Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - July/95

Contributor - John Opmeer

Title - The Spirit of the Age

Topic - Morals

C.S. Lewis, in his allegory "The Pilgrim's Regress", describes people imprisoned in a dungeon by a great giant called "The Spirit of the Age". This giant so indoctrinates people that they eventually talk utter nonsense, with immense assurance. But his imprisoned hero one day realizes that something he has been taught really does not make sense. He begins to question, and is eventually dragged before the giant for condemnation. Suddenly a beautiful woman appears in brilliant armour, mounted on a black charger and brandishing a great sword. She poses questions the giant cannot answer. She then slays him and sets the hero free. The name of the woman is Reason.

It is amazing how accurately C.S. Lewis, the brilliant agnostic who became a Christian in later life, describes a generation that he never knew: ours. He understood that as long as people are enslaved by the spirit of the age, they are likely to call what is right, wrong, and what is wrong, right. They will do so with absolute confidence, even though often common sense should have warned them of their folly. And in the process, they will slander and scoff at Christians who call attention to what is going wrong.

The Bible puts it this way, in Ephesians 4:17: "Do not live as the unbelievers do, in the futility of their mind" (or as Phillips translated it: 'they live blindfold in a world of illusion"). And in Ephesians 2:1-2, we find a way out of this illusion: "And God made you alive when you... followed the course of this world... the spirit who is now at work in the sons of disobedience."

I have given you the principle. Now for some illustration. Remember the U.S. Vice-President, Dan Quayle? He became the most ridiculed Vice-President ever in American history. And why? Because he dared to point out the obvious: single parenthood, far from being glorious, is a tragedy that has the potential of harming the whole next generation. He quoted facts and figures in support of his statement, but to no avail: he had committed the unpardonable sin of going against the spirit of the age. Eventually, the prestigious "Atlantic Magazine" published an article entitled, 'Dan Quayle Was Right". It met with an avalanche of letters to the editor, the most in three decades. However, almost all the letters were negative, accusing the author, Barbara Whitehead, of being a raving right wing Republican, who most likely had voted for Quayle. She turned out to be a Democrat who was simply trying to bring some reality to the family values debate. Without success, for now, she too, she was attacked. For one simple reason: those who believe that we can set our own moral standard simply will not tolerate another moral opinion. Even though they can see that society is falling apart, or that single parenthood is often very harmful to children, they will not hear of a solution that suggests we do something about the cause: moral relativism. There are moral laws which, like scientific laws, cannot be broken without disastrous consequences.

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