with a defective moral compass. (If you doubt this, observe a group of toddlers.) The only way to reconnect is to accept God’s offer of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.
If we reject Him, we are enslaved to sin and the desire to get what we want, when we want it. We may learn to mostly hide our sinful nature under layers of socially acceptable behavior, but there’s no hiding it from God.
Satan still relentlessly tries to destroy the people God loves so passionately and fiercely, and the Bible explains how he goes about it: “But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death” (James 1:14-15).
A nation populated by millions of people with conflicting, selfish desires and agendas is doomed if laws aren’t established and fairly enforced. Lawlessness produces chaos, not freedom.
George MacDonald, a 19th-century pastor and writer wisely said, “Free will is not the liberty to do whatever one likes, but the power of doing whatever one sees ought to be done, even in the very face of otherwise overwhelming impulse. There lies freedom, indeed.”
The Bible promises that one day, when this age is over, evil will be banished and every heart will be in synch with God’s heart. Until then, ignoring laws and foolishly hoping everyone will do the right thing has a predictable ending: that ship will hit an iceberg and sink every time.
“Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane … .” – 1 Timothy 1:8-9a