16 January 2024
We can understand the social sciences. Granted, the field is rife with sheer truculent stupidity and evil, but the broad knowledge of human nature is still there. We can still make sense of the data and analysis for things like economics and politics as long as you have no dog in the fight.
The problem is that there remain too many variables in human reactions to various trends. If you isolate the trends, then we can provide for each one a fairly reliable prediction of what people will do. The problem is the complexity of reality, in that trends collide and you are never sure what to expect for the actual outcome. The "science" part of social science has distinct limits.
But even if you could nail all that down and predict typical human response, this is not the only variable. We have the moral and prophetic outlook on things rooted in distinctly non-human factors, the stuff that actually matters. We believe that God and His servants in Heaven have the final say in all things. Even the bad guy -- the Devil -- has more say in the outcomes than all of humanity put together.
The problem for us is that the Devil has an awful lot of input in how humans think about all the things God has said about the eternal factor in our existence. We end up facing an endless debate over all sorts of things because too many believers enter this area of consideration dragging their worldly influences with them. I include myself in this; I know beyond all doubt that I struggle with baggage I wish I didn't have.
The hardest thing to reconcile is the vast difference between the human frame of reference (time and space limitations) versus the eternal frame of reference. We have a mass of human conditioning that hinders us from gathering up the whole broad view of God's revealed agenda and then putting it into action in our short lives. We struggle with discerning how much we can actually do.
More to the point is the question of what we are supposed to accomplish. Our world is deeply invested in the question of controlling outcomes. God says that's a product of sin. Over and over again, those who speak for God in the Bible have warned us that there isn't squat we can do about the outcomes. The only thing we can change is our response to what we experience.
In other words, God will have His glory, one way or another. The most beneficial thing we can possibly do is play along with His revealed plans for that glory and get soaked in it. The only question is identifying the stream of glory. More to the point, we need to discern the stream of glory to which He has assigned us. We don't get to choose.
God has revealed to a large number of His human servants that this year will be a unique experience for us. Indeed, it is only the beginning of a long and sorrowful experience. One of the recurring themes in the prophecies about this is the year that brings a large harvest, that the fruit of demonic madness will begin to manifest. For some years now, the gates of the Abyss have been open. People have reported visions of a cloud of foul spirits rising from underground for several years now. Demons have been at work sowing human madness and the harvest begins in earnest this year.
It is very hard to calculate for that if you have only social sciences. If you visualize the conflicts in the world today without accounting for the demonic agenda, you will miss the whole point of everything that happens. You have to understand that the reason the demons have been unleashed is because they carry out God's wrath. They aren't the only agency for His wrath, but they are certainly part of it.
There is precious little mankind has done in this world that pleases God. There nothing humans have built that He cares about. Virtually every detail offends Him. There is nothing we should seek to save broadly, only things He has placed in our hands. There are no good guys, only bad and worse. Every standing system warrants destruction. The means, timing and order of crushing will be hard to estimate, but the end is not hard to grasp. Further, the length of the process is outside of view. It's only getting started this year.
What matters is that, for those with a spiritual outlook, this year will mark a fresh outbreak of evil, something that has been restrained until now. It's the level and varieties of evil that will intensify in a very noticeable shift. Peel pack your social science mapping and recognize that this moral frame of reference as the underlying topography.
Don't take sides in any of the current conflicts. Not a single element represents Christ. Don't evaluate based on human reckoning. Along with that, don't seek to estimate whom you can influence by your witness. Your mission is to witness to all and allow God to move in the hearts of those around you. No, don't treat everyone the same; that's lie. You cannot. But recognize that human bonds mean nothing when it comes to eternity. You'll be surprised by who signals that they are part of your spiritual family, or would like to be.
Ultimately, only your spiritual family matters.
Comments
Dan D.
This is a good one, lots to consider. Especially the last two paragraphs. Thanks.
Jay DiNitto
I've noticed social science teachers have a lot of good information, but it takes effort to sift through bias and their marketing. I took a few sociology courses: one of them had a very descriptive teacher, another was very prescriptive. It pays to know who is being who.
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