Thursday, November 8, 2018

Societal Hopes

5Yes, my soul, find rest in God;
my hope comes from him.
6Truly he is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.
7My salvation and my honor depend on God c ;
he is my mighty rock, my refuge.
8Trust in him at all times, you people;
pour out your hearts to him,
for God is our refuge. (Psalm 62:5-8) 

Thoughts: There are obvious limits to human, societal hope.  While there is great progress in terms of technology- cell phones, communication, to the point where we can feel we have overcome the problem of the Tower of Babel.  Yet deep down we do not feel there is moral progress. 
     The past election shows a deep divide- a large turnout resulting in a split congress- a democratic house and a republican senate.  The mass shootings seem to come every other day now (today it was a mass shooting in a bar in California).  As the population and technology grows there seems to be a devaluing of human life. 
      The idea of human progress to achieve more and more was recently shot down by Stephen Hawking (the great physicist who encourage people to not hope in God but hope in science), who said we had better colonize another planet quickly before we destroy our own.  Whether through the technology and industry that produces pollution or the technology and industry that produces weapons of mass destruction, our progress seems to be limited by our inability to morally progress.
      The Second World Council of Churches in 1934 said (just before WW2- at a time of great optimism) "Because God is the Lord of history, Christians must reject all doctrines of automatic progress or fated decline. Man's hope is not in any process or achievement of history.  It is in God."  John Leith points out (Christian Doctrine p. 289) that our dual temptation is to expect too much or to expect too little.  Sometimes we ironically believe both at the same time.  We are strangers and pilgrims here.  Our hope is not in political or technological structures or sides- but in the King of Kings and the Master Creator of all.  

Prayer: You alone, O Lord, are my hope.  My hope is not in my riches, my job, my technology, my party, my greatest idea.  Apart from you, I can do nothing.  But with you all things are possible.
        

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