I read a post by Laura Ingraham that was a tease for a new book she is writing. She listed several signs we are in a cultural meltdown:
When our kids know more about the Kardashians than the Constitution–
When Ke$ha’s “Get Sleazy” tour becomes the favorite summer stop for the tween set–
When grown men share their girlfriends’ concealer and eyeliner–
When parents name their children after appliances, fruits, numbers, and one of the five boroughs of New York–
When people nurture their virtual crops on Farmville while subsisting on Lucky Charms in their parents’ basements–
I thought it might be a fun discussion starter here on Voices.
NOTE: This is NOT the time to settle petty squabbles from recent posts. Relax, have fun and put your cultural insight hats on.
When polls show that Americans want a balanced budget but do not want taxes raised or services/entitlements cut.
“When people nurture their virtual crops on Farmville while subsisting on Lucky Charms in their parents’ basements–”
My favorite.
Says something about the digital age, doesn’t it?
I think it shows a few things. First off, these kids are not acting out in a vaccume. They are being influenced by the media, by their friends, by the society at large. Unfortunately, their parents aren’t much of an influence, and often when they are, it’s a negative influence. Where they are not getting an influence is from the church. We have let to atheists, the government and fear push us out. We should never have let it get to the point that we are debating if Christian kids should be in public school. We have failed, and instead of doing something about it, we continue to retreat, fall back and then complain about how the world is going to crap. We abandoned it to go to crap.
” We have failed, and instead of doing something about it, we continue to retreat, fall back and then complain about how the world is going to crap. We abandoned it to go to crap”
I disagree to a point. Most of what passes for Christianity looks just like the world. Have you visited a typical mega church lately? Much of Christianity has simply adopted the world and slapped a fish on it to make t look Christian. Can you say botox and implants?
A friend who put her daughter in a mega church Christian camp last year told me she was astonished that many 10 year old girls there owned more coach bags at one than she has owned in a lifetime.
A “meltdown” to one person is another person’s “blind, but optimistic progress”.
A return to the culture of Laura’s childhood would be a debatable improvement, but it is even remotely possible?
At some point, Bible believing Christians might want to consider seeing themselves as “called out ones” who have no over-all plan toward which they intend to conform the cultures in which they live.
This does not mean they remain silent, but it does mean that their intent toward cultural influence by means of political action is not their primary plan.
There are a lot of words about living in a post-Christian culture. But, perhaps, a very real reluctance to conclude that the “Christian culture” is gone for our lifetimes.
Just thinkin’.
Excellent idea! I wholeheartedly agree.
Would you please pass this on to the joke that is the ERLC and Richard Land so that we can stop being associated with one political view? When the SBCs political propaganda arm attends a spiritual rally led by a Mormon we are WAAAAAY off course.
When the government sponsors the largest Ponzi scheme in the world and forces us all to pay for it.
stan, Amen!!!!
When the most important fact to politicians is that more people vote than work.
When we don’t sing “Deck the Halls” for fear of picking up a label when we sing about the apparel we’re going to don.
When real heroes in the armed forces are endangered because gay people are told they have the right to serve in the millitary and be open about their sexual choices instead of being told “If you want to serve in the millitary, you better keep that to yourself”.
We are in a freefall when you are in more trouble for judging evil than for doing evil. ( not origial)
When our digital “friends” are more important than real ones.
When Department of Transportation sites for multiple states suggest kids use booster seats until they reach 100 pounds, usually at age 8.
(No, I didn’t make that one up, and my 13 year-old weighs 97 pounds)
“When parents name their children after appliances, fruits, numbers, and one of the five boroughs of New York”
So … what were parents naming their kids before, Ms. Ingraham? Like it was SO MUCH BETTER when they were naming kids after “gods” from Greek, Roman, Norse etc. mythology, or after Roman Catholic “saints”, or from characters from pagan poetry (i.e. the Odyssey, the Iliad) or after corrupt, immoral genocidal emperors from history?
Hey, how about naming kids after “Romeo and Juliet”? You know, the ones who committed suicide? How great would that be? Or after any of the other Shakespeare (or classic literature) characters that committed adultery, theft, murder, you name it!
In that context, maybe naming a kid “Brooklyn” or “Tangerine” isn’t so bad …
By the way, Laura Ingraham is a militant Roman Catholic. So many prominent “conservatives” these days are either Roman Catholics covertly (or overtly in some cases) promoting popery or are Jews covertly (or again overtly) promoting Judaism. Maybe Frank Schaeffer and D. James Kennedy had some influence in times past, but these days Protestants (and especially believers’ baptism Protestants) are few in number and real influence on the right these days. (Truthfully, Mormons carry far more clout and have for quite awhile.) Thanks to the religious right, 6 of the 9 Supreme Court justices are Roman Catholic, 3 are Jewish, no one talks about this fact, yet the very idea of putting a Southern Baptist on the Supreme Court would be considered absurd – and possibly dangerous – by a large portion of the country. (Have we forgotten how the heavily Roman Catholic-influenced opinion makers on the right freaked out when the believers baptism Protestant Harriett Miers was originally chosen for the Supreme Court? She was sacked and replaced by an ardent Roman Catholic with nary a peep from evangelicals.) Now that the conservative – and especially the religious conservative – movement is a wholly owned and operated subsidiary of the Vatican (and also gives Christ deniers such as Mormons and Jews more prominent space than evangelicals are allowed) it really is past time that we start rethinking our politics, or better yet abandoning politics altogether. We evangelicals helped put the Roman Catholics in power, something that would have been unthinkable just 30 years ago, and never would have been happened so quickly and easily without our involvement. If we keep it up – and be so lacking in discernment in the process – who are we going to allow ourselves to be used to put into power next?
And here I thought this was going to be the better life for our kids than what we had that we always worked for.