What Happened to Our Nation's Biblical Worldview?

      When I was a kid the TV shows and most of the books we read assumed a Biblical Worldview and contained a working knowledge of the Bible itself. I’m reminded of that whenever I watch reruns of old westerns—they always provided a positive moral message. I recall working on a sermon PowerPoint one Saturday morning with the TV running in the background. Between my sloth on the computer and the distraction of the shows, I was able to watch part of three different programs: Daniel Boone, Have Gun Will Travel, and the Guns of Will Sonnet. All three had either a direct quote from the Bible or a reference to a Bible story. And in each case the storyline provided a positive moral lesson to be learned.
     I also remember reading Aesop’s Fables in school. How many of you have even heard of them? My guess is most kids today have never heard of them. One of my favorites was the story of the “Ants and the Grasshopper.” The original read like this:

One bright day in late autumn a family of Ants were bustling about in the warm sunshine, drying out the grain they had stored up during the summer, when a starving Grasshopper, his fiddle under his arm, came up and humbly begged for a bite to eat. “What!” cried the Ants in surprise, “haven’t you stored anything away for the winter? What in the world were you doing all last summer?” “I didn’t have time to store up any food,” whined the Grasshopper; “I was so busy making music and before I knew it the summer was gone.” The Ants shrugged their shoulders in disgust. “Making music, were you?” they cried. “Very well; now dance!” And they turned their backs on the Grasshopper and went on with their work.
The moral of the story is “There’s a time for work and a time for play. And if you’re not prepared, then you’d better not be playing.”

This fable sounds much like the Parable of the Ten Virgins told by Jesus:

  Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.
And at midnight a cry was heard: “Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!” Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, “Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.” But the wise answered, saying, “No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.” And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut.
Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, “Lord, Lord, open to us!” But he answered and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.” Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming. (Matt 25:1-13)
The moral of this story is “It is your personal responsibility to always be prepared.”

​Unfortunately in a culture without a Biblical Worldview the following modern-day adaptation of Aesop’s Fable of the Ants and the Grasshopper can happen in real life:

The ant worked hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thought the ant was a fool and laughed and danced and played the summer away.
Come winter, the shivering grasshopper called a press conference and demanded to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well-fed while others, like himself, were cold and starving. All the TV networks showed up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. America was stunned by the sharp contrast. How could this happen in a country of such wealth? Why is this poor grasshopper allowed to suffer so?
Kermit the Frog openly supported the grasshopper and everybody cried when they sang, “It's Not Easy Being Green.” An activist group staged a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations filmed and interviewed the group demanding that justice be done. Politicians exclaimed that the ant had gotten rich off the back of the poor grasshopper, and they called for an immediate and retroactive tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share. Finally, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission drafted the Economic Equity and Anti-Grasshopper Act, also retroactive, to the beginning of the summer. The ant was taxed and also fined because he only worked with his fellow ants. Having nothing left after paying taxes and fines, his home was confiscated by the government.
The government moved the grasshopper into the ant's former house. Not long afterwards it began to crumble around him because he didn’t maintain it. A year later, the ant’s former house now abandoned, was taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorized the once peaceful neighborhood.
Moral of this version of the ant and the Grasshopper is “Why work when I can play?”

     If the contemporary version of Aesop’s Fable is more common in our day-to-day life than the original version, what happened? Specifically, “What happened to our nation’s Biblical worldview?” Several years ago, I was wrestling with this question and cried out to God in prayer. Needless to say, I did not appreciate the prompting I received from the Holy Spirit: “Yes it is true, and it happened on your watch!” I cried out to God in prayer and made a commitment to constantly strive to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem.
     I would ask that you honestly evaluate what is happening in your life, your family, your church, your community, our region, and our nation. Is it true that we are reflecting the values of the world more than we are living the values of God? If you agree with me that it is true, then will you join me in a personal commitment to better understand the meaning of a Biblical Worldview? As we see and hear more clearly from God’s word, will you join me in making a personal commitment to be more of the solution than part of the problem with each day that God gives you life and breath? I’m praying for a great spiritual awakening for our nation, knowing that God also purifies His people through persecution.

Yours in Christ,
Mark R. Elliott, AMS