Established Religions

The Return of the Prodigal

Every human society has an established deity.  It's inescapable.  In this context we define deity broadly: the god who rules is the object or person in which society places their trust.  Human beings inevitably have to trust someone or something to provide what only a god can: safety, security, provision, and care along with more abstract (but vitally important) realities such as truth, justice, righteousness, and wisdom without which no society can cohere.

Secular society's god is the government.  Rules, regulations and laws coupled with property exacted from subjects and bestowed upon others in order to pay for the "justice", blessings and benefits the god wishes to bestow is how this particular religion works.  And it works a doozy.  Every Western society without exception has kowtowed to this particular deity.  Why are the peoples' of the West so resistant to the historical Christian faith?  Because they love their idol god, their respective governments.  You cannot serve God and Mammon, Jesus says.  The West now serves Mammon with a deep, abiding devotion.

Which would be great.  Apart from one minor problem.
  It is all a lie.  Whilst "In Government we trust" may be the universal creed of our time, its universality does not make it true.  Rather its universality is testament to how stupid, stubborn, arrogant and blind we have become.  Lemmings all.  It remains a false god; it will eventually lie broke as God's patience and longsuffering come to an end--as they surely will.  When justice is not speedily administered the hearts of the wicked grow bold.  God's justice is most often not speedy.  (There are a few salutary exceptions for our edification, such as Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19), and Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11) but they are the exception to the rule.) But because making the government our hope and praise appears to work and satisfy for a considerable time, the hearts of people grow in their devotion to the lie. 

Whilst we cannot be certain, it is probable that judgement upon the West's deity will take the form of displaying its creeping and relentless incompetence, leading eventually to spectacular failure.  Divine providence will parade our deity as a sham, an impotent huckster--which a moment's sober reflection would have surely concluded decades ago.  We can see hints of this: the bigger and more intrusive government becomes in the lives of citizens and in society, the more incompetent and impotent it shows itself to be.  The more exposed to ridicule and mockery.

A couple of illustrations from the United States are to hand.  Firstly, President Obama's Affordable Care Act.  It is so big and vast a piece of folly that most legislators voted for the monstrosity without ever reading its thousands of legislatives clauses.  But they felt good about it because it was an act of worship of their god.  It even caused the Vice President to intone reverently and exultingly, "this is a big ***** deal."  Now, the implementation of the law has just been suspended in significant part--which itself is an illegality--thus displaying the impotence of the national god.  Stupid is as stupid does.  This is not just the failings of one ineffectual, weak President: it is the failure of the national deity of the United States.  It is the failure of statism.

Secondly, the US Senate recently passed a gargantuan bill designed to "fix" the problem of illegal immigration. It is the role of the deity to fix things, right?  Once again the eructation from the god was voluminous.  Senators happily voted for the complex legislation without carefully reading it.  Even sponsors of a celebrated amendment could not explain the apparent contradictions in their offering.  "In Government we trust": what is there to worry about.  More is good, after all.  The upshot: a graphic display of incompetence and impotence.  The idol god is being held up to ridicule.  No wonder the people are angry and brimming with frustrated sarcasm.  Can't this god do anything right?

But this failure is not just in the big things.  Devotees of the established religion cannot help themselves.  They are reflexively loyal to their government-is-god credo even in the little things.  But equally stupid.  Equally impotent.  Here in New Zealand the Labour Party has got itself all wound up about sexual equality (one of the idol's doctrinal axioms).  It is proposing to achieve gender equality in its candidates for Parliamentary seats.  Some electorates will ban any males applying for candidates selection.  It's what the god demands.

Hoots of derisive laughter at this "man ban" have echoed through the canyons, coupled with distraught and injured feelings on the part of many as the national god is blasphemed and ridiculed. 

So will pass the secular West.  Its decline will be marked by anger and frustration at the increasing impotence of government and its failure to deliver the promised nirvana under its command and control religion.  It will also be marked by the derision of disappointed hopes.  It will not be an easy time.  In the foment we Christians hope and trust that God--the only true God--will again stretch forth His hand in mercy and compassion to a foolish, stubborn and rebellious generation.

And why should we have such a hope?  Because that is Who God is.  Did the father not rush down the road to greet the returning prodigal?