The Experiment has Failed

       The world is trying the experiment of attempting to form a civilized but non-Christian mentality. The experiment will fail; but we must be very patient in awaiting its collapse;
meanwhile redeeming the time: so that the Faith may be preserved alive through the dark ages before us; to renew and rebuild civilization, and save the World from suicide.

     Touchstone Magazine (Jan-Feb 2021) “Thoughts After Lambeth” by T..S Eliot 

Our nation was founded upon the Judeo-Christian worldview, which says there is a God and there is absolute, objective, God-given truth. There is right and wrong. Men and women are created in the image of God, therefore life is sacred. There is an unalterable law. Each individual has a personal responsibility for him/herself. We have a responsibility for one another. Marriage is sacred. Family is to be protected. Sexuality is to run in its created channels. These are the foundation stones of Western Civilization. When the foundation stones crumble, the house built on them collapses. How can the house remain standing when the foundation is destroyed?

Look at it this way. Here is a house that is built upon six foundation stones. Each stone is a different color – blue, red, green, yellow, pink, and brown. It’s a colorful, creative, and strong foundation. It will bear much weight. But someone comes along and makes the case that blue is out of fashion and belongs to yesteryear, so it needs to be removed. It can not be repainted, only removed. So it is, and the house sags. Macho-man comes along, and the pink stone has to go. The house sags and leans. And so on until each foundation stone is removed. Certainly, they replace the removed stones, don’t they?  Yes, they do. Yet they are not big, strong, or deep enough to prevent the sag, the lean, and the house’s eventual collapse. As T.S. Eliot observed, the experiment will fail, and the collapse will occur. 

For many, there is no God; there is no objective, God-given truth.  For them, truth is subjective and individual. Right and wrong are relative. Evolution assaults the creation story of men and women being created in the image of God. Life is not sacred, and people do not have inherent dignity, paving the way for abortion. Life has no inherent meaning. Marriage is what we say it is. Family is a social construct.  Morality is a social construct. Our bodies are our own, and we will determine our sexual partners and practices. The Christian mentality has given way to the non-Christian mentality. The stones have been removed, and the house is sagging, leaning, and nearing collapse. 

The experiment has failed.

Look at our nation: politically divided down the middle, philosophically and religiously, all over the place. We are marching against one another, shouting at one another, censoring one another, shooting one another. We have gone from “We have God’s truth” to “You have your truth, and I have my truth” to “I don’t want to hear your truth, and I forbid you speaking your truth.”  When principles are gone, all that’s left is power – power plays and power grabs. 

In his 1931 religious essay “Thoughts After Lambeth,” T.S. Eliot argued that young people needed to be taught “chastity, humility, austerity, and discipline.” Stephen Spender wrote him to dispute that notion in June of 1932. Below is a portion of Eliot’s rebuttal. 

       What really matters is not what I think about the Church today, or about Capitalism, or military processions, or about Communism; what matters is whether I believe in Original Sin.
I know that there are plenty of material injustices to be set right, and I want them to be set right; nevertheless I believe that the world will always be an unpleasant place, a place of
trial for individual souls, and that the vast majority of its population will always be a compound of knave and blockhead, chiefly moved by vanity and fear, and kept quiet by laziness.

I, too, believe in Original Sin. The logic of Original Sin banishes mankind from Paradise, drives him into the Wilderness, and pushes him into the Grave. I also believe in Jesus, Who raises us from the grave and leads us through the Wilderness, lifting us into Paradise. As our nation follows the logic of Original Sin, let’s follow the logic of Jesus. As Eliot exhorts us, let us redeem the time, preserve the Faith, and renew and rebuild civilization — And save the World from suicide. 

Tim Brown