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Polls show there is a growing sense that things are not quite right in our country---we're on the wrong track.
Disability beneficiaries in the US now exceed 11 million.
Steve Forbes is arguing that while we are distracted with symptoms, we are ignoring the real problem in our economic system and unless it is fundamentally changed, we will not see economic recovery.
Representative Tim Huelscamp, R-Kansas, said this weekend he believes the fight to redefine our most important social institutions---specifically marriage, is now about much more than "tolerance" and "fairness"; it's about destroying the institutions themselves.
Are things really as they seem? And if so, is there really anything we can do about it?
The University of California is reporting they have new evidence that human beings don't actually posses "free will" to make decisions.
They say, "It's all an illusion."
There is a sense of inevitability about this message. A fatalistic future.
Secular progressivism and its relativism always creates despair.
In stark contrast, the message of Christianity always creates hope.
In May, America continued to become more and more disabled, with 11,004,507 on government disability.
That's an all time record and it's growing exponentially.
In fact, that number exceeds the population of Greece, Tunisia and Portugal combined and almost equals the total population of Cuba.
A nation within a nation.
Clearly their are those who truly need assistance, however, surveys show a good number of the "disabled" are faking it to get a check from the government.
Are we becoming a disabled nation?
Steve Forbes is saying that "Despite a miserable record of managing banks and monetary policy, the Fed has a less formal oversight from Congress than do our intelligence agencies.
He says, the Fed (Federal Reserve) has way to much control over our own economy and the global economy as well, and "it continues to expand its power grab with little resistance."
Forbes claims, "If the economy is to ever fully recover from our current malaise, both the press and the public must abandon their awe and realize that the Fed's so-called 'Wise Men' are as human as The Wizard of Oz."
Rep. Tim Huelscamp, R-Kansas said what many have been thinking. He told the press this weekend that he believes activists are trying to destroy our most important social institutions.
Specifically the institution of marriage.
He said the homosexual "marriage" issue "is no longer one of just 'tolerance' for same-sex couples, but enforcement by the government to make all Americans, regardless of their religious or moral beliefs, accept homosexual 'marriage' and adoption."
While these items are from the weekend news, they are not really "news." Most of us already knew that.
However, a new study from University of California, Davis shows humans may not in fact have a "free will."
We may not actually make choices on the basis of values and virtue, our choices may in fact be linked entirely to biological responses.
They say, "The concept of a 'free will' could be little more than the result of back ground noise in the brain."
The power to choose may only be "an illusion," they say, "the result of electrical activity in the brain."
The UC research has been published in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience and has created a buzz in the scientific community. It is being hailed as a "breakthrough" study. While there have been other studies in the past suggesting some of the same conclusions, UC is suggesting this study goes considerably beyond those studies.
The researchers say the pattern of activity in the brain seconds before someone makes a decision, even when they do not know they are about to make a decision, can predict the outcome of that decision.
One of the stated conclusions is that the concept of "free will" is probably an "illusion."
"Free will" is of course fundamental to understanding the message of the gospel. God does not force His redemption on any of us. We must accept it. The Old and New Testament attaches free will to serving and accepting God.
An attack on free will, is an attack on that Truth.
This study and its level of acceptance and interest also suggests other possibilities. In the mind of the secular scientist, this study could also suggest that man is purely biological, not spiritual. That we respond to stimuli, not necessarily values, or Truth.
It was Karl Marx who said, "Religion is the impotence of the human mind to deal with occurrences it cannot understand."
He also said, "Man makes religion, religion does not make man---religion is the sigh of the oppressed---it is the opium of the people."
Christian belief stands in stark contrast to this: "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect," Paul wrote to the Romans 12:2.
And Paul taught that Christians "have the mind of Christ" (I Corinthians 2:16).
On the radio today I'm talking about the stark contrast between the "mind of Christ" and the mind that is "conformed to the world" and how these two very different views impact our culture.
You may join me live at 9 AM PDT or rebroadcast at 7:30 PM PDT. Here's how.
Be Discerning. Be Vigilant. Be Informed. Be Prayerful. Be Blessed.
