Sunday, August 05, 2007

how do we fight cultural marxism?

It seems like such a simple question, but it prompts such varied and complex answers from people who call themselves "Christians" and "conservatives" that it must not be quite that simple.

I have heard very sincere and intelligent people say that it is impossible to reverse the damage that cultural Marxism has inflicted upon our culture. They say that fighting back is useless, and that we are left with only one option--drop out. These are the people who have gone so far as to say that it is a "sin" to send your kids to public school, and that we should all home school our children. They say that, as much as possible, we should stay "quarantined" from the culture and exist in a "bubble" of sorts where we create our own institutions, separate from the contaminated institutions of America's decaying culture.

In the most respectful way possible, I would have to say that this is the wrong approach, and that it is not supported by the teachings of the Bible.

God, through His Son Jesus Christ, has given us 3 basic commands. We are to love God with our entire being, we are to love other people as much as we love ourselves, and we are to spread the Gospel. I don't see anything in there about letting the world around us go to Hell in a hand basket without lifting a finger.

In fact, Jesus spoke to this very question in His Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 5:13-16 says;

13 "You are the salt of the earth. But suppose the salt loses its saltiness. How can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything. It will be thrown out. People will walk all over it.
14 "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill can't be hidden. 15 Also, people do not light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand. Then it gives light to everyone in the house.
16 "In the same way, let your light shine in front of others. Then they will see the good things you do. And they will praise your Father who is in heaven.


That's the answer. Jesus is telling us to make an effort to affect the world around us. He is telling us to make a difference. He is telling us to have a positive impact on the world, just as seasoning brings out the best flavor of food.

My Life Application Study Bible has this to say;

Can you hide a city that is sitting on top of a hill? Its light at night can be seen for miles. If we live for Christ, we will glow like lights, showing others what Christ is like. We hide our light by (1) being quiet when we should speak, (2) going along with the crowd, (3) denying the light, (4) letting sin dim our light, (5) not explaining our light to others, or (6) ignoring the needs of others. Be a beacon of truth--don't shut your light off from the rest of the world.

Let's bring this to a practical, bottom line based on what we know to be true. The question is, "How do we fight the leftist assault on our world known as cultural Marxism?"

In my opinion, we fight back by being active. Never miss an opportunity to speak the truth. If you are in the presence of someone who speaks a leftist lie, speak up with the truth. (side story--on our family vacation a couple of weeks ago, my liberal sister blabbered something about how she just knew that the Duke lacrosse players were "guilty of something." It was just unfortunate that the poor, black, oppressed stripper was such an "unsympathetic witness." I let her have it with both barrels. What a ridiculous statement! My sister is a social worker, bless her heart, so she just can't help saying silly stuff like that, but I have decided that anyone who speaks leftist lies in my presence will get a heaping helping of the truth from me in return. Did I change her mind? No, I just made her mad. I did, however, force her to verbally and mentally rethink her position, which is a good exercise for anyone. Somewhere down the road, that exercise might yield positive results.)

Anyway, back to the subject at hand. We must fight back against the dishonesty of cultural Marxism. We must be living, breathing, speaking and acting examples of God's love and mercy. We must speak the truth to all who we come in contact with. We must become active citizens of this great republic, at least so far as to become knowledgable about the issues so that we can educate others and so that we can vote for candidates who stand for the truth.

We must become activists for the truth, in that we continually put pressure on our elected officials to speak truth and to support traditional American values. We must hold our elected representatives accountable, and make them understand that they are expected to stand up for the traditional family, for true religious freedom as understood by our Christian Founding Fathers, and for the principles of life, liberty and property.

How do we accomplish this? Start with your family, and specifically, with your kids. In my previous post, the Falwell article mentioned that only 56% of Americans said that religion was "very important" in their lives, down from 70% in 1965. Yes, that's tragic. But just suppose that the 56% became prayer warriors for their kids. Suppose that the 56% prayed every day that God would draw their children to Him, protect those children from sin and temptation, and make them part of His eternal Family. Suppose that the 56% prayed this same prayer for the future spouses of their children, and the future children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of their kids. Every day. Within one generation, America would be reborn!

Make sure, as well, that you talk to your children about the true heroes of American history, and about the greatness of America, and about the importance of the traditional American institutions (church, family, education as understood pre-WWII, old-fashioned sexual mores, etc.) that used to form the bedrock of our culture. Talk to your kids every day.

To borrow a phrase from the cultural Marxists, it will take a "long march through the culture" to effect real, positive change. We might not see real success until our grandchildren are adults. That must not deter us from our responsibility to try.

We are commanded to be "salt of the earth" and a "light to the world." Roberto Clemente, the great baseball player for the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1955-1972, once said, "Anytime you have an opportunity to make a difference in this world and you don't do it, you are wasting your time on this earth."

Those of us who call ourselves Christian conservatives, and who mean it, have an opportunity to make a difference. We are wasting our time if we don't at least try.

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