Amusing Ourselves to Death

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Amusing Ourselves to Death

Kingdom Perspective

April 10, 2024 • Don Willeman

Transcript:

Hello this is Pastor Don of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to The Kingdom Perspective.

As modern people we are good at spotting external oppression. We can see a despot coming miles away. However, we often miss the more subtle oppression of our own desires manipulating us, and, unfortunately, in a techno-consumeristic society like our own, this is a far greater threat. As the late thinker Neil Postman put it: “Everything in our background has prepared us to know and resist a prison when the gates begin to close around us… But …[w]ho is prepared to take arms against a sea of amusements?”

In his short but powerful book, Amusing Ourselves to Death, Postman contrasts the competing dystopias of Aldous Huxley and George Orwell:

“Contrary to common belief even among the educated, Huxley [Brave New World] and Orwell [1984] did not prophesy the same thing. Orwell warns that we will be overcome by an externally imposed oppression. But in Huxley’s vision, no Big Brother is required…. As he saw it, people will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think. …Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance…. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny ‘failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions.’ In 1984…people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we fear will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we desire will ruin us. …Huxley, not Orwell, was right.”

~Neil Postman (1931-2003), in his classic Amusing Ourselves to Death

And that’s something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective.

“Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”

~Ephesians 4:17-24 (ESV)

The Triune God of Love

June 4, 2024 • Don Willeman

Transcript: Hello this is Pastor Don of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to The Kingdom Perspective. If we were to peel back the universe to see what’s underneath it—to discover its source, the very essence of reality—we would not find a mathematical or scientific formula, nor a moral to do list, nor even a theological doctrinal statement. All these things are good, true, and necessary, but they are not the ultimate thing. Rather, we would find a perfect, eternal, untainted relationship of self-giving love! A divine community (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) in an infinite relationship of mutual self-giving—perfectly and equally sharing being, glory, and delight, from eternity to eternity. One God in three Persons, and three Person in One God. What does this mean? Well, most basically, it means that love is what is ultimately real, for love is the very essence of God’s nature. Thus, as Christians we do not have a thin and sentimental view of love. Love is real. It exists apart from our feelings. It exists from all eternity. In making us in His image, God meant for us to reflect this glory. We were to find our life in His self-giving Love. Thus, the biblical concept of sin is a brokenness in the beauty and wholeness of that relationship of love—it’s a dis-ease, a dis-harmony. We have no life apart from that love. And so, any person, any “self”, that does not exist to serve and give themselves away for others is a corruption of what it means to be a “person”, of what it means to be a “self”. And that’s something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective. “At that time Jesus declared, ‘I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’” ~ Matthew 11:25-29 (ESV)

Fallen from Grace

May 30, 2024 • Don Willeman

Transcript: Hello this is Pastor Don of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to The Kingdom Perspective. No philosophy or religion has a higher and more dignified perspective on human nature than the Bible. It tells us that God created us in His own image, fully righteous and holy. We were not created sinful, but good. This means that sin is an interloper. It is not intrinsic to human nature, but a corruption of human nature. It comes not from being faithful to our humanness, but from rebelling against it. When we sin, we are destroying our true humanity. God made us for covenant relationship with Himself—to be His special creatures. By trusting and obeying Him, we were meant to show forth His beauty to all creation. Unfortunately, we were not content with this. In our sin, we deemed it not good enough to be mere creatures, displaying the beauty of our Creator. Rather, we determined to be our own creators. We didn’t want to reflect God’s glory; we wanted to create our own. How foolish! This is like a mirror wanting to reflect itself! The irony of such madness is that no other creature had been given such an exalted status! We alone were made in the image and likeness of God. What more could we ask for? Yet, sadly, we were deceived and so demanded more. Thus, we fell and became less. Our humanity plunged into sin, and this sin has irreparably corrupted our human nature. As Genesis 6 puts it: 5 Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually…. 12 for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth. This infection of sin is so bad that it leaves us utterly hopeless, desperately needing the intervention of a Savior. Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective. “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the Lord said, ‘I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.’ But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.” ~Genesis 6:5-8 (ESV) *Below, we are appending some basic catechism questions that go along with this Kingdom Perspective. A catechism is a classical Christian teaching device, helping both children and adults better understand the unique claims of the Bible. Below, you will find questions taken from both a children’s catechism and a more advanced catechism. For the full catechisms, you may go to our website by clicking https://storage2.snappages.site/mv392j/assets/files/familydevotionalguide.pdf. Questions for Kids: A Basic Catechism for Children 21. What were Adam and Eve like when God made them? They were very good. 22. Did Adam and Eve remain good? No, they sinned. 23. What is sin? Disobedience to God’s law. An Advanced Catechism 15. What special act of providence did God exercise toward man when he was first created? When God had created man, he entered into a covenant of life with him, upon condition of perfect obedience; (Galatians 3:12) forbidding him to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, upon pain of death. (Genesis 2:17) 16. Did our first parents continue in the state in which they were created? Our first parents being left to the freedom of their own will, fell from the state in which they were created, by sinning against God, (Ecclesiastes 7:29) by eating the forbidden fruit. (Genesis 3:6-8) 17. What is sin? Sin is any lack of conformity to, or transgression of the law of God. (1 John 3:4)

I’m Only Human…and That’s Amazing!

May 28, 2024 • Don Willeman

Transcript: Hello this is Pastor Don Willeman of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to The Kingdom Perspective. No philosophy or religion has a higher and more dignified view of human nature than what we find in the Bible. Yet, despite this, I find that many Christians, thinking that they are being faithful to Holy Scripture, have a very negative view of human nature. This negativity is wrong headed. The Bible tells us that God created us in His own image, fully righteous and holy—to be rulers over all God has made. We were not created sinful but good. In the words of Genesis 1:31, all creation was “very good”! As God declares at the creation of mankind: 26 …“Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it…. Likewise, the great King David echoes this exulted status in Psalm 8: 5 For You have made him a little lower than the angels, And You have crowned him with glory and honor. 6 You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet… What other creature has been given such significance! Men and women were designed to function like kings and queens over the whole kingdom of God’s creation. Secularism teaches that humans are merely the latest in a series of cosmic accidents. The Bible teaches that humans are the pinnacle of all creation. And that’s something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective. Psalm 8 (ESV) 1 O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. 2 Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger. 3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, 4 what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? 5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. 6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, 7 all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, 8 the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. 9 O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! *Below, we are appending some basic catechism questions that go along with this Kingdom Perspective. A catechism is a classical Christian teaching device, helping both children and adults better understand the unique claims of the Bible. Below, you will find questions taken from both a children’s catechism and a more advanced catechism. For the full catechisms, you may go to our website by clicking https://storage2.snappages.site/mv392j/assets/files/familydevotionalguide.pdf. Questions for Kids: A Basic Catechism for Children 18. How are people different from the rest of creation? We alone are made in God’s image. 19. Who were the first people that God created? Adam and Eve were our first parents. 20. What were Adam and Eve like when God made them? They were very good. An Advanced Catechism 14. How did God create man? God created man, male and female, after His own image, (Genesis 1:27) in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness (Colossians 3:10; Ephesians 4:24) with dominion over the creation. (Genesis 1:28)