Soros Versus God

Boundless and Bare

In the Progressive world view, novelty is a prized achievement.  The past is an impediment to progress.  The new, the fresh, is immediately attractive.  To be avant-garde is to command respect.  Life and human progress is an unending new season fashion show.  To be alive is to keep up with cutting edge couture.  The Progressive ideology insists upon progress as its lifeblood.

In the Christian world view the past is all determinative.  This contrast alone sets the Christian faith to be against Progressivism.  It sets the Christian faith against modern Western culture.  The God of all creation is a promise maker and a promise keeper.  Every person, society, and nation is subject to God's promise making and promise keeping.  These promises were all made in the past.  We are shaped and conditioned, for example, by the promises and vows God made to the patriarch, Noah (Genesis 9).

Another way of expressing this is to say that God is a covenant making and a covenant keeping God.  God takes oaths and vows.  Moreover, he keeps his oaths and vows.  His oath keeping shapes our entire existence.  Ironically, this does not mean that things do not develop and change.  On the contrary, God's vows include oaths taken to bring the creation to a glorious climax, when every tear will be wiped away and every caviller will be silenced.

These two radically contrary perspectives--Progressivism vs Christianity--necessarily involve very different views of human society and its progress.

One Brick At a Time

Here a Little; There a Little

There is an old adage that says the only way to change society is to change one life at a time.  This is why the family is such a powerful socialising institution: it brings concentrated, focused help to individuals (children growing into adults) over a long period of time.  The opposite is also true.  When families are dysfunctional the bad outcomes are as devastating to society as their opposites.  A child growing up in such an environment is normally transformed into an habitually bad citizen.  

No state programme can compensate or replace the family--for good or bad.  Once a bad citizen has become an adult, it's far better to focus upon small interventions over long periods.  Here is an example:

Literacy changing lives at Tongariro Prison

A student at Tongariro Prison believes his life has changed since learning to read.  For six months the student, who is being referred to as Sam for privacy reasons, has been participating in the Howard League Literacy Programme delivered by volunteers.

About 70 per cent of prisoners have low levels of reading and writing.  Volunteer Sandra works with Sam once a week.  "Before I started learning with Sandra, I would not even attempt to try and read, I used to push books and papers away," Sam said.  "I did not enjoy learning [but] I can now read words and I have even written a letter to my mother."