Simple life of the Amish

The path to heaven is narrow and straight. Any of us who have attended church have heard this saying often. On top of that, each one of us thinks what we do is correct. Whether we are left or right, liberal or conservative, democrat or republican, American or Russian, we wake up every morning and do what we think is best. I highly doubt there are more than a few people in this world who say to themselves that they are going to start out their day doing everything wrong. The saying "You think you are always right." is commonly said, but it is more true than not. Everyone thinks they are right. No one thinks what they are doing is wrong. (please excuse the superlatives). So how does anyone know if they are truly right? This is where divine guidance comes in. Yes, everything goes back to religion (at least in this column) because religion is our foundation of existence. Religion has been the source of our moral foundations and what propelled societies forward for thousands of years. Yes, there have been numerous religions and they can sometimes do things contrary to their teachings, but that does not change the fact that "religion", meaning a spiritual connection to a higher authority, is not needed. So as we all look around us today, everyone thinks they are doing the right thing, but things are more confused and in a constant state of change than ever before. We have social taboos breaking every day. Some of these changes are good, others are not. How do we decide? No matter what subject you choose, you will get completely different responses, fervent responses, even violent responses. People have varying opinions of how each of us should live our daily lives. It is not enough to "live and let live, because eventually the desires of one group of people will infringe upon another. Everyone says they want peace, but peace has never existed. So how do each of us derive our correct assessment of the world and ourselves? Again, it is incumbent that we begin with scripture. Without it, we are wandering in the dark, bumping our heads over and over, and trying to re-create the wheel, when in essence, the truth is right in front of our eyes. So if the truth is in scriptures, then why so many divisions? People rarely look beyond the surface. People rarely delve into texts and contexts of the writings. We prefer to just be followers and accept without exerting any effort. Sad, but true. People choose to be led. It is much easier this way. One does not have to think. One does not have to take a stand. It is so much easier to just follow the herd. The herd can lead us to our demise. No, the herd WILL lead us to our demise. Modern society has chosen to separate church from state and create a secular world, whereby your religion is your personal decision, and whatever you choose is your choice. Aside from basically reducing all religions to mere meaningless ideas and flowery words. It

has created a moral vaccuum, where God-consciousness is ignored and God-lessness is preferred. At first glance, removing religion sounds like an excellent solution to a history of religious wars, oppression and thievery. However, even in our current state of secularism, have we reduced wars? Have we reduced oppression? Have we reduced thievery? I would vote, no. So what have we achieved? We have created a godless society where the morals that once kept people in tune with a higher authority have been replaced with unbridled personal indulgence. These pursuits of indulgence have opened up financial markets to record profits, as people buy, buy, and buy. If they cannot afford it, they borrow to buy more and more. This increases debt, stress, anxiety and turns a free man into a slave of his possessions. Contentment, patience, endurance, fortitude, resolve and character have all been sacrificed for "feelings" of temporal pleasures and worldly toys. This sacrifice is destroying us as individuals, as a society, as a nation and as a world community. Our family structures have decayed. Where once there was stability in terms of family, there is now temporal relationships that not only having detrimental affects on the adults, but the children, neighborhoods, crime and employment. Not only the immediate generations suffer, but also future generations. Instead of people thinking that we have a divine origin, we think we are no more than smart apes. Instead of accepting accountability and that we must return to our Lord, we dismiss God and any eternal reckoning and choose to live this life to its fullest. Years ago, this was considered a hedonistic philosophy to life. We have such sordid lifestyles around us that the term 'decadent' has lost all meaning. So in our quest separate church from state, we have created an abyss where religion, any religion, is scoffed at, ridiculed, and reduced to mere superstition. We allow 'secular scholars' to dictate new morals and ideas of life, family and society. Is this not what the scriptures predicted would be the exact position of latter-day mankind? A time where God was removed and personal pleasure was put in His place? Have we not evolved into what we were warned against? To correct this cultural tsunami will indeed take divine intervention. This much the three Abrahamic religions agree upon. The question now becomes who, what, when, where and how? Though we may celebrate certain changes that have taken place over the last 100 or 50 or 25 or even ten years, if we do not monitor these changes according to scripture, these changes may be more harm than good. As the saying goes, be careful what you pray for, you just may get it.