Nothing New

That which has been is that which will be,and that which has been done is that which will be done. So there is nothing new under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 1:9)

Several wise writers whom I've read (e.g., C.S. Lewis, Thomas Sowell) have noted that oftentimes what passes as a new, unique idea or notion is really just an old one that was tried, found wanting, and finally rejected. In fact, several of my favorite authors have highlighted some particular and unexpected examples.

1. Alan Keyes has observed that many of the proponents of gun control seem to harken back to an ancient pagan view of inanimate objects. Among such people, guns are considered killers or evil inherently. But, as Keyes says, this is simply a mistake. For a gun is neither good or bad in itself, but is only used to accomplish good or bad (or neither) when used by a person. Its is persons, not guns, who kill. To say that the weapon itself is a killer reflects the old pagan idea that objects have personalities or inherent qualities of moral good and evil. This is not a new, "progressive" stance but one passed down from the ancients.

2. Today's Christian church has a mild obsession with "postmodernism." Postmodernism is allegedly the idea that there is no absolute truth; all truth is relative. Supposedly, such a position dominates today's landscape both in the universities and among the common man. But this appears plainly false. As William Lane Craig writes, "postmodern" people virtually never believe that ALL truth is relative. After all, they believe the earth exists or that cancer is deadly. The only two things that are widely taken as being relative today are religion and ethics. That is, things that aren't "scientific" or technological are looked at as unverifiable and thus as mere opinion. But then we see that this "postmodern" outlook is merely the standard modernism of the past. Enlightment era modernists held precisely this view of truth and of religion and ethics. Postmodernism is simply modernism by a different name.

3. The Hollywood elite like to ramble about politics these days, even though virtually no one cares to listen. This is apparently a new fad among the thespians, but it's really not. After all, says Thomas Sowell, actors have been strangely and overly agressive politically at least since the time of John Wilkes Boothe.

4. Darwinism, the idea that all life on earth, evolved from chemicals and elements in one large hierarchy was not a new thought given to us by Darwin himself. Indeed, such a position was held among certain ancient Greek thinkers around or before the time of Christ.

5. Whittaker Chambers in his famous tome concerning the Alger Hiss spy case, told of his experience among and as one of the Communist party. Chambers writes:

The revolutionary heart of Communism…is a simple, rational faith that inspires men to live or die for it.

It is not new. It is, in fact, man’s second oldest faith. Its promise was whispered in the first days of the Creation under the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil: “Ye shall be gods.” It is the great alternative faith of mankind. Like all great faiths, its force derives from a simple vision. Other ages have had great visions. They have always been different versions of the same vision: the vision of God and man’s relationship to God. The Communist vision is the vision of Man without God.

Communism is seemingly as old as mankind.

Cloud of Witnesses

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us (Hebrews 12:1)

Have you ever believed something mainly because someone else you know believes it? We probably all do this in some area(s) of our lives. Maybe you came to believe that a Ford is better than a Toyota, because your dad said so. Or you believe Osama Bin Laden lives in a cave, since that's what the best news sources claim.

Sometimes it's inappropriate to base your beliefs on the beliefs of others. You shouldn't believe, for instance, that this 1975 Volkswagen runs perfectly just because a used car salesman predicts it will.

What about the truth of the Gospel? Is the fact that certain others believe (or have believed) the Gospel story to be true sufficient for us to accept it as such? Many will answer 'no' to such a question. Especially in the area of religion or eternal questions, we are told, we should investigate truth claims for ourselves. Allegedly, we ought to subject the Bible to skeptical scrutiny, just as we would the Koran or Buddhist scriptures. Eternal life (or lack thereof) is too important to accept on the claims of our fellow man.

But, upon closer examination, these sorts of assertions seem suspect. What if the lives of those Christians before and contemporary with us bear the ring of truth? That is, what if many of them have a sort of authenticity, goodness, and perspective that is so distinct, so fine that their philosophy of life apparently has to be true? If Christianity is false, why have there been today and historically so many Christians who have seemingly found how life should be lived both in themselves and in relation to others?

The Christians who bear these features are numerous and varied: William Lane Craig, Corrie Ten Boom, George Washington, Thomas Aquinas, Mother Theresa, Sebastian Bach, and thousands upon thousands of others both well-known and just people in our personal, daily lives.

As far as I know, no other faith or ideology has produced the sort of grand people found in Christ's church throughout time. But, then, why has Christianity been so prolific in this regard? The only rational explanation I can find is precisely that the guiding principle of these people's lives is true: Christ the Savior lives and infiltrates the lives of those He loves.