Akin Ojumu
August 12, 2011
Subtly – but surely – time takes its toll on all of us and we all age before our eyes. Like the small hand of the clock, we discern it is happening, but cannot see it happening.
With age comes change. As one day morphs into the next day, and the baton of life is passed from year to year, it is amazing how much change each transition brings. The hairlines recede, the waistlines bulge spilling over the waistband, and the eyes squint real hard to see.
As we change so does the world around us. Languages metamorphose, knowledge increases, and technology advances. The world we live in increasingly gets more complex – I guess every generation of mankind has that to say about their own world.
The world, through science, seeks solutions to nature’s challenges, and science in return provides the tools with which nature is subdued, transforming the landscape of human existence. More than ever before, our society relies on science to provide the evidence that explains the phenomenon of being. We turn to science to explain supernatural events. With philosophy we create rules for civil engagements.
The human mind – that mystery beyond comprehension, the puzzle that is impossible to solve – is not at all immune to change. On the contrary the mind is the foundation of all the changes that we see; it is from the inward part that all changes begin.
“The heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful, a puzzle that no one can figure out…” Jeremiah 17:9 (The Message)
Our thoughts and thought processes have become more sophisticated and refined. In a post-modern world, the goal post of what is considered “normal” shifts each and every day. The ancient boundary of acceptable norm, set by generations before us, is displaced. The days of absolutes are long gone; replaced by a dispensation of relativism. Once accepted truths are jettisoned, instead the world embraces facts based on scientific evidence. An altar is raised for sacrifices to be bought before the gods of science and philosophy.
To be fair science has done a lot of good for the world. We are all witnesses to the impact of scientific advancement on our society. The world is a better place today than it was a few years ago. Life expectancy has more than doubled for most people, as a result of better health and healthier lifestyle. Science has found answers for many diseases. To a large extent the natural elements have been tamed. Science helps introduce efficient and effective processes and procedures to our daily endeavors, which enable us all to live more productive lives. Better means of communication have been developed…although it appears we communicate even less...with everyone living in his own cyber cocoon.
Scientific discoveries, in and of themselves, are a proof of the wonderful work of God in creation. Who but a super intelligent mind could have engineered the complex structure and functions of the human body? Only the Almighty God could have laid out the universe in its entire splendor with everything in its place in an orderly array.
“For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse” Romans 1:20
Yet, rather than glorifying God with each scientific breakthrough, the heart of man is lifted up in pride and arrogance. Puffed up in his wisdom, he thumbs his nose at the One who stretched forth the heavens and set the earth on a firm foundation, and breathed his own life into men and women.
The sepulcher of the human soul is littered with vain things. The mooring on the mind has been loosed; man’s mind is adrift in the sea of immorality. He is trapped in the cesspool of wantonness. Right and wrong now has new meaning. The innate difference that exists between a man and a woman, which for generations is accepted as the way we are meant to be, is rejected. A man can now be a woman, and a woman, man. A crisis of identity ensues as light dims on the honorable institution of marriage.
The pace of change is proceeding at a lightning speed. Like a freight train that has lost control the world barrels downhill toward its destiny, the day of Divine retribution; when we stand before an angry God.
From where I stand, that day is not too far out of sight. It’s high time I built an ark.
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