The Standard

I just got done watching "The Great Debaters" starring Denzel Washington last night. Excellent movie. Stirring and inspirational. I loved that these young men and women stood up for what they believed was right during a time when in regards to civil rights in the South, justice was seldom carried out. My husband (who watched it with me) and I discussed the story after watching the movie. The thing that struck me the most was how the story set up its standard: Denzel Washington had the debaters chant a refrain which established the bottom line of truth for the rest of the movie. This mantra became the debaters standard of truth, the measure by which they argued all of their positions.



I got to thinking: everybody has such a standard. Everyone has a standard by which they evaluate the world and form their own opinions. For many, the standard is what their family and friends think. For others, it is a religious structure, such as church doctine, the Bible, or the Koran. And still for many others, especially in our culture in America, the standard by which people base their opinions and therefore their actions is pragmatism. Pragmatism is the notion or idea that what works best in a situation is the best determining factor for that situation. For example, I believe that a certain belief or behavior works for me, such as recycling. If I believe that recycling works for me and the future of my children, then I am more apt to recycle. If I do not believe it will work for me for whatever reason, I may choose not to recycle, but it will be MY choice, based upon what I think works for me. If I do not have time or patience to separate my garbage, it does not work for me. If I am idealistically passionate about the environment and what happens to it (I DO believe in recycling, by the way, if anything for good stewardship of the earth which God has given us to take care of), then I will be sure to recycle. Recycling works for me. Regardless of whether they make a law in the future to recycle or not, I will most likely continue my behavior based upon what works for me. This would be fine if the issue was as benign as whether or not to make good use of your garbage! Most other issues in our culture have to do with whether or not justice is carried out and also whether or not we defend those who are defenseless (two issues that were very important to God, in Israel's history, by the way).



What works for me is very popular in America. Problem with that is, it causes everyone to have different standards by which to measure right and wrong by, because what works for one person does not necessarily work for another. The foundation for pragmatism, by the way, is either hedonism (indulging in one's own pleasures), or humanism (the belief that humans are good and doing what is best for the human race as a whole, emphasis is on evolution and intellectualism) These two building blocks for pragmatism determine the motives for what works in any particular situation.



There is an interesting account in the Bible that chronicles the what works for me ideology in Israel's history. In Judges 21:25, it says, "In those days, there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes." There was no reigning authority. No final word. The people had abandoned Torah, the Law, so each person did what they thought was right in their own opinion. They did not believe in absolute truths. They did not believe in the plumbline of God and His word. Then there came a succession of judges to make decisions for the Israleites by which if they repented and returned to the word of the Lord (in that day it would have been either a prophecy, the Torah, or one of the writings), God blessed the land. But if they did what was right in their own eyes, forsaking the Lord's ways, the Lord would not bless them, they were given over to their enemies, and were led away into idolatry upon which God brought extreme judgement. (You remember the prophecies of being conquered by enemies, starved, even parents doing the unthinkable: eating members of their own household! No one likes to talk about those parts of the Bible. But I digress...) The point is that a culture can only use pragmatism as its standard for so long. Whether or not they believe they are accountable to a Higher being...they are.



I am more concerned with how Americans live their lives on Novemer 5th, than about how people vote in this election. I am more concerned with the prayers that are prayed over the next four years (or the lack of prayer) and how Americans, especially those who are Christians, live their lives. But most importantly, I am more concerned about the people in our society are sliding away from the standard that has been foundational in our country's past: the Judeo-Christian standard which has governed our laws, courts, as well as our personal lives, prior to this secular age of the rule of pragmatism.



The standard by which the debaters in the movie last night was not even the Bible. Although they mentioned God in their mantra, it was very nebulus as to what god and which truth was governing the basis for their arguments. But one thing is for sure if there is to be any honest debate in our culture and that is this: we have to be able to find some sort of common ground upon which to base our decisions upon. To evade the responsibility by acting pragmatically is both cowardly and unwise. The future of our generations, yea, even the very survival of our culture as we know it depends upon it.

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