Thursday, July 26, 2012

Back to what?

Be amazed at this, O heavens,
and shudder with sheer horror, says the LORD.
Two evils have my people done:
they have forsaken me, the source of living waters;
They have dug themselves cisterns,
broken cisterns, that hold no water.
        Jeremiah 2:12-13

Yikes!  
In today's Old Testament reading we hear Jeremiah proclaiming the LORD's judgment: 1.) you have turned again me.  2.) and, you have put your energy/faith/time into ways that will not save you.  Sadly, Jeremiah's words to the people of Judah can be used again modern Christians.  

I'm starting a book study with a couple of geeky moms on Back to Virtue by Peter Kreeft.  His premise is that American culture is falling apart because we no longer have a moral compass.

"We have lost objective moral law for the first time in history.  The philosophies of moral positivism (that morality is posited or made by man), moral relativism, and subjectivism have become for the first time not a heresy for rebels but the reigning orthodoxy of the intellectual establishment." (pg 25)

Kreeft wrote this in 1986 and his message is the same as Jeremiah's.  The culture has taken God out of the equation and made humanity the summit of existence.  We have removed "the source of living waters" from our lives.  On top of that, we put energy into useless activities or pursuits that won't save us.  

Thankfully, Jeremiah's answer and Kreeft's are the same.  Turn back to God!  Kreeft's specific answer is through habitual virtue: justice, wisdom, courage, moderation, faith, hope, and love (charity).  

***I'm a big fan of Peter Kreeft.  If you haven't read him before, then I highly recommend his books.  

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