Some Fears

At the writing of this article in May, 2010, half a dozen earthquakes have rocked the planet since the beginning of the year. This, along with rumors about the 2012 ending of the world, has many people wondering if we’re about to see the end of days. I am convinced that the Christian response to such concerns is first a prayer of belief: “Maranatha” (“our Lord will come”—I Corinthians 16:22), and second, to keep faith that God is in charge. May the Lord return soon, but may we live every day with purpose and courage. What we should not do is hide in our homes, abandon the goals God has given us to pursue, and merely wait for the end to come (see I Thessalonians 4 and 5).

One of the momentous events to end the last decade was the election of our first African American President. The bridging of racial divides that Barak Obama’s election represents should not be underestimated. But his political agenda matched with the Democratic Party’s control of both houses of congress has caused some fear among many who disagree with the economic bailout, healthcare reform, and Obama’s foreign and social policies. What the future holds may include a genuinely powerful third party in America (the Tea Party), an increasing shortage of family care doctors, a more liberal Supreme Court, bigger government, larger taxes, and a more regulated free market economy. But a predicted backlash in the upcoming midterm elections may also indicate that no swing from America’s social and political center will be tolerated for very long (whether way to the right as liberals said we had under President Bush, or way to the left as conservatives say we have under Obama).

The nation will continue to fight over abortion, homosexual marriage and immigration. Homosexual marriage could very well become legal in more states with resulting prosecutions in courts of law, work places and universities against Christians who take a stand for biblical truth. Immigration, both legal and illegal will not only be an issue of contention but a cause for cultural change as persons of Hispanic origin become the majority race in this country over the next several decades.

I think we’ll also be looking at obesity laws (or at least taxes) in the future. Health care will continue to be expensive, whether directly or because of taxes raised by the government to pay for it. In order to combat the rising problem of obesity in America and the rising costs in health care which result, new laws will ban, limit, or tax certain foods mimicking what has been done with tobacco.

Some Hopes

Regarding the battle over abortion mentioned above, I’m hopeful that laws will swing in favor of the pro-life stance primarily because sonogram and other medical scanning technologies have altered American attitudes regarding the full humanness of the unborn. If rules don’t change, the number of abortions, at least, will continue to drop in this country.

I predict that biblical Christianity is going to grow in Africa and that the nations of that continent will flourish as a result. Fifty or a hundred years from now, if the Lord tarries, the nations of Europe and America will no longer be the Christian center of the world. Uganda has transformed itself through national repentance in the last decade, and Anglicans worldwide are already looking to leaders in Africa, not England, to stem the tide of liberal theology among their priests and teachers.

I also predict that Bible believing Christians are going to start looking at Truth in a more biblical way in the decades to come. Even conservative Christians have thought about truth in a way that is far more Modern than Christian. The new (old), truly biblical approach to truth will return Christians to emphasizing learning through a variety of avenues including reason, experience, imagination, a fellowship of believers, prayer, action, study, art, the Bible as a revelation of the story God and His people, a whole hearted and daily pursuit of a relationship with God, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Next time we will look at the possible future of technology, both good and bad.