All Other Ground Is Sinking Sand

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom:  preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.  For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. – 2 Timothy 4:1-4

Myth is used negatively where we usually use it positively.  In his Word Pictures, A.T. Robertson gives as examples:  "humanism," "bolshevism," "new thought" or any other fad that will give a new momentary thrill to their itching ears and morbid minds. Older translations often give the same word as “fables”.  It is, I think, the same word Paul uses in 1 Timothy 1:4, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations, which carries the connotations of narrative, story, fiction, [or] falsehood.  In other words, this is not a denunciation of the transcendent or true myth that cannot be conveyed in less poetic language. 

When the Apostle warns that “a time is coming”, we may tend to think of a degenerative process leading down to an end-time nadir of lawlessness and apostasy.  There have been, though, and will probably continue to be historical troughs in the cycle.  Peaks and valleys of revival and falling away occur for individuals, nations, and mankind as a whole.  If one looks at popular culture in America today, he might conclude that we are at or very near a low point.  That may be true, or it may get much worse.  I shudder to think this is not the bottom, but it is possible.  I would not wonder that human depravity could shock the devil.

I know there is or was a “reality” show about the Duggars who live south of the border down Arkansas way.  I guess they are Christian fundamentalists who have a whole bunch of kids.  It’s acceptable to ridicule and mock them, but questioning the wisdom of people like Elton John and his “husband” adopting a child is considered off-limits and may be called hate speech. 

I like Elton John.  Honky Chateau remains one of my favorite albums.  I even liked most of Yellowbrick Road, although he was starting to get a little redundant at that point.  I remember back in college, one of the guys in the dorm, probably much more liberal than I was, informing me that Elton was a homosexual.  Since, being a hillbilly, I have always been a cross between a freak and a redneck, I suppose my friend thought I would find this information disturbing.  I did not since it had nothing to do with my enjoyment of the music.  My view about male homosexuals back then was that they left more women for me. 

Nevertheless, the idea that traditional Christian values are being widely rejected in western civilization does not augur well for individual liberty.  These values have been the basis for our advances in prosperity, property rights, and opposition to tyrannical political systems.  Christianity perfectly balances the collective Body of Christ as God’s temple with the individual as the sanctuary of the Holy Spirit.  This is done not through rules and mandates and force but by love.  Yet the itching ears of an increasingly large percentage of the population are offended by the truth.  They prefer the futile fictions of anthropogenic global warming, homophobia, islamophobia, transphobia, centrally-planned economies, scientism, feminism, etc. to the liberating power of the gospel.   

If my trust were in man, I would be pessimistic.  If my only hope rested in the wisdom of our political leaders, in the progressive march of history, in societal evolution, I’d probably just give up.  But my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.  It probably won’t be easy, but it will be all right.