Excerpted from Neal V. Patel in the 11/18/24 NYT
“What a cynical way to think about life in this universe. Douglas Vakoch agrees. A researcher who specializes in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, he believes any intelligent aliens who might exist out there might be going through a similarly difficult adolescence as our species is. More likely, they are probably older — and have found a way to age out of that adolescence and mature into a civilization that is smarter and kinder. If we’re able to establish contact with them, maybe we can learn a thing or two about how to better our own civilization.”
Apparently today’s public would like to find a better way than the one it now follows. I’m not entirely certain what that means as it seems to go in two directions. One is the suspicion that the American public has lost its way and no longer knows what is good for itself. The other is the search by individuals for a source of greater wisdom and more reliable truth than it has been able to find so far. It is a reasonable quest.
Everything in society seems to be changing so fast that nothing can be relied on to have stability or permanence. New technologies invading every aspect of daily life quickly disrupt the a sense of predictable regularity on which to rely. Normative social order appears to be collapsing. What can be believed and who can be trusted are questions making it difficult for the public to know what’s real.
Fear of the other and anxiety of an uncertain future have been marketed by news and social media with no regard to the moral virtue of integrity. There has to be a better way. It cannot be found in the faint hope that a more mature alien will come to show us the way. Artificial intelligence may be useful but can be no wiser than the people who create it. Authoritarian governments always produce darker more dangerous times. Better more efficient government may be needed, but it is not the better way we seek.
There is a better way. The unshakeable rock on which to build a better future is trust in what God who made us in love for love has said is the better way. There is no higher authority. Revealed in part through prophets and sages, it is most fully revealed in what Jesus taught. It is an eternal truth sealed by his death and resurrection.
Jesus said everything would pass away but his word would never pass away. We are obliged to proclaim his words from the pulpit but with fewer and fewer going to church, churches may not be the best place for that word to be proclaimed. In too many places Jesus’ core teaching and commandments have been subordinated to social and political norms favored by congregations and their clergy.
The better way must be heard more clearly outside the church. The usual forms of public evangelism are of limited value. Jonah may have walked part way into Nineveh, muttered something about God and the whole city repented, but that isn’t how things work in the real world.
If it is to be heard, the generous orthodoxy of the better way revealed to us in Christ Jesus must be lived. For the good news of a better way to be heard it must be demonstrated by the way average Christians lead their lives with the lived good news happening in the home, work place, social gatherings, and the ordinary things of everyday life. Besides, the average Christian is less interested in becoming an evangelist than even Jonah was. It means average Christians must become disciples who follow in Jesus’ path, learning as they go how to live into his teaching and commandments.
Jesus’ core teaching about how to live in the better way is summarized in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7). The average Christian stumbling to make it their way of life will have far more influence on the general public than anything else. It is a way of life highly resistant to being twisted to serve social and political ends at odds with the way of Jesus. To keep it simple, I suggest framing it as a way of life for ordinary Christians in which the gospel is proclaimed in word and deed inviting the curious to find out more.
- Be humble in spirit and demeanor
- Mourn for this fallen world and your role in it
- Hunger and thirst for righteousness
- Be merciful
- Be pure in heart
- Be a peacemaker
- Be willing to be persecuted for righteousness sake
- Be a person of integrity
- Let your light so shine that others will give glory to God because of you
- 10.Understand the spirit and depth of the Ten Commandments – not just their words
- Seek reconciliation with those whom you have injured
- 12.Let your yes be yes and your no be no
- 13.Confront injustice in radically peaceful ways
- 14.Love your enemies
- 15.Pray for those who persecute you
- 16.Don’t act too pious, especially in public
- 17.Give anonymously and with generosity
- 18.Pray with simple words
- 19.Pray as Jesus has taught you
- 20.Serve God and not wealth or earthly riches
- 21.Trust God and don’t worry so much about this life
- 22.Don’t be so quick to judge others; you are not very qualified to do it anyway
- 23.Respect and honor that which is holy
- 24.Ask, knock and seek; God who loves you will answer
- 25.Aim for the narrow doorway – the wide one leads to destruction
- 26.Beware of false prophets
- 27.Build your life on the solid rock of faith in God through Christ
Mahalo nui, thank you very much for this!