Dystopia or Utopia

Dystopia or Utopia

I recently read an article on News Break claiming that we are living in dystopia because of the overturning of Roe-v-Wade, discrimination of LGBTQ and a Constitution that holds that all people are created equal. As I read this, I thought I had fallen down a rabbit hole where down is up and up is down! Maybe the author isn’t very well read across the spectrum of historical, philosophical or religious thought. Perhaps there is not a solid foundation of liberal arts education. I don’t know, I’m just trying to make excuses for this type of thinking.

Since the earliest days of Greek philosophy mankind has been guided by the natural law. Most religious beliefs are also founded on the natural law. In the past fifty years the younger generation has subscribed to a relativist point of view on many issues, believing that there is no objective truth or reality. Their truth is whatever they find convenient and easy. To me that is the real dystopia.

Disagreement on essential truths such as the value of life from conception to natural death is now a matter of personal convenience. Some will march, protest and harangue to protect animal lives and habitat but it is quite acceptable to abort a human embryo. There are penalties  against destroying sea turtle eggs on the beach but no penalty for destroying human eggs. An egg is an egg. Life is life. There is faulty logic here. Furthermore, science has confirmed that human life begins at conception and yet some deny the science because it isn’t convenient. Down is up and up is down! It goes without saying that abortion at any stage is a violation of the fifth commandment as is euthanasia, or assisted suicide. It is playing God to decide who lives and who dies.

Since the dawn of creation there have been beasts, birds, fish and humans in two forms; male and female. Granted anomalies occur in nature but all of a sudden biological science is denied and there are more than two classifications of gender. That is not the same as homosexuality per se. There have always been those who prefer one gender over another, but the norm (ie. normal) has ever been male and female. Deciding for oneself what gender you are, irregardless of how you were born, is pure hubris, pride of the worst sort. The first commandment states, “I am the Lord your God.” That means I am not God. Claiming a gender other than the one you were born with (given to you by God) is playing God. We know what happened to Lucifer when he he tried to play God and set his own rules.

When a people or a nation begin to usurp God’s role they play with fire, literally. Such people are ignorant of history or interpret it to fit their own ill formed beliefs. Playing God is a hubris that will not be ignored nor go unpunished . Unfortunately, so many innocents will be punished along with the guilty.

The third argument in the dystopia article was taking exception to the truths upon which our nation was founded and a self centered narrow minded interpretation of its contents. Words need to be taken in context of the historical period in which they were written and the socio-political constructs of the era.  

Our forefathers were addressing the social and economica inequities forced upon the colonies by a distant monarch who knew little of colonial realities. The colonists were not given equal treatment as British citizens under British rule. They, therefore, felt that they should have rights equal to Englishmen living in England be3cause they were also British citizens. Laws and taxes being unjustly imposed they rebelled. Since the King would not listen to their pleas through their representatives they took matters into their own hands.

 Life in the USA is reaching that tipping point when the rich get richer and others do not have opportunity to thrive. Corporate greed is creating a system in which it is more beneficial to remain on welfare than to get a job. Jobs do not pay a living wage! It isn’t the Constitution that is at fault it is an economy that is out of balance. The erosion of confidence in our Constitution and government is perhaps because our schools have failed to teach what is in those documents and gratitude for the countless lives given to preserve and protect it. The culture of materialism is slowly giving way to socialism which disallows individual rights and freedoms that are defined in the Constitution. Yes we are entering or already live in a dystopia. There is injustice and a popular move toward a one world government  called communism under which there are few if any rights. There are some among us who still have strong and painful memories of living under communist rule. But who listens to those old folks. But their stories are full of warning. Too many today, only listen to their own voice or the loudest voice, not the voice of truth or experience.

Utopia, though unrealistic when taken to an extreme, is viewed as living in a “good place”. A place of freedom and respect for all peoples and a respect for law and order. A world that takes its cues from the natural law and the divine law.  There are those around us that believe that we are living on the brink of an apocalypse. For decades God has been sending signs and warnings just as he did in Biblical times. He said that when you see fire, floods, earthquakes, tornadoes and hurricanes in disproportionate numbers throughout the world, know that these upheavals will create a cleansing of the earth, especially of its evils.

The prophet Micah (ch. 6) put it simply telling us to act justly, do good, love mercy and walk humbly with God. Do this and find your utopia.