Reason only??
By Paul Bawden
I read an article recently by Mark Tapson, a Shillman Fellow on Popular Culture for the David Horowitz Freedom Center. He was quoting from Sophie Lewis who, in a recent opinion piece at Open Democracy, wrote that, “We deserve better than the family. And the time of corona is an excellent time to practice abolishing it.”
Lewis went on to say that “The coronavirus crisis shows it’s time to abolish the family,” She criticized the assumption that we should all “stay at home” to contain the spread of the virus, arguing that everybody doesn’t have a home and private property is already fundamentally an unsafe space.
Obviously, such is very radical thinking. It’s amazing what comes from some when a sad, destructive, and life-altering crisis like this attacks our country, yes, the entire world. Others, who want to save the planet, can see “stay at home” as a time of not polluting the planet with the lessening of driving and other activity. It’s also been suggested that we may need some kind of identification after this crisis is over.
It’s amazing what reason can conjure up when reason depends on reason, and how some want to use a crisis. Obviously, man in his intelligence and dexterity is limited, even though he may think he is not. In fact, his ideas, rather than saving humanity and the planet, may eventually be his demise, while there is a desire among some to eventually have a global religious, economic, and governmental structure.
Which means, there has to be more to life than man’s reason. There has to be revelation, that which comes to man outside of himself, yet can touch him where he is at, as he lives in life’s box with no way out.
That kind of revelation, to be of any help, must be eternal, personal, able to break through our life-box, and meet each of us in our basic spiritual need – needing forgiveness with life eternal. Only One provides that description, the biblical God revealed to us in Jesus Christ, His Son, the God-man. I know that produces denial and skepticism from different individuals. But that in no way destroys this reality. In fact, the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ, which we just celebrated, demonstrates that God has come to our spiritual rescue, while establishing the validity of the teachings in the Bible.
That means the biblical God established the family unit as the basis of our societal structure. When the family unit goes by the wayside, humanity is thrown into a freefall, which we are seeing happening in our society today with sad consequences. Certainly, man is to take care of the planet in which God placed him (Genesis 1:28). Abuses of the planet today are because man isn’t wisely taking care of God’s world. Regardless, someday Christ will come, bring peace to this world, and eventually a new world.
Spiritually, Jesus Christ has met our basic need for forgiveness and eternal life. That’s what His death and bodily resurrection are all about. The one who realizes he needs the resurrected Christ’s forgiveness of his sin and eternal life, and reaches out in faith to Him, he receives His forgiveness and eternal life (Romans 10:9-13). Christ comes to live in his life spiritually (Colossians 1:27).
Now the believer in Christ knows who he is, made in the image of God, to bring glory to Him in all that he thinks, says, and does. Depending on the power of Christ, his life can display Christ’s life through him individually and in one’s family, which includes His love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23), with the guarantee of life beyond the grave with Christ forever.
The choice is yours. You can live solely by your reason, which ends in a dead-end street. OR live by faith in the lasting revelation, the person of Christ, and have your life changed for all time and eternity. Choose well. Your choice is brief yet endless!
Paul Bawden is married and served in the pastoral ministry for 45 years, retiring in 2011. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a B.A. in Speech and attended Dallas Theological Seminary, receiving a Master of Theology. He has taken counseling courses at Trinity Evangelical Seminary in Deerfield, Illinois. Paul is a lifetime member of the Evangelical Free Church of America, as well as being a member of Interim Pastor Ministries (IPM), which serves churches during their time of transition in searching for a new pastor. He writes for Union Gospel Press, as well as being a volunteer writer for GotQuestions.org. Paul likes to write, read, bike, and work in the yard. The Bawdens have had the privilege to travel to Mexico and Romania on mission trips and visited various countries in Europe.