Remarkably, objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotions and personal beliefs. Values, or “things” that people think about, are not grounded today between objective right or wrong, but in individual ambiguity. A great deal of gratitude must be given to the “Age of Enlightenment” in furthering the distance between man and God. Seemingly, in post-truth philosophy, man “wins” and God becomes irrelevant. The ever increasing push towards what is ultimately important to every individual such as power, fame, money, and concupiscence, takes precedent over the common good of humankind as a whole. Euphemistic language has been replaced with bolder, autocratic statements concerning judgments regarding certain people in our society who may be deemed as intolerant, racist, homophobic, Latinophobic, Islamophobic or misogynistic. There are some slurs, however, that still seem to be acceptable. For example, calling someone “white trash,” hillbilly, right-wing nut, white privileged or Nazi seems to be acceptable and in alignment with freedom of speech. It’s odd that one cannot yell fire in a theater because that’s against the “rules,” yet preventing Ben Shapiro, for example, from presenting his viewpoints at a private university adroitly aligns with the concept of the “fire yelling scenario,” considered as such by most universities in this country. Freedom of speech, at best, has become selective. The right to be heard has become a distortion of so-called truth in this post modern age. This was the argument that was presented to me recently at a friend’s home the other day. And, in trying to present the more conservative point of view, I was castigated as being “intolerant.” It was just a matter of time before the conversation might have degenerated into hostility. Unsurprisingly, this tactic is used by both liberals and conservatives to make a point. This is not new. This tug of war has been fought for thousands of years. One group deems another group intolerable and vice versa, then resentment, hatred, and ultimately, hostility begets insurrection and anarchy. This is happening presently in America. One could bury one’s head in the sand but sadly, the gathering storm is approaching faster than ever. The deconstruction of the fabric of our civil liberties, such as freedom of speech is perversely being eroded away. The fact is, a majority of the country doesn’t even see the degradation of our society from a moralistic point of view. God is dead, all over again. Sure, there would be differing viewpoints on what has been expressed in this paper, but that is not the point. Thank God (excuse me), that there be different viewpoints. My concern is civility. 2500 years ago, Greeks like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle voiced their opinions which changed the course of human history. Sure, others have greatly contributed to philosophy and epistemology whose names should be mentioned, but is beyond the scope of this short story. The point being, their views were allowed to be debated and discussed. Differing points of views ensued and the result promoted the advancement of thought and culture. Presently, there is only one view that is being promoted by social media, governmental types, Hollywood, and mogul conglomerates and it speaks to the deconstruction of Western Civilization thought and culture. To question another opposing view to their agenda begets name calling and silencing,hence, the cancel-culture. This again, is not new in this country, alone. Throughout all ages, there has been consistent, calculated suppression of opposing thought. Specifically, this has been principally media controlled by governmental authorities; case in point, Rwanda. Yes, it can happen here.
So far, freedom of religion is still being protected for religious institutions but not for individual citizens. Religious intolerance will be legislated soon enough. The principal target: Christianity. Christianity has been increasingly viewed as an intolerant religion. Strangely, some of the worst offenders are often Christians which act against the tenets of Christianity and the views of Jesus, the Christ. Oftentimes, the name of Jesus is used arbitrarily, loosely, irreverently, and with curses and hostility. Consider, for example, Salman Rushdie, who had published a book, Satanic Verses, which irked the Muslim community to the point of placing a proclamation of death on him, and the media did not necessarily denounce Muslims and their stance towards Mr. Rushdie. The point being, in particular, Christianity is being ever increasingly singled out as intolerant and hateful without much backlash from anyone. I perceive persecution of Christians is not too far off in the distant future in this country. For 1700 years, Christianity has been relevant to the formation of Western Civilization. Unfortunately, with the good, came abuse and hatred by even Christians, themselves. This does not necessarily erase of the the tenets of Christianity which are based solely on the teachings of Christ. Sadly, many Christians and most non-Christians have no scholarly understanding of Christianity and have placed all Christians into “one basket.” Moreover, there are sects or factions of Christianity which have “secondary, non-essential” issues that divide the faith and cause potential and continued abuse. This, by no means, minimizes nor degrades the essence of the truthfulness of Christian beliefs. Many “bad apples” does not a bad religion make. The Jesus I follow,and have studied for the last 9 years (gaining a Master’s degree in Christian Apologetics), is not the Jesus portrayed by the overwhelming majority of non-Christians and many Christians, as well. As with all objective truth, a worldview of reality, has to be thoroughly examined.
Jesus does not make any excuses for His position with respect to human sin and eternality. If, for the sake of argument, His claim to be God was in fact true, then what He said is the truth, and ALL that He said is true. Jesus specifically stated in the Gospel of John: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). If His claim is true then the narrow gate to heaven is through one Person, alone. There is no other way. If, on the other hand, His claim is false, then all of Christianity is false and 2 1/2 billion people are delusional. This is the objective truth in Christianity. There is no other or greater truth more necessary or implicit than Jesus claiming to be God. Now, here’s the rub: there are many, many other religions which profess their worldview of reality, but none of them coincide with the truth claim that Jesus attests to. This is where the difficulty lies. This is where Christianity and Jesus, for that matter, are viewed as intolerant. So, if one does not believe that Jesus is God then hell is one’s final destination. Who said it? Jesus said it. In fact, Jesus talked more about hell than anyone else in the Old or New Testament. He did not speak about universality where all “good” people go to heaven by a works-based faith. There are no sufficient, good works to get one into heaven. Furthermore, in Christianity, there is no annihilation of human beings after death. God would not destroy His creation, so He made a place called hell, originally created for Satan and his minions, but now also for those who choose not to believe and follow Jesus. It seems unfair, doesn’t it? Well, we are good, aren’t we? I mean, hell should be reserved for Hitler, Stalin, and such, not for me? Some others simply detest the idea and just don’t care. They don’t believe it and they’ll just live the way they want to live. They’ll figure it out in the afterlife. It can’t be that bad. I mean, if there is a God, He won’t be that judgmental and mean.
The Cancel-God culture doesn’t give a ..... about God, let’s face it. God isn’t even an afterthought. There are no more atheists, just naturalists. Live and let live. This is all we’ve got. We are going to party hard and make the best of it, while here. What’s mine is mine and what’s yours is mine. Greed, envy, jealousy, lust, pride, and idolatry have become the gods of today. It’s simple, they don’t send anyone to hell. Humankind is deserving and entitled and we are going to destroy everything in our path if we don’t get our way. There is no truth. The Western Civilization is a mockery of value systems and Christianity is the root of it. “Enlightenment” has turned in entitlement. The only god is one’s sense of individuality. The common good has been replaced with the common hood. No one has any rights because the whole system was based on a set of laws created by privileged “white” European people who have been raping the land and people of color for hundreds of years. And now, you want to throw Christianity at me with a middle eastern man who claims to be God and is intolerant of every other religion, LGBTQ, women’s rights to abortion, and whatever else? These are the hotbed issues of our society. We all are equal and we all have a say. Doesn’t seem a bit Orwellian, though? Are people all equal but some are more equal than others? And who is to say what “values” are deemed appropriate or not? Is that the role of government? Just more “white” men deciding on what’s best for the “common good?” These are the holy types we vote into office every four years while they get richer and the people get angrier. Does government have the best interest of the people? Some anarchists would not think so, as they are systematically destroying cities in America without any punishment because, who’s to say they’re right or wrong? It’s all relative.
So, one has to decide just how offensive or intolerant, or even accepting of our present culture one wants to be before there is true insurrection and civil war. Eventually, civil liberties will disintegrate and society as we know it will vanish back to the days of feudalism and segregated territories. You think I’m kidding or being sarcastic? If the insurrection is not from within, it will surely come from without, but in the form of hundreds of missiles. The ultimate fate of humankind is dim. The lights have run out and we did it to ourselves when we cancelled God. There’s a consequence for sin, if one believes in such things. God is patient and long-suffering. Eventually though, and this has been proven throughout history, every empire must fall and so will this one. Again, we all are to blame. Every single one of us. No one is good. Not one. That’s why God. He made the rules, we didn’t. We just didn’t stick to them. We couldn’t because we are not good. If you think we are good, check out the last century. Over 100 million people were systematically massacred by many dictators. We have butchered and mutilated each other since the humans graced this planet, and we know it. So, here we are in the 21st century and what have we learned from a moralistic, value point of view? Not much. There should be a slogan: “Intolerance begins at home.” Let’s face it, we are all intolerant of each other. There is no “safe zone” for a human on this planet (yes, Antarctica as well). We will not fare well as a species unless we commit to God. In my humble opinion, Jesus give us the best possible option. If one bothers to really investigate and seriously read the tenets of Christianity and who Jesus is and why He is the only way, one might be surprised to find out He makes perfect sense. But, that’s just my humble opinion. Call me intolerant.