Faith and the Human Condition

For someone who is basically a realist with a dash of idealism… it still amazes me how self-destructive humankind is. In day-to-day life we are continually offered resources, cures, solutions and help for the physical, emotional and mental circumstances of our lives. Yet we do not take what is offered. Most of the time, we don’t even apply common sense or what we’ve learned. But still we kick and scream and scratch and claw and proclaim God is dead (or never existed) because our lives are not turning out the way WE expected.

With each new generation, people more and more believe the world revolves around them. They are shocked and indignant when expected to think otherwise. Somehow they decided they are entitled to the best life simply because they didn’t choose to be born… so life had better damn well make it worth their while to be here. For those with crap childhoods and crap parents – forget it! – the world doesn’t stand a chance at fulfilling their needs… meeting their demands. No one believes they have to roll up their sleeves and actually work at life… to work at being a contributing member of society or family. They don’t understand what it means to “build” a career… or to “build” relationships.

And yet, this is the 21st century – we all are “enlightened” and Oprah-ized with the pursuit of “Living Your Best Life.” You got a pair of wading boots? It’s getting thick in here.

Re Careers: Kids expect to step from the college campus directly into a VP position with an office on the top floor overlooking all of creation and a salary to match. They’d rather make no money at all – zero dollars coming in – than take a job that pays $10-15 bucks an hour. Come hell, high water or homelessness, they will wait until they find someone to pay them what THEY think they’re worth before actually starting at the bottom and working their way up.

Re Relationships: If, as a friend &/or family member, you aren’t intelligent enough, entertaining enough or fulfill their needs, then forget it – you are thrown away quicker than a cold latte. Or worse, kept around “just in case” – ignored and insignificant until you do something they like or have something they need. There is no loyalty, no honor, no true forgiveness, no understanding, no consideration of the other view, no allowance for mistakes and disappointments. All that matters is “what’s in it for ME.”

What horrible devastating thing happened to make us turn the people around us into instant gratification dispensers? When were we given the power to pronounce someone obsolete and remove them from our existence if we are not completely satisfied with their contribution to our lives? Who died and made us king?

I don’t know about anybody else, but my life has not been filled with an abundance of family and friends that I can afford to just dismiss them at the slightest disappointment. I can count on one hand the number of people I truly trust enough to know the real me – I can’t afford to loose them and I wouldn’t want to. They are truly the best part of me.

The bottom line is we cannot save ourselves. We want our lives to be what we expect – and yet we don’t have the power to make it happen. The world screams at the top of its lungs that “all we need is education,” “it’s all about having the right information.” Never in the history of humankind have we had more of both available to us! The World Wide Web, a gazillion TV channels running 24/7… science and technological capabilities expanding by the nanosecond. And yet we’re getting more dissatisfied, more violent, more indulgent, more lascivious, more addicted. On a global scale the issues of war, basic human rights and the environment continue to rage; religious differences are not tolerated… We’re more concerned with who is “right” that we can barely sit down and talk about the issues with those who have opposing views. Therefore, there are no permanent solutions that can actively be pursued by everyone to bring about change… peace.

The human condition needs a Savior… a supernatural answer – someone outside itself to step in and intervene… Christ is that Savior. He came… He stepped in... He intervened.

Why is He so hard for people to accept or believe? Maybe it’s simply because there is no one on the planet who even remotely meets the requirements of “savior of the world;” no one on the planet who exhibits what Christ exhibited while He was here… and so we have no point of reference. Of course the requirement of “faith” which is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen (Heb 11:1) is a whole other can of worms. People don’t want to be required to believe in what they can’t see, to trust something that is beyond their own control. No one wants to believe there’s a God who will judge or who holds us accountable for our actions… We want to do it our way with no rules – no authority. On the other hand, with all the pain, destruction and overwhelming problems – faith in an all loving touchy-feely big ole teddy bear in the sky God is too simple, too trite and frankly, insulting. Faith in the one true God of the Bible is too ambiguous, too impossible. So it’s easier to reject Him, to claim He doesn’t exist. It's easier to keep kicking and screaming and scratching and clawing our way through…

Faith has made my life signifcant and purposeful, no matter the struggles or the mess. I have a future and a hope. If I’m wrong, in the end I will have lost nothing. If faith makes me a moron and delusional then so be it.