A hole in the world?

All photos courtesy of Unsplash

The Eagles, an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1971, are one of the world's best-selling bands of all time, having sold more than 200 million records.  One of their songs, "Hole in the World" begins like this:

There's a hole in the world tonight.

There's a cloud of fear and sorrow. 

There's a hole in the world tonight.

Don't let there be a hole in the world tomorrow.

Even if we are optimists and constantly look for the best, it does seem, at least at times, that there is a hole in the world. We live in a day of almost unrestrained violence. Children can be snatched from homes and killed at school. Bombs and missiles are exploded in public places. There is war in Ukraine, Gaza and many other less publicized places. No community, no race, no nation is immune to, nor protected from a growing culture of violence. It is as if there is a hole in the world. Now, more than ever, we need to learn a different way, for the path we are following leads to a dark and dangerous wilderness.

I like the way of Azim Khamisa and Ples Felix, two men who experienced first hand a cloud of fear and sorrow. One deadly evening in 1995, 14-year-old Tony Hicks shot and killed a 20-year-old college student and pizza deliveryman in San Diego, California. Tony and several other gang members ordered pizza and, when it was delivered, Tony was told by his gang to shoot the young man, Tariq Khamisa, who delivered the food.

What on earth is happening to the world?

Are you frightened about the state of the world at the moment? Many people find it very scary, as every day seems to bring another disaster. Murder seems to be so commonplace! On a daily basis we hear of someone else going on the rampage and killing people! Individual acts of terrorism are on the increase resulting in the tragedy of people being deprived of their loved ones by an act of violence. Events of yesterday seem so long ago as we wake up to hear of another tragic evil act being perpetrated.

I find it all very distressing and yet I, sadly, can see the inevitability of the way the world is going. The Bible teaches that conditions in society will get worse and worse as time progresses. Paul, an old man, wrote to Timothy, a young man – ‘but understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with deceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness but denying its power,’ 2 Timothy 3:1-5. I think what the Bible is saying in these verses is staring us in the face. Do you recognize a description of our society?

If we reject the moral compass of the Bible then ultimately there are consequences. In effect morality becomes subjective and personal. There is no absolute standard of right and wrong. Everyone does what is right in his or her own eyes. This is not a new problem. It happened in Bible times, and many times since but every time is happens the results are disastrous. The old book says ‘there is a way that seems right to a man but its end is the way of death,’ Proverbs 14:12.

If we don’t get back to the Bible we can expect society to get worse and worse. We need to educate the next generation so that they don’t make the mistakes that we have made. The Bible says ‘train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it,’ Proverbs 22:6

I'm also glad to say that the Bible states that ‘where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,’ Romans 5:20. This means that the gospel of Jesus Christ can meet the needs of a wicked society. Forgiveness starts with the individual. The promise of scripture is still true – ‘If we confess our sins, he (God) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness,’ 1 John 1:9. Society will never change by enforcement but by the transforming power of God working in the each individual’s life through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Are you fearful? Scripture says ‘perfect love casts out fear,’ ‘the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord’.

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