The Kingdom of Democracy, Pt. 3

The Kingdom of Democracy, Pt. 3
Man was placed in the Garden of Eden to till and keep the land. As image bearers of God, it was man’s joyous duty to be the stewards of God’s garden. The creation mandate stated that man was to have dominion over the Earth. It was man’s divinely appointed mission to subdue the Earth. This, of course, was given prior to The Fall. When Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, the world was thrown into sin. Man no longer had the unbroken and whole image of God, but it was stained, impure, and defiled. Man was sent from the presence of YHWH to work the ground by the sweat of his brow, the earth no longer yielding and cooperating with man in his endeavor to subdue it. Harmony was shattered; fear reigned from the basest creatures to the reasonable. Since that awful day, man has been attempting to subdue the earth, to be the rightful stewards and caretakers; but an interesting anomaly has occurred—the land we were destined to have dominion over, has dominated us. We have been subdued by the earth.
Freedom, liberty, autonomy—all similes for the same basic concept, but there has been a subtle shift; not only in the course of American history, but in the course of man’s existence. In our last post I closed by speaking of a freedom without form, the freedom that present day American’s are wanting and a freedom that is being testified throughout many of the recent crises.
The news just stated today that the Democratic majority is hesitant, at best, to accept the bailout plan of the auto dealers. The auto industry has asked lawmakers to give them $25 billion to aid in failing profits. President Bush has refused to make such a bailout and act alone. It is being estimated that if even one large auto industry collapses, the States could be looking at losing around 2.5 million jobs next year through this crisis alone. Japan, earlier this week, announced that they have officially entered into a recession, not surprising considering they are the second largest economy and have been largely influenced by the United States’ crisis in recent months. Awhile ago, Washington approved a $700 billion bailout package for many of the banks that are suffering from their failure (and peer pressure) of handing out bad loans. Even, Warren Buffet’s Berkshire and Hathaway, has seen a devastating blow on Wall Street. The once nearly $4,000/share company has dropped nearly $1,000 in a matter of weeks. Last night, the worth of Berkshire dropped over 15%. The DOW Industrial average just dipped below the 8,000 mark ending in the high 7,990s—and on and on we could go. And despite all this, more and more Americans want to be ‘bailed-out.’ We have sown seeds that have germinated and grown, but we don’t want to reap our fields.
Meanwhile, we are preparing for a transition of power. President Bush is preparing to leave and President-elect Obama is preparing to enter. Bush has left $350 billion untouched for Obama to distribute as he wishes. Special interest groups are being rumored as having ‘high expectations’ and ‘hopes’ for their upcoming champion. Obama is responding by already saying one term isn’t enough to complete his mission. The world is watching as Obama is preparing to enter office.
These are the times that we find ourselves. We are in the midst of a horrible financial crisis, the worst since the Great Depression, and of CEOs asking for government relief as they fly to Washington in luxurious jets. When homeowners are begging for relief from bounced checkbooks and failing equities. We are finding ourselves in the midst of un-chartered territory: 1) Because we have never before faced a world of such interconnectedness, and 2) Because as history progresses, so does the culmination of the times. A culmination which has not been promised of a world ‘getting better’ but of a world that is being handed over to destruction that redemption might be fulfilled. It is in the midst of this, that we are looking for a Savior. And the savior will not be Wall Street, it will not be Washington, it will not be Barak Obama, it will not be a Band-Aid over a gapping wound, it will not be democracy and the cause of freedom.
Americans have long fought for the ideal of freedom. Millions have given their lives for the sake of freedom, thousands continue to fight. Freedom has been assailed time and time again, and has seemed to always triumph. Yet, the mortal enemy of freedom is not communism, it is not totalitarian rule, it is not enslavement of the people—the mortal enemy of freedom, is freedom itself. Freedom, liberty, autonomy—all similes for the seemingly same conception, yet how far from a true definition is the freedom of America? Pure freedom does not free, it enslaves. Freedom with no form of freedom, leads only to selfish autonomy, the state of nature. Yet, we are seeking freedom with no constraints. We are looking for the freedom of buying houses, cars, education, etc., without the form of accountability or responsibility. Banks have handed out loans with no background checks, no proof of income, no accountability, so that Americans can go and dry up every selfish desire. We live in a day and age when materialism rules the world, when instant gratification is the only ‘form’ to our freedom. We are raising children to believe that they need houses, cars, boats, toys like their parents who generally worked many years before being able to afford such things. Automakers are seeking a bailout for the failed industry, a failed industry of gross competition and rivalry, an industry founded on ‘bigger and better’ than the previous year. We are living in a time when our advertisements of ‘gimme, gimme,’ ‘you gotta have, you gotta have,’ are catching up to us as we realize we can’t have everything. People are walking around aimlessly, purposelessly, and indignant of the fact that: form, constraints, boundaries, accountability, no’s, and much more must frame our conception of freedom. Democracy in this light, is not freedom and liberty, it is enslavement.
Since The Fall, man has been driving this downward spiral of luxury, of advancement, of achievement, of ‘needing’ to subdue, and all the while, we have been subdued by that which we were meant to subdue. We cannot live without so much of what we have, yet this is not dominion, it is a form of tyranny, only the enemy isn’t a person, lest we destroy them, it isn’t a country, lest we declare open war, it isn’t an ideal or we would have counter-arguments; it is ourselves. We have become our own worst enemy—and should we believe that what is at the root of this is a sick, demented, and perverted freedom without form. Man was not created to live independent and autonomous—he was meant to be governed by a higher power outside of himself, not by his fickle desires, wants, and passion. This idea of autonomy has infiltrated into the fabric of our being, into our society, our politics, our philosophy, our theology. We are living in a day when we have the great potential to learn that freedom is only as good as the form that encompasses it, and where no form exists, no true freedom exists. We are at the crossroads of perhaps a great awakening, a great change, a reshaping of the world as we know it. It is not too great to think that cultures will soon be uprooted, nations will soon tumble, ideals will shift—this has been and is the way of the world. Yet amongst all of this, the world is looking for something to save, something to liberate, something to free—perhaps even something to rule and govern. We are in a climatic drama of life and who is it that will pull us from the depths of despair? It lies in the Church before a waiting world. If the Church does not act, we potentially give up this momentous opportunity of proclaiming the world. Financial crisis or not, to use the words of Francis Schaffer, ‘The Church Before a Watching World.’ How then should the Church respond? Will the Church respond? Will she rise to this great time and take her ancient prowress as the only hope of a dying world?