Is America in Trouble?

[Suzanne Sutton]

Is America In Trouble?

Here are excerpts from an article in Time, March 22, 2010:

In the past decade, nearly every pillar institution in American society--whether it's General Motors, Congress, Wall Street, Major League Baseball, the Catholic Church or the mainstream media--has revealed itself to be corrupt, incompetent or both. And at the root of these failures are the people who run these institutions, the bright and industrious minds who occupy the commanding heights of our meritocratic order. In exchange for their power, status and remuneration, they are supposed to make sure everything operates smoothly. But after a cascade of scandals and catastrophes, that implicit social contract lies in ruins, replaced by mass skepticism, contempt and disillusionment.

Scholarly research shows a firm correlation between strong institutions, accountable elites and highly functional economies; mistrust and corruption, meanwhile, feed each other in a vicious circle. If our current crisis continues, we risk a long, ugly process of de-development: higher levels of corruption and tax evasion and an incresingly fractured public sphere, in which both public consensus and reform become all but impossible.

Public trust in most of our major institutions--banks, newspapers, Congress, big business, seems to be at an all-time low. Particularly distrusted are the superman CEOs of yore. Public relations guru Richaard Edelman notes that "Chief-executive trust has just been mired in the mid-to-low 20s. It started off with Enron and culminates in Citi." Indeed, figures show that the crisis of authority extends beyond narrow ideological categories: Big Business and unions, Congress and Wall Street, organized religion and science are all viewed with skepticism.

While no single-cause theory can explain such a wide array of institutional failures, there are some themes--in particular, the concentration of power and the erosion of transparency and accountability--that extend throughout.

One authority has procured over 3 million pages of records about the Catholic church's sex-abuse scandal. He found that the main institutional characteristic that produced the crisis were the Church's obsessive secrecy and its hierarchical nature. Those at the top of the pyramid, the bishops, were exempt from any corrective accountability from below. This dynamic isn't unique. "There are various ways in which the Church is a peculiar instituition. Indeed it is simply an institution in which the rules of power apply and the effects of secrecy apply...people doing unexamined things do bad things."

Let's look at CEO pay. In 1978, according to the Economic Policy Institute, the ratio of average CEO pay to average wage was about 35 to 1. By 2007 it was 275 to 1. Nell Minow, a lawyer and corporate-government expert, has for decades waged a one-woman crusade against excessive CEO pay. She has watched as CEOs have found ways to manipulate the levers of governance and devise ingenious methods of guaranteeing themselves windfalls regardless of their company's performance. It's like going to a racetrack and betting on all the horses, except you're using someone else's money," Minow says. "You know one of them is going to win. As long as you're not paying for the tickets, you're going to come out ahead." .... --article by Christopher Hayes, editor of the Nation.

Comment: Hayes also expresses concerns about climate change, the Federal Reserve, etc. He feels heartened by certain counter-trends to the past decade of elite failure--the tremendous outpouring of grass-roots activism across the political spectrum and the remarkable surge in institutional innovation, much of it facilitated by the Internet....

Not mentioned, is the role Christians will play in the last-day events that seem to be commencing. Indeed, a Christian-world view seems to be the only bright spot in viewing the present situation. We know that God is in control and we need not fear for the future as long as we trust in Him.

Suzanne

[phkrause]

Yes the love of Money is going to bring this country down, down and farther down. Good post Suzanne.

pk

[LifeHiscost]

Not mentioned, is the role Christians will play in the last-day events that seem to be commencing. Indeed, a Christian-world view seems to be the only bright spot in viewing the present situation. We know that God is in control and we need not fear for the future as long as we trust in Him.

Suzanne

OTOH, maybe there is reason to worry, or at least to be concerned.

" Were those who serve God removed from the earth, and His Spirit withdrawn from among men, this earth would be left to desolation and destruction. Though the wicked know it not, they owe even the blessings of this life to the presence in this world of God's people, whom they despise and oppress. . . . Following the instruction of Christ brings the sanctification of the Holy Spirit, and this enables men and women to reveal . . . the fragrance and the saving grace of the truth. . . . HP 311.4

Those who study the Word of God and day by day receive instruction from Christ bear the stamp of heaven's principles. A high, holy influence goes forth from them. A helpful atmosphere surrounds their souls. The pure, holy, elevated principles that they follow enable them to bear a living testimony to the power of divine grace. HP 311.5

Glory!!

[karl]

Is America In Trouble?

In the past decade, nearly every pillar institution in American society--whether it's General Motors, Congress, Wall Street, Major League Baseball, the Catholic Church or the mainstream media--has revealed itself to be corrupt, incompetent or both.

Not mentioned, is the role Christians will play in the last-day events that seem to be commencing. Indeed, a Christian-world view seems to be the only bright spot in viewing the present situation. We know that God is in control and we need not fear for the future as long as we trust in Him.

Good call, Suzanne.

We reap what we sow. We have sowed immorality in our educational system and in our entertainment for a long time now.

Someone gave our ten-year-old daughter some "I Love Lucy" DVD's." I remembered the show from my childhood and thought they were relatively harmless. But after watching a few of them with my daughter, I came to the realization that in EVERY episode, Lucy was running some kind of con on someone. They went in the trash. Don't feed what you don't want to grow stronger.

[olger]

I agree.

[Bravus]

Seems like everyone agrees America is in trouble: they just disagree about what kind of trouble.

[GreatLakesGramma]

Someone gave our ten-year-old daughter some "I Love Lucy" DVD's." I remembered the show from my childhood and thought they were relatively harmless. But after watching a few of them with my daughter, I came to the realization that in EVERY episode, Lucy was running some kind of con on someone. They went in the trash. Don't feed what you don't want to grow stronger.

I agree. Husband & I used to like Red Skelton when we were kids. Before we got married, we went to one of his live performances. So, a few years ago, I bought husband a set of 4 Red Skelton DVDs containing 18 episodes of his early shows. I didn't find much to laugh at in those shows, as I no longer find making light of sin and selfishness funny.

[Neil D]

Some time I wonder ......

I wonder who is running whom....? Whatever happened to understanding SELF, rather than the over emphasis of SELF CONTROL....People who love the "doom and gloom" stuff will never find anything that will cause enjoyment. If the world is going to hell in a handbasket, then I wonder how one can find happiness or enjoyment in heaven....What is sin such that it robs one of a God given life?

[phkrause]

Some time I wonder ......

I wonder who is running whom....? Whatever happened to understanding SELF, rather than the over emphasis of SELF CONTROL....People who love the "doom and gloom" stuff will never find anything that will cause enjoyment. If the world is going to hell in a handbasket, then I wonder how one can find happiness or enjoyment in heaven....What is sin such that it robs one of a God given life?

Neil, I'm not sure what you are trying to say? Are you saying that if people decide that things that they don't want there children watching, will cause them not to have enjoyment? I believe that many things that we did enjoy when we were younger are things that we can see now for what it really is, garbage! That to me doesn't mean that we are not enjoying live! I can remembering watching Laugh In, and a few others like that and thought they were very funny, laughing my head of. Now when I watch these shows as repeats I barely laugh. There not funny. I have to agree with GLG and Karl. Our children will have to make there own decisions as to what they want to watch. But we need to decide as to what we think is something worthwhile for them when they really can't make that decision for themselves at very young age. And I'd add all the Walt Disney movies to what I used to watch but when I watch them now I see all the spiritualism in them today, and again as our children grow older it will be there decision as to what they watch. But there is much more to life than the TV to have enjoyment.

pk

[GreatLakesGramma]

A God-given life does not include laughing at evil. I find much more enjoyment in life than I ever did when I enjoyed the world's idea of "fun." And it all brings real joy that lasts, not momentary hilarity or excitement that leaves emptiness and depression when it wears off. That is what my life used to be, and I much prefer the life I now live.

I'd rather go for a walk with my granddaughters and pick wildflowers for them to take back to their mommy, play with toy dishes and food, stuffed animals, or hand puppets, or read them a story (or have the older one read me one) than watch TV with them. And funny thing, they never ask to watch TV instead either.

[Neil D]

I see, PK , a lot of people who say that old jokes are not any good....things that we use to think were really funny, now aren't...It's sad that we have "grown" to the point that these things are not even amusing....What are we doings to ourselves?

Have we become so sophisticated that we resent the way that we have grown up? Do things now seem so sinfill activities that we abhort them? Do we inject the "true" meaning behind old movies that we never understood but found , at least way back then, fun to watch? Have we, like the pharasees of old, made so many "rules" for ourselves that nothing that "the world" gives is good?

Will we find, after 100,000 years of being in heaven, that there are some things that are ..."not as good" as they used to be???

Just some musings for you to ponder over......

[phkrause]

I see, PK , a lot of people who say that old jokes are not any good....things that we use to think were really funny, now aren't...It's sad that we have "grown" to the point that these things are not even amusing....What are we doings to ourselves?

Have we become so sophisticated that we resent the way that we have grown up? Do things now seem so sinfill activities that we abhort them? Do we inject the "true" meaning behind old movies that we never understood but found , at least way back then, fun to watch? Have we, like the pharasees of old, made so many "rules" for ourselves that nothing that "the world" gives is good?

Will we find, after 100,000 years of being in heaven, that there are some things that are ..."not as good" as they used to be???

Just some musings for you to ponder over......

Neil all I'm saying, not speaking for anyone else, that as I've grown closer to the Lord things have changed as to what is funny, good, etc. like that statement in the Bible. Philippians 4:8 "Finally, brenthern, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." Now I am not prefect by no means, I still watch and enjoy garbage.

pk

[GreatLakesGramma]

Neil, it isn't a matter of deciding that things we once enjoyed are now bad, so therefore we must now reject them. God changes us from the inside, and along with everything else, we enjoy different things than we did before we were converted. We begin seeing things as God sees them, and realize the emptiness and degradation that comes with worldly amusements. But we find so much more joy than we ever knew before, in the far better pleasures that God gives us.

Jesus said that we must be born again, or we will never see the kingdom of heaven. God promised to give us a new heart, which is what being born again is all about. When John wrote, "Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him" (1Jn 2:15), he was not telling us to be Pharisaical and legalistic, but to allow God to make that change in our hearts.

I pray daily that God will give me a new heart and that I will love what He loves and hate what He hates, and love others as He loves them. I am not there yet, not even close, but I consider the fact that I no longer find humor in evil to be part of the answer to that prayer.

[GreatLakesGramma]

I want to add that my kids never felt the least bit deprived by growing up without TV or movies. They found all kinds of fun and interesting things to do, that were a lot healthier for their brains and bodies. They loved going to the hands on science museum, and to the library afterward. We had a museum membership, so we went every month. We went to the zoo a lot too, usually on Sabbaths.

My kids have lots of happy memories of their childhood. I have lots of happy memories of mine too, but none of them involve TV or movies, or comedy. They are memories of playing in the barn and fields, riding bikes, digging elaborate series of tunnels in the snow, even making mud pies with our cousins and eating them.

I have some bad ones too, like the time we watched a horror movie on TV called "The Blob," while our parents were preoccupied with their guests in another room, and being so terrified for days afterward that I got sick.

I feel very sorry for everyone who thinks that you can't have any fun in life without TV, movies, amusement parks, alcohol, tobacco, and all the other worldly amusements and vices. They are the ones who would find Heaven boring.

[LifeHiscost]

I agree. Husband & I used to like Red Skelton when we were kids. Before we got married, we went to one of his live performances. So, a few years ago, I bought husband a set of 4 Red Skelton DVDs containing 18 episodes of his early shows. I didn't find much to laugh at in those shows, as I no longer find making light of sin and selfishness funny.

I had the same experience with two other comedians. In both TV

appearances together as well as movies. I don't think their brillance in comedic episodes is in question. Only that my personal taste in what my mind found soul satisfying had changed.

[LifeHiscost]

And funny thing, they never ask to watch TV instead either.

The comment speaks for itself.

I am not of the opinion that any media source is inherently evil. If that were the case I wouldn't be on this venue writing posts.

OTOH, positively evil thoughts have been expressed, even on C/A.

I agree with Neil to some extent, there needs to be a sense of appropriateness to which we apply ourselves. If we are self absorbed in anything it seems to have major drawbacks. Even self-absorbtion in bible study is detrimental to the one so occupied.

It seems to me a promise might be seen for the one who can ask Jesus to work this out in their lives.

"I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.

They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world."John 17:15 NASB

"Righteousness exalts a nation,But sin is a disgrace to any people." Proverbs 14:34 NASB

JOY!!

[LifeHiscost]

Neil all I'm saying, not speaking for anyone else, that as I've grown closer to the Lord things have changed as to what is funny, good, etc. like that statement in the Bible. Philippians 4:8 "Finally, brenthern, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."

Now I am not prefect by no means, I still watch and enjoy garbage.

pk

As to the first paragraph,

"And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." Romans 12:2 NKJV

As to the second, at least so I've heard, "Garbage in! Garbage out!

[LifeHiscost]

I am not there yet, not even close, but I consider the fact that I no longer find humor in evil to be part of the answer to that prayer.

[Kountzer]

Bible students, and SOP followers have been saying that America, and the whole world are in trouble for at least 100 years. America is the two horned beast, the 2nd beast of Revelation 13. This beast is going to wreck all sorts of havoc in the world to force everyone to worship the first beast. For all that to happen some sort of turmoil has to be happening in the background. it all fits to me.

DB

[abelisle]

"And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." Romans 12:2 NKJV

Theologians refer to this "renewing of the mind" as the metanoic experience. It derives from Gk. meta - change and nous - mind. It also is translated as "conversion."

My point is that something drastic happens to people who have had their minds renewed. True conversion is true transformation. I don't think we completely understand it. Even the angels seek glimpses of understanding into the workings of "the plan of salvation."

Neil's inquiry I think reflects the existential angst that some Christians have with the world they live in. It's not so much unhappiness, despair , frustration or disappointment but rather an ontological disquietude that confronts us as we come closer to the ineffable Holiness of God.

Rudolph Otto speaks about this aspect in his book The Idea of the Holy - the "awefulness' of God when dealing with the Latin concept of the "mysterium tremendum" being experienced as comprising three elements: awfulness (inspiring awe, a sort of profound unease), overpoweringness (that which, among other things, inspires a feeling of humility), energy (creating an impression of immense vigour).

So, coming back to earth, when we come closer to sin, we also come more aware of our own sinful plight and everything pales in its presence. I don't think it's akin to getting bored with life as it is a profound sense of the ontological in the face of holiness.

To this day I wish I had signed up for a class in the metanoic experience that was offered at Fordham University when I did my NEH Fellowship in Medieval Scholastic Philosophy. Maybe we can set up a thread that examines what this experience is like both anecdotally and theoretically?

Exactly what happens when we have a "renewing of the mind?"

William James also touched on this in his classic The Varieties of Religious Experience where one of his points is that sometimes when this happens to individuals, it is marked by enthusiasm or solemnity. I think what has been expressed in this thread is marked attitudes of solemnity.

Alex (the more I reflect on this, the more I realize I know little)

[LifeHiscost]

Alex (the more I reflect on this, the more I realize I know little)

Being somewhat of a simple person myself, and very short on patience when long dissertations are necessary to explain Jesus' plans for the world in general, and me in particular, I prefer the "sound bytes" someone else referred to, when coming to a conclusion in reference to the Divine will.

Therefor I read the Scripture until I come to something I think I can clearly understand, cogitate on it till I can say, "I can do that, with the Lords' help.", then press on till something else from the Word especially draws my attention.

It enables me to see who God wishes me to help before the plethora of recent information progresses to the point of man blowing himself up, something I think the world is in danger of causing to happen if the Lord were willing to step aside and let things happen according to man's shortsighted efforts.

"But as for you, Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the book until the end of time; many will go back and forth, and knowledge will increase." Daniel 12:4 NASB

"Then the master said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled." Luke 14:23 NKJV

Blessings!

[chuks]

I think am not from america but i watch and read it all, The Americans are great and it is from their being great they shall raise to claim to rule the world and corruption shall filled their minds and they shall be lovers of money and self....please lets be watchful so we don't fall

[Neil D]

Dear Chukwuanu

If your statement were a prophecy, then we are already there...

If your statement is a warning, the issue of "self" and how we become that way is important...

I know many people, some rich ...many poor... and many more somewhere's in between, and NONE of them are worried about "self"....More of them are "fighting the good fight of faith", and are fighting their fears ....And that is where our battle is...between faith and fear...

It is our fears that drive us. That statement can be applied to non-SDA and SDA alike...And that will be the downfall of both... For the SDA, there battle is to concentrate on where God leads, and not be fearful and to just love everyone they meet...

...perfect love casts out fear....It was fear that got us into this trouble, it will be faith that brings us out...

[John317]

Quote:

Suzanne Sutton: Not mentioned, is the role Christians will play in the last-day events that seem to be commencing. Indeed, a Christian-world view seems to be the only bright spot in viewing the present situation. We know that God is in control and we need not fear for the future as long as we trust in Him.

This is for sure. Thanks for the post and the reminder.

[Suzanne Sutton]

We are not to be discouraged as we see what's occurring in the world and in our country, for we know that God is in control. Yes, as we see the unrest among the nations, as well as the turmoil within our nation, we know Who is in charge. We must also understand that troublous times are ahead, yes, even now are upon us:

"This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away." --2 Timothy 3:1-5.

"Upon the banks of the river Chebar, Ezekiel beheld a whirlwind seeming to come from the north, 'a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the color of amber.' A number of wheels, intersecting one another, were moved by four living beings. High above all these 'was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it.' 'And there appeared in the cherubims the form of a man's hand under their wings.' Ezeliel 1:4, 26; 10:8. The wheels were so complicated in arrangement that at first sight they appeared to be in confusion; but they moved in perfect harmony. Heavenly beings, sustained and guided by the hand beneath the wings of the cherubim, were impelling these wheels; about them upon the sapphire throne, was the Eternal One; and round about the throne a rainbow, the emblem of divine mercy.

"As the wheellike complications were under the guidance of the hand beneath the wings of the cherubim, so the complicated play of human events is under divine control. Amidst the strife and tumult of nations, He that sitteth above the cherubim still guides the affairs of the earth.

"The history of nations that one after another have occupied their allotted time and place, unconsciously witnessing to the truth of which they themselves knew not the meaning, speaks to us. To every nation and to every individual of today God has assigned a place in His great plan. Today men and nations are being measured by the plummet in the hand of Him who makes no mistake. All are by their own choice deciding their destiny, and God is overruling all for the accomplishment of His purposes.

"....Today the signs of the times declare that we are standing on the threshold of great and solemn events. Everything in our world is in agitation....

"The present is a time of overwhelming interest to all living. Rulers and statesmen, men who occupy positions of trust and authority, thinking men and women of all classes, have their attention fixed upon the events taking place about us. They are watching the strained, restless relations that exist among the nations. They observe the intensity that is taking possession of every earthly element, and they recognize that something great and decisive is about to take place--that the world is on the verge of a stupendous crisis." --Ellen White, Education, pp. 177-179.

Comment: Isn't it time we dust our Spirit of Prophecy books off and read and study the relevant messages within these marvelous books.

Suzanne