Life in HD

For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.  1Co 13:12

The scene opens on a dusty street in an old western town with the sun low in the afternoon heat.  The camera pans to a closeup of a unshaven ruddy face of a man with a stub of a cigar hanging from his mouth, unlit, eyes squinting in the light and dust swirling.  The background music sets the mood to a lonely place lost in time, perhaps never.  A mystery is about to be laid out on the screen we've thought about before, somewhere, sometime.

But we know none of this is real, but a facade, a creation of mind, an assembling of a story as the author saw it.  This is just... make believe.  Do we really understand this as just pure fiction?  Does our mind really have that clear separation of the real versus virtual?  Or, do our memories blur the facts of the past events at times at a subliminal level?  The famous actors will tell you of the countless times people have approached them and believe they are actually the characters they portrayed.  Seeing them out of character confuses them for a moment.  A brief feeling of disillusionment ensues when they realize "he really isn't that tough and reliable man in the movies, he's just an ordinary man like myself".  But the persona lives on in their minds, they fell in love with it, identified with it, even modeled their lives after it. 

Such is the state of mind of our playwright culture.  Unable to discern truth from error, fiction from fact, dreams from personal history.  Even science is under its spell because the scientists themselves have been raised in the same environment.  They tend to follow their faiths, rather than the facts alone.  A perfect example of this is the recent scandalization of the climate data governments have so long been touting as irrefutable evidence of man-made global warming.  There is some disillusionment going on right now in the earth sciences.  Good.  Hopefully careers will be ruined for those who smugly rejected any challenge to their theories.  A lot of damage has already been done by these self-proclaimed prophets of doom.  Many have drunk their kool-aid unfortunately and are still mindlessly following the mantra. Hopefully we're on the other side of this now though with the public becoming more cynical of the message of impending disaster if they don't tow the line and live "green".  Or, pay their government for the 'privilege' of barbecuing steaks on their open grills or opening a can of pop (soda) or any of a long ridiculous list of everyday living 'infractions'.  One would get the impression these folks just don't want anyone else around (except for themselves of course).  One of the Super Bowl ads, the Green Police, was a little too close to possible reality for some.

 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 2Ti 3:7

But all this is just the tip of the iceberg.  Below the waterline is the rot of culture that will someday culminate in total collapse.  "And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;" Rom 1:28  It certainly doesn't sound like the Utopian world some believe is in our future.  According to scripture, things are going to get a lot worse before the end, not better.

 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 2Ti 3:1

You can put a face to this scripture these days.  If you're at all connected with current events,  the following  will stun you;  For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 2Tim3:2-4

Is there any hope left for mankind then?  Yes.  Even in the midst of these perilous times, there is a message that will endure to the end.  It's a way out of the inevitable, a key to the door of a bright future.