Tags
America, biology, civilization, culture, human behavior, politics, values
The idea that we all have sinful natures never goes over very well in any setting, but an even less popular truth is the biological reality of who and what we are as a species. We are rather appalling creatures, capable of horrendous evil, evil being a concept we can’t even comprehend without some recognition of our higher selves to measure it against.
Outside the context of civilization, learned values, and mutually agreed upon standards of behavior, people are absolutely horrendous. Given the proper conditions, it is just surreal what horrors we are capable of. Like most people who are fairly comfortable and safe, I have a hard time seeing it. I actually feel entitled to civilized behavior. Anything outside those parameters is a fluke, a rare injustice that will be met with lots of outrage. I expect to be sheltered from the full force and horror of people’s natural barbarism.
Civilization is a really thin veneer, it’s a mutually agreed upon delusion. It’s something most of us are so conditioned to expect, that the truth of ourselves absent those values is all but forgotten.
People are bullies to say the least. We are ostrasizing, vicious, territorial, and violent. We prey on the weak, we exploit the vulnerable, and we kill with impunity. We are in a constant state of seeking dominance over others, of acquiring goods, territories, and control. We actually entertain ourselves by watching others commit atrocious acts of violence, the more suffering and misery the better. That is our favorite form of recreation. Remember the Roman Coliseum? That is us, finding our amusement in ripping people limb from limb.
We are not that different today, we seek movies filled with sex and violence for entertainment, often from the perspective of conquest and victory over others. If we can actually combine our sex and violence, all the better. Our TV’s are full of Sex Crime Investigations and Special Victims Units, and serial killers and psychos and assorted atrocities. Sometimes justice is a theme, but only in terms of trying to add some legitimacy and excuse to the fact that we have just spent two hours gleefully entertaining ourselves with sexually draped female corpses and the aftermath of some guy’s violence.
Women can be absolutely appalling too. There are numerous cases of female teachers preying on their students, of conspiring to off their sexual rivals, of murdering the born and unborn. Often women are a bit more passive aggressive, a bit more devious, but we’re right up there in the capacity for evil department. Some of the greatest horrors inflicted on women, are supported, encouraged and advocated by other women. Look at Chinese foot binding and Female Genital Mutilation. Those are/were physical mutilations perpetrated upon women and enforced by other women. The matriarchy is not a kind world either.
It’s difficult for many of us to wrap our brains around, we assume that there are some natural instincts that kick in, some evolutionary traits that pop up, so people will at least make decisions based on survival value alone. Those are surprisingly limited and incredibly fluid. People will protect their young…unless those young threaten their throne, their power, in which case, we casually snuff them without a second thought. Read British royal history. Men will also protect women, as long as they believe they are reaping some benefit. The moment you lose favor, off with her head.
Sometimes when I watch survival shows like the Walking Dead or Naked and Alone or Doomsday Preppers, I just want to laugh. Let’s simply organize ourselves into a mutually agreed upon goal and sacrificially risk our lives for the common good. Everyone will be on the same page here, we’ll all work together, all having an equal voice, and nobody will ever descend into complete hysteria, panic, or mindless slaughter. In truth however, we cannot even organize a proper PTA meeting within civilized society. We cannot even hold a white sale at Wal-Mart without somebody getting killed. Our base instincts rise to the surface rather quickly in the real world.
People never like to hear this, but the rules of Western civilization have been laid down and founded on Christian values. It is Christian values that give us our standards of behavior, that promote the idea that might does not make right, that we should work to protect and serve the weak and vulnerable rather than snuffing them out. That does not mean there are not lovely Buddhists in the world and Hindus and non believers and native tribes all over the world with valuable traditions and beautiful ideas to share. That does not mean that Western civilization is not deeply flawed and full of atrocities and abominations. It simply is what it is. The behaviors and codes of conduct that we in so called civilized society enjoy and take for granted, have been built upon religious values, tradition, and history.
World history is full of examples of feudal lordships, of communist dictators, of socialism gone awry. We have endless examples of warlords, monarchies, and violent tribalism, with few if any protections for the weak and vulnerable among us. Western civilization did not just spring forth out of nothingness, it is built upon the history and experiences of those who came before us and it incorporates a clear understanding of the nature of human behavior.
Someone accused me of not caring about non believers yesterday and yet I am keenly aware that it is the safety and freedom of Western values and democratic principles that allow for non believers to non believe, relatively safe from persecution and violence. We live in a country where people will actually risk their very lives, just to attain what the poorest among us have. There is incredible goodness to be found here. Those are the values I would like us to recognize, value, stand up for, speak in favor of. These things we tend to take for granted are worth fighting for. They are ideals, visions we have for ourselves and others. Somebody said I had no right to promote such malicious and oppressive values. Yes I do, because there is nothing malicious and oppressive in supporting ideals that advocate that you should be able to live in land of more opportunity and economic freedom than any other, a land where you can believe as you see fit, a land where we have seldom had to experience war on our soil, a place where you are free to non believe to your heart’s content and still keep your head.
It’s rather appalling to me that we have people walking around who cannot see this, who believe people are just innately good and civilized, that the protections and opportunities we all enjoy within modern civilization are just the result of natural human goodness and therefore available within any other system or context we choose to reside within.
What makes that especially scary to me is that if enough people continue to fall for that deception, than we will get to learn all about the true nature of ourselves all over again, the hard way. Personally I was kind of hoping not to have to go there.
See, there's this thing called biology... 
Thank goodness there’s no bullies on WordPress! Very nice IB. We are pretty rotten..how cool God has made good on our rottenness.
LikeLiked by 1 person
LOL, oh yes, the internet, a bully free zone, indeed 😉
God really is good. He’s given us higher selves and the opportunity to grow in a relationship with him.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Amen!
LikeLike
Oh boy….. (you had to know I’d be chiming in on THIS one…) 🙂
It’s not that I’m personally not in agreement with certain “values” themselves, such as “freedom of speech” and freedom of religion, because obviously I am! It’s just when it comes to turning around and for whatever reason feeling like you have to marry those values to “Western Civilization”, or “our Land”…. This is where it gets to be quite a shaky thing to try and defend in a meaningful way, as I see it.
Didn’t the “founding fathers” themselves talk about these truths being “self-evident”, the human rights they were trying to describe owing their existence to a Creator himself, not the traditions or histories of men…?
Why do you feel this need to keep making statements like: “People never like to hear this, but the rules of Western civilization have been laid down and founded on Christian values”…???
you always try and footnote such comments with things like: “That does not mean that Western civilization is not deeply flawed and full of atrocities and abominations”, etc. So, what is the point then?
Is “Western” civilization really more “civilized” than the East, or wherever else? Is it less full of bloodshed? Of deception? Power-mongering? Elitism? Global imperial conquest!?
Where is the true, accurate “Selling point” to be gained by constantly trying to point to “Western civilization” as this bastion of goodness and equality, as some kind of unmoveable example of all the tangential benefits “Christianity” has had on society as a whole..?
It’s a poor argument, in the end, and really only serves to make Christianity look BAD, not good…. Because you can’t just pick and choose the parts you’d like to parade as great, and then brush away all the atrocious ones that don’t fit the narrative at all….
“civilization” is indeed a veneer for our truer, baser selves, but this is an observation that can be made about all sorts of nations/cultures/”civilizations around the globe, throughout history. The “West” is not the glowing apologetic we want to be continuously appealing to, it’s just not….
LikeLiked by 1 person
With all due respect, this reminds me of the incessant debate that springs up every time someone suggests Barack Obama did something bad (or good). The hue and cry comparing him to George Bush begins. Or the litany of charges comparing Bush to Hitler … or whoever!
It is the identical rhetoric I used to hear from my children when one of them deserved to be disciplined for an infraction – “Yeah, but what about this or that sibling’s misbehavior?! Shouldn’t he/she be punished?” To which my response had to be, we’re focusing on your infraction in the here and now and your sibling’s infractions are none of your business. (How do you know I didn’t already address that infraction with said sibling?)
The point of appreciating Western civilization isn’t to imply we’re spotless and without transgression. It is to say Western civilization has recognized and honored the dignity and value of human beings (though the unborn have yet to be included in that number). No matter who we’re talking about, mankind throughout history has a dismal record of treating his fellow man properly, but the West has an arguably better record, I think in large part due to the Judeo-Christian values on which our culture has its underpinnings. Everyone who is privileged to live in the West is the beneficiary of huge blessings therefrom!
We can beat ourselves up (in the West) for crimes of the past. Obama’s speech at the National Prayer Breakfast comes to mind where he invoked the Crusades, the Inquisition and Jim Crow to warn us against getting on “our high horse.” Crimes of the past (waaaaayyyy past)? If we choose to be passive because of historical horrors committed by our forefathers, the future guarantees we’ll be bulldozed by bad actors who have no compunction about annihilating us at their first opportunity.
LikeLiked by 1 person
“The point of appreciating Western civilization isn’t to imply we’re spotless and without transgression. It is to say Western civilization has recognized and honored the dignity and value of human beings (though the unborn have yet to be included in that number). No matter who we’re talking about, mankind throughout history has a dismal record of treating his fellow man properly, but the West has an arguably better record, I think in large part due to the Judeo-Christian values on which our culture has its underpinnings. Everyone who is privileged to live in the West is the beneficiary of huge blessings therefrom!”
Yes, I do believe I understand this to be the underlying presupposition. I am simply saying that I find it to be a false one….
Does the West really have an “arguably better record”…? I find that to be weakest point of the whole argument, to be honest!
It’s not about “beating ourselves up”, it’s just about being honest, and not putting ourselves up on this “city on hill” pedestal that we can’t seem to stop doing. Better track record? Are you suuuurre? Better for who? And when, and where? Because, the things is, if you’re going to make sweeping statements about things as massive as “WESTERN CIVILIZATIOOOON” (read that in a loud, echo-y voice…), then you really can’t turn around and go “So what about the “waaaaaay” past”…? I didn’t bring up the “waaaay past”, you did (well, IB did) by talking about “Western Civilization-tion-tion”…..
I mean, doesn’t “Western civilization basically encapsulate everything from the ancient Greeks, through the 800 years of the Roman Empire, to the “Holy” Roman Empire, to the Catholic Church, European powers, the age of Imperialism, and then finally America and the “Democratic West”…? That’s a lot of stuff! You’re gonna tell me that if we stand back and take a broad sweeping look at all of that, it stands as any kind of true reflection of what we read about in the New Testament….?
But ok, let’s forget the past. Let’s talk about right now. You already mentioned the millions of murdered babies going on every year. What about endless wars for fallacious reasons? What about the fact that we are still (though probably not for much longer) leaning on the petro-dollar to enjoy a much higher standard of living than the rest of the world…?
See, these are the kinds of things that I hear IB and many, many others say, which make these vague, quasi-romantic statements such as this one: “We live in a country where people will actually risk their very lives, just to attain what the poorest among us have”…
But why is that? Is it really because of some hard-working, “Judeo-Chrstian culture” which built for itself an economy that the world had never before seen? Or could have had something to do with historical realities (from “waaaay back”) such the fact that an entire, massive continent full of natural resources was suddenly and systematically seized upon and processed into all kinds of wealth, creating the economic foundation for what would then grow into mind-blowingly large military/industrial/corporate complex…? Could the fact that the U.S. used all kinds of methods to carry out quite blatant imperialist agendas in places like Panama, Cuba, the Philippines, Hawaii, etc…? (were those places/instances part of that so-called “better track record”..?)
No…. The bottom line is that sadly, here, in America, we are quite conditioned to look at the history of the “West”, and specifically our own country’s role in it, in an incredibly pick-and-choose kind of way. Heck, there are entire wars this country has fought that almost never receive a printed word in the text books. We are revisionists of our own history to an alarming degree, and this goes on to this very day, with even events that happened last week. We are blind to what we are, what we are doing, and how the rest of the world sees us…..
LikeLiked by 1 person
Where is the true, accurate “Selling point” to be gained by constantly trying to point to “Western civilization” as this bastion of goodness and equality, as some kind of unmoveable example of all the tangential benefits “Christianity” has had on society as a whole..?
Mostly it relates to our self preservation. Do we wish to continue to enjoy the benefits of living in the western world and the freedom to practice our faith? Personally I would prefer to not have to live in dire poverty at risk of having my head lopped off. Communism also does not appeal to me. I am actually rather fond of living in the western world.
“We are blind to what we are, what we are doing, and how the rest of the world sees us…..”
Yes, but we are also often blind to the good we do and the opportunities that we provide. Do you think the world would be a better place if the US did not exist? Some people really do believe that. I do not. We are not responsible for all the evil done in the world and as imperfect as we are, we are still a country that people die trying to get into.
LikeLiked by 1 person
“Mostly it relates to our self preservation”….
Ding ding ding!! There it is… I think you touched upon the core issue far better than my aimless blatherings. Of course we don’t “prefer” poverty! Of course we prefer freedom to worship, and believe, and speak, and live as we choose! Of course we do! Of course we don’t wish that we all suddenly woke up one morning and found ourselves in some communist gulag! We don’t want discomfort, we want comfort! We don’t despotism, we want to experience freedom! Or at least an acceptable degree of illusion thereof….
The question is not, “Are there certain segments of the population who have enjoyed a large measure of benefits from Western Civilization as a whole…?” Because the answer to that question is an obvious and resounding YES.
The real question is if you have been one of the people enjoying said “benefits”, or in fact experiencing quite the inverse….
After all, when we think about all those poor souls over the past century who have suffered under the tyranny of something like Communism, do we stop and remind ourselves that communism itself, both philosophically and in practical application, was a product of the “West” too…?
When we think about all those unfortunate folks languishing under the conditions of “under-developed” countries, and thank our lucky stars that we enjoy the comparative luxury of first world living, do we remind ourselves that so much of that legacy of poverty traces back to “social gospel” philosophies preached by Catholicism? (and Catholicism is a pretty “Western” institution, last time I checked, yeah…?)
Everything “blessing” has a price. Every luxury a cost. This is why we USE that term “blessing”, I believe, because it is a fairly effective means of salving our own consciences every time we say it. Convincing ourselves that the relative freedom, and wealth, and privilege we have enjoyed is all just a result of unquestionable divine favor, and not, in fact, the uncomfortable result of having essentially syphoned off so many of those “blessings” from the rest of the world, conveniently out of view from our middle-class, green-lawned vantage points….
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ok, the only thing I forgot to touch on, was the simple underlying point that Jesus never called us to such an ethic of “self-preservation”. That’s basically the philosophical assumption where I think we start to veer off course in all this. The apostles, the Early Church…. Did they seem concerned about fostering some “Christian-friendly culture” from which they could enjoy a more comfortable standard of living…? Did they EVER talk about the Gospel having some kind of “positive residual effect” on the broader society…? No…
Now, HAS there at many times, in many places, actually been some kind of “positive residual effect” from the fact that large numbers of people were actually abandoning their traditional pagan beliefs and putting their faith in the One True God instead? Of course. Just ask the members of a cannibalistic tribe in Equador or something who stops generations of feuding family warfare and death and instead turns to Jesus!
But… That “residue” may linger down through the following generations, and yes, it may largely be able to be seen filtering it’s way down through so much of the history of the “West” as well, but when we start clinging to that “cultural residue”, and thinking we have to fight for it, rather than the thing which caused it in the first place, i.e. true Faith in God, then we are putting the cart before the horse, and becoming very misled by our own internal fleshly desires which inevitably seek convenience and comfort when left to their own inclinations….
LikeLike
“Convincing ourselves that the relative freedom, and wealth, and privilege we have enjoyed is all just a result of unquestionable divine favor…”
I saw that on TV the other day, but that’s never been a part of my belief system.
“…the uncomfortable result of having essentially syphoned off so many of those “blessings” from the rest of the world, conveniently out of view from our middle-class, green-lawned vantage points….”
I’ve never had a privileged middle class vantage point.
Don’t be offended truth, but what you are suggesting are some very elitist and privileged ideas, kind of a sneering down at the very materialistic, hipster kind of values that some people practice. There is a whole other side to this, there are all the refugees and immigrants that have come her seeking freedom and opportunity. There are all the people on the bottom who have never exploited anybody, who have simply worked hard all their lives building this country.
“The apostles, the Early Church…. Did they seem concerned about fostering some “Christian-friendly culture” from which they could enjoy a more comfortable standard of living…? Did they EVER talk about the Gospel having some kind of “positive residual effect” on the broader society…? No…”
But I think they did! They were taking the good news to all the nations. Why? So the benefits could be available to all, so people could also enjoy the “positive residual effect on the broader society.” We as individuals are not separate from the world around us, from the communities we live in.
John 3:17, “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”
The whole world, truth, not just individuals.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Though perhaps it might seem like I’m neglecting the “othet side” (the immigrants and lower rungs of society etc.) I feel pretty confident that I’m not. Basically I think what I’m largely attempting to underscore is just the difference between genuine outflowings of “Kingdon Truth” into the culture at large, and outright Dominionist theology…
I suppose I must confess that one of my biggest frustrations with American churchianity is that so often it can’t seem to differentiate between the two hardly at all…
does that at least make sense? yes, Jesus died for all the world, but not so we could try and “redeem” the culture on some secondary level unconnected to the eternal salvation of individuals..
“What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and yet forfeit his soul…?”
LikeLiked by 1 person
Pingback: The Oft-Tarnished City on a Hill - Wise Blood
For TTSF, I figured I’d address your comments on my blog. It’s not thorough, I could spend hours writing a response but this pretty much sums up my thoughts on the matter.
http://wiseblooding.com/2015/02/19/the-oft-tarnished-city-on-a-hill/#more-6122
LikeLiked by 1 person
Cool, ill have to check it out tomorrow morning tho. (I’ve actually been considering writing a separate longer piece of my own as well, so we’ll see I guess.) Thx for writing more about this.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Truth: I stumbled across a book I expect would add some light to our discussion. I haven’t read it yet, but it looks like a gem. Perhaps even with a cohesive definition for WC? Find it at Amazon:
The Book that Made Your World, subtitled How the Bible Created the Soul of Western Civilization by Vishal Mangalwadi.
The book was mentioned here: http://godfatherpolitics.com/20588/the-collapse-of-south-africa-is-a-warning-to-america/#vE6dZ2WVcVf4bMyO.99
LikeLike
Hmmm, well if the book is anything like the examples given in that godfatherpolitics article, then yikes! I mean, really? Is the author seriously suggesting that the reason they can leave milk/money out and expect the customer to be honest and not steal, is because they believe God is watching them, even when no one else is…? (has that person BEEN to Amsterdam!?) I’d say it has WAY more to do with the simple function of being in certain areas that are affluent. I would bet anything that there are also OTHER areas of Holland, just like here in America, where they would never dare to leave cash laying out on a counter for someone to come up and swipe. The bottom line is that people who have a comfortable enough income aren’t going to be terribly tempted to swipe a little milk money. Desperately poor people, however, much more so. It’s the same thing here, when there are people living out in the rural areas who don’t even lock their doors, yet you go into the city, and stores won’t even have a public restroom because they don’t want stealing/drug use to go on in there.
But even worse… Is that really an attempt to defend the Apartheid government of South Africa, as being somehow part of “Christian West”, by arguing that it’s worse under the new government..???? Massive face-palm on that one…
LikeLike
Actually, I cannot speak knowledgeably about the author’s point of view other than to say he mentioned the book. (I hadn’t even taken a look at the author’s name until now; seeing it’s Gary DeMar gives me pause … but shouldn’t reflect on the book itself.) The book comes highly recommended by Ravi Zacharias and may well make a better case than DeMar’s sometimes wacky views.
On another point, I think the stereotype of rich/poor people may be skewed. I’ve known very, very poor people to epitomize huge integrity while witnessing wealthy people reflect a shameful lack of integrity. Sad but true.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I don’t think I was making a “stereotype” about poor people having less integrity than rich people (I just blogged about the “one percent” actually), but just acknowledging the reality that it poor neighborhoods, people are tempted by sums that the rich people aren’t. (the bankers are interested in stealing BILLIONS, they don’t care about milk money!!)
But I do like Ravi Z., (haven’t listened to him in a while tho), and it’s interesting to remember that in a lot of ways he is sort of a “champion” of the idea of the “Christian West”, now that I think about it. Although, I think perhaps it’s possible to say that maybe he’s looking at it terms of comparing the philosophies of Eastern vs. Western first, before thinking in terms of “civilization” as a whole, but maybe not.
In the end, I can’t help but be compelled to square off against the broader idea of any nationalistic “exceptionalism” as basically worldly garbage that Believers just need to repent of! I know that’s kinda blunt, but there it is… It’s not biblical, it’s a function of pride, and in my view, it only pollutes the Gospel over time, rather than magnifies it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Reblogged this on Socially Awkward Geek Girl Is Happy.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for the reblog, much appreciated.
LikeLike