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The Bible Teaching Commentary on Genesis: The Book of Foundations
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Discovering God Through the Psalms: Designed with an Eternal Touch
Psalm 139:13-24
The Design of Our Lives
Paul J. Bucknell
Modern people blindly think they are more free and happy when they get their own way. But I hope you see that this is not true at all. We can easily find statistics describing this generation as the saddest, most drug dependent, and suicidal-thinking one in recent years.
Look around and you will not find happy people. You can find happy babies, but they are quickly contaminated by the time they reach their toddler years. Why is it that we believe that when we are free from rules, then we will be happier?
Why is it that we are convinced we are justified in disobeying our parents? It is because we have been infected with post-modernism. Let me briefly explain.
Three deadly attacks that occurred in our society over the last 200 years (Yes, worse than the recent terroist attacks.).
1) Evolution’s attack against God (Darwin)
• Evolution -animals -no God - our desires rule
Evolution teaches that man is no different from animals so there is no God telling us what to do. Professor Watson, one of the leading biologists and science writers of his day,
“Evolution [is] a theory universally accepted not because it can be proven by logically coherent evidence to be true, but because the only alternative, special creation, is clearly incredible.”
2) Philosopher’s attack against conscience (Rousseau)
But when we do what we want, we are confronted with an inner rule called the conscience.
• Philosophers like Rousseau come and tell us that the conscience is because of rules from our parents and religion. They convince us that rules and laws have frustrated our inner freedoms. To be free, we must throw off these laws.
• We must be tolerant with whatever people do. There is no conscience; there are no moral laws.
3) Educator’s attack against family (Dewey)
Educators focused on changing the new generation. They got rid of discipline, rules and instead developed a haughtiness fostering an attitude among children–they know the best. Peer pressure turned up the heat so things happened quicker. Soon children were thinking they knew as much as teachers and their parents. They were taught to esteem their judgments and despise their parents and religion.
Confusion over Freedom
So I ask. This is what our generation has been bred with since the 1960s. Does our guilt disappear simply because we despise our parents and authorities? Clearly no. Are we the happiest and most free generation? Clearly no. This generation is under a heavy bondage. They have to pretend because they have these freedoms, they are happy. But they are not happy but sad. They have to party and buy expensive things to pretend to others and to themselves that they are happy. But they are not happy. They are sad. They have no inner peace.
Instead of allowing them to gain wisdom through their conscience, they suppress it as Romans 1 says. They pretend with their friends it is fun to do evil, but they are fighting deep within. And so this generation is the saddest, most frustrated, desiring of peace, manipulated by lusts and given up on hope. It is called a drug culture or Prozac culture.
Although our churches don’t use drugs, they use excitement like loud music to attract some and sweets to draw children. Our programs. are always moving, changing, jumping, etc. But somehow the message doesn’t get to our hearts. For our tools have betrayed us. Their sensual, visual, movement programs have not allowed the Spirit of God to quiet our hearts before Him. Yes, some become Christians, but discipleship, largely focused on discipline, is nearly impossible.
Like water slowly seeping into the roofs of our lives, we haven’t realized our lives are in ruin until they are rotten. Schaeffer said in my loose paraphrase, that even though we know of this danger, until we loose our wealth, health, and comfortable television set, we will not change. My prayer is that we awake to the destruction today and turn. The damage is already visible, but are we wise enough to change?
Offer of Hope
You can be set free from the claws of post-modernism You can be a joyous person. You can be happy with yourselves. You can be a real friend. You don’t have to be lonely. How? Listen closely. I want to not only change your knowledge but these embedded beliefs that I have shared above.
From Psalm 139 we will discover that God has a special design for each human being. Come with me now and let us explore how God in eternity plans for us in time. God’s special design for our lives required three major items.
Next => 1) Created (Ps 139:13)