Humans of New York (HONY) never ceases to intrigue me. HONY started as a photography project to photograph 10,000 New Yorkers out on the street and create a catalogue of the city’s inhabitants. It has now grown to be a huge page consisting of an immense library of photographs of New Yorkers with accompanying quotes from them.
I found this one particular post on their Facebook page quite interesting. At first glance you might think he is some kind of conspiracy theorist with crazy thoughts. And he might be.
For one, I don’t agree with some of what he says and how he says it. Bringing a horrific tragedy such as the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center into the picture and claiming the lives lost that day are punishments for our crimes against humanity is a despicable thing to say. It is not some sick form of punishment on a few to ultimately punish the majority.
But he does bring up an interesting thought. How does America view itself? How do Americans view America? Do we think of ourselves as the “god” nation, attempting to restore order to every corner of the world?
Are we the “god” nation, attempting to restore order to every corner of the world?
Maybe this stems from our lack of respect for our authority. It doesn’t take long before you can see our obvious problem.
- We have a (slowly corrupting) government that we expect to take care of us in every way.
- We have a serious lack of respect for law enforcement. Enough said there.
- We have a serious lack of respect for human life. Crime continues to rise throughout our country and our prisons are overloaded. We discuss at what point an infant can feel pain in the womb to justify the extermination of a precious life.
- We also have a serious lack of respect for God. We have continued to backslide as a nation away from our moral roots. Our founding fathers may not all have been Christians, but they understood the importance of founding our nation on moral, Christian principles.
And don’t be nodding your heads in agreement Christians and church-goers. I’m not just talking to the “unchurched” or non-Christians in our country. So many people who call themselves “Christians” and go to church regularly have no respect for anything related to God. You say, “oh, but that can’t be me! I serve regularly by tithing and greeting people when they come in the door!”
Well good for you, but the Great Commission calls for a little more self sacrifice than that.
I think I will agree with the New Yorker in the photo when he says that we are getting what we deserve. But not in the way HE means it.
Just read what it says in Romans 1. And no, I’m not trying to grab, pull, and shove Scripture in here to fit my argument. God’s Word (and it’s just that…words from God Himself) is our ultimate guide. We need to be constantly returning to His words to find where we are going wrong. That of course takes humility.
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. ~ Romans 1:18-23 (ESV)
And then it continues on in verses 26 and 27….
26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. ~Romans 1:26-
We have see this with the rise of the LGBT culture.
The finale and ultimatum is hammered into the last few verses.
28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them. ~Romans 1:28-32 (ESV)
There it is. I don’t know how we can ignore these words.
Paul said it. He explained for us why our country is in its current state. We have rejected God. We have claimed to be wise, logical thinking individuals that are incredibly intelligent. We have said there is no God. We are lying to ourselves.
And because we reject God, He simply gives us what we want. This is a classic example of being careful what you wish for. Without God, why do we have any reason to respect one another? Where does order come from? Who gives the government the power to rule over us and what makes us listen to that governing body?
So maybe our New Yorker friend is right. We have brought this on ourselves.
The question is: what are we going to do about it?
The Young American 