Abraham Kuyper reflects upon the knowledge we have of ourselves as being in two parts. That which is mundane (knowable in the self) and that which comes by Divine Will or that which God reveals. There is a contrast we ought to think about, seems to me.

Them that seek only the mundane seek selfishly that which only ingratiates their own stubborn pride and selfish ends. This is what seems to drive the current economic trends on wall street and main street. But then there is something else. That which has driven some in days past to move toward something altogether above themselves. Kuyper labels that idealism.

This is what seems to missing in the American soul these days. It seems void of that which seeks the good of others and seems set rather to enrich-en the self. Politicians seem to be acting like its about "what's in it for me" and them alone. News media's seem to be acting like we gotta get the Pulitzer so how outrageous can we be - market share is everything - damn the truth; give me what sells! There are any number of groups not getting what they want and what they want has little to do with the good of the nations health. It seems that everyone wants their piece of the pie at any cost and if you have to pay them, well, pay up and shut up!

We have lost the pursuit of the ideal. We don't really care about truth anymore as an absolute and objective truth (not an original thought, eh?). We don't care about knowledge any more as an absolute and objective knowledge and we have cut the tether of our moral compass and are adrift in a sea of doubt, fear, anxieties, frustrations and confusions - morally, ethically, economically, psychologically, politically, and spiritually.

What's really sad, to me, is that the church has lost her witness and her reason for being a church. If a church holds to the truth-claims of the Bible as held by her history she is no longer relevant in our culture and now has no real voice in the marketplace of ideas. However, if she espouses homosexuality as relevant, or states there are many ways to heaven other than Jesus Christ alone, she is accepted and welcomed into the foray of frivolity and meaninglessness. No thanks! Give me some old fashioned idealism that is soaked in true truth and knowable knowledge. I think Kuyper get's it right.

He says, "When idealism is shown by individuals or peoples, that high aim is one of the strongest possible motives to seek after truth and knowledge. He who misses this idealistic sense may have a thirst for plain, materialistic knowledge, but the knowledge of the higher things in human life leaves him cold and indifferent. A money-fiend is an adept in the knowledge that promises gain; but what does such a gold-slave care for the higher knowledge of the nobler elements of our human life? As little as a deaf man cares for the wondrous creations of a Bach, or a blind man for the art of a Raphael or Rembrandt."

"As this is true of individuals, so it is also true of nations."

"When a people fail of this idealistic sense they degenerate into materialism and sensualism, and shut themselves off from all higher life. They make no advance and can not enrich other nations. They even deteriorate, and not infrequently in their own decline drag other nations down with them."

"In this, one age may differ from another in the same nation. In the sixteenth century the Netherlands stood especially high and was an inspiration to all Western Europe. In the eighteenth century, on the other hand, they degenerated, and have in no way blessed other nations."

We are tracking the same kind of decline here in America. We are tracking the same kind of decline in the church, too. O Lord, when will you awaken our slumber; When will you rise in our hearts again? Helllooo? Is any body out there?