Saint Augustine once famously said,
"You have made us for yourself O Lord, and our hearts are restless until
they rest in thee." In all actuality he said it in Latin, but his point
remains the same no matter what language it is spoken in. We will find our true
meaning only in God. God is our creator and He is constantly drawing us back to
Himself, no matter how far we wander astray.
Unfortunately it has become increasingly difficult to hear the voice of
God calling us back to himself. In
today's post Christian world, we have been presented with a pantheon of new,
secular gods that demand our attention, loyalty, and in some cases worship if
we are to fit in with society. Here are
the top six that I have met and am forced to wrestle with on a daily
basis. They are Money, Power, Science,
Sex, Sports, and humor. Now some of
these may come as no surprise at all, and others may be causing some head
scratching around the kitchen table. I want to go into each of the new gods in
some detail later, but for right now I want to do just a brief overview on why
I think these 6 qualify as our modern deities. The first and foremost reason is
this. You are not allowed to question money, power, science, sex, sports or
humor. To questions them, or their
inherent goodness is to commit modern day blasphemy and lose your job, social
standing, friends, or even find yourself in a lawsuit. Our world is convinced
that these six gods hold not only the meaning to life, but the essence of
happiness as well.
We are all told how
if we want to be happy we need to grow up and go to college so we can have a
good job and gain lots of money and power. This also results in lots of late
nights at the office and frequently working weekends as well. If you question it,
you are a slacker and a lazy no-good bum.
If you question how science is
supposed to save the world by killing babies to harvest their stem cells, then
you obviously hate all the sick people who MIGHT one day be cured through that
research.
If you question sex or bring up any kind of old fashioned ideas like
“purity” or “chastity” than you are labeled a puritan and a freak. If you say
that you want to save sex for marriage everyone smiles and nods, but in the
back of their minds most think that you are insane, especially if you are a
guy.
With sports it is a little easier
to see. If you ask the average American
how much time they spent playing or watching sports versus the amount of time
they spent praying to God in any given week there would barely be a contest.
People even skip Mass to watch the pre-game of the Super Bowl. Humor is the
final deity of the new pantheon and in many ways still the most insecure
amongst hi brethren.
Humor could be
lumped in with entertainment in general, but I prefer to leave it out on its
own for now. The problem with humor is how we use it to rationalize sin or
create a smokescreen for bad behavior. We watch movies filled that mock the
things we hold as sacred and important, but instead of becoming outraged we
just say “yeah, but it was funny.” If
you dare to criticize a movie for this sort of comedy, your friends will
frequently (and usually violently) tell you how wrong you are. These six new deities are now where mankind seeks
to find its meaning, and the restlessness of our hearts goes on.
