A New Lens

I am currently reading A Voice in the Wind by Francine Rivers for the second time, it is part of the Mark of the Lion Series (a must-read in my opinion).  As I am reading, I am now reading through the lens of a new mother - which really I have noticed everything is through that lens, which  makes me much more emotional than I was before regarding things, if that is even possible.  Through this lens, though, I am keenly aware of the culture that I am raising my daughter in.  There are some good things, but there are many disheartening things as well.  Only the Lord can grant E and me the wisdom we need to raise a beautiful, innocent little girl in this society for His Glory.  And that thought comes to my mind as I sit next to her and read this book, because as Rivers talks about the Roman culture there are many similarities to what our day looks like presently.  I don't know how much research she did on the Roman culture during the time soon after Christ, but it sure comes across well studied to me, and I've always thought of America as having some dangerously similar characteristics to Rome.  Here is what she says:

"Rome tolerated every abominable practice, embraced every foul idea in the name of freedom and the rights of the common man.  Citizens no longer carried on deviant behavior in private, but pridefully displayed it in public.  It was those with moral values who could no longer freely walk in a public park without having to witness a revolting display.  What happened to the public censors who protected the maority of citizenry from moral decadence?  Did freedom have to mean abolishing common decency?  Did freedom mean anyone could do anything they wanted anytime they wanted, without consequences?" (Rivers, p. 215)

In this context this doesn't sound as harsh as it does when quoted, but honestly I don't think we are too far from this the way our culture is going.  Christ said it would get worse and worse before He comes, so I am not surprised at where things are - but it is just another reminder of the urgency for people to hear the Gospel and to hear how the things they think grant them "freedom" are idols and put them in bondage if they are anything other than Christ Himself.  May He grant us, the Church, the courage to stand and speak of the True Freedom that can be anyone's who surrenders to Him.

Quick Note on "A Society of Commentators"

After telling E about my previous blog, he brought up a great point.  He said, "You know, after knowing you for a while now, I don't think I would really call you an optimist.  It's just that you're really nice..."  And so began an interesting discussion on what that looks like in our culture.  And I think he is right - a lot of times niceness or happiness is translated into optimism to those that we don't know very well.  Not that it is a negative thing to be optimistic, I am speaking mainly to the previously discussed misconception that optimistic people are less deep or naive because of their positive outlook on life.  In our culture I think there are a lot of people who come across as very optimistic or positive, but very well may not be optimists at all but are just very nice.  The reality is, the depth that people get to know each other just is not what it once was in our culture.  We've become very polite but not very deep, I would say even in the Church this is truer than it should be.  Anyway, it is an interesting topic that I am keeping in mind as a meet new people - to remember that we are always more complex than we come off at first, and I'm among many that needs to get better at getting to know people on a deeper level.