Enlightenment?

Supposedly we live in an enlightened age. We think we are enlightened because we have thrown off the old taboos. The old puritanical and patriarchal moral standards which held us in check have been discarded in place of the new ideal, “if it feels good, it is good, so do it.” We even have products advertised with this new ideal as a logo. Now we are free to express ourselves in more creative ways. Society can advance to the utopian ideals of equality and true human dignity. Right? Well it hasn’t happened yet!

It all sounds so good. But where is this kind of thinking coming from and just where is it leading us? The sexual revolution in the sixties brought a flood of illegitimacy. More than twenty-six percent of the births in America alone now occur outside of marriage; this doesn’t take into account other “progressive” countries. The number of single parent homes is skyrocketing almost exponentially. Millions of children are brought into the world without the benefit of a loving mother and father living in a committed relationship, and children growing up in single parent homes are more likely to be seriously “at risk” in some form or another.

That this high sounding enlightenment has led to turmoil has Biblical precedent. People can have deep religious experiences and not be true followers of God. It is possible with the unprecedented New Age movement for individuals to have special gifts and receive knowledge from outside; and yet some who do have the Bible may still remain unsaved; it is the difference between intellectual knowledge and spiritual re-awakening, as Jesus told Nicodemus, a spiritual rebirth (John 3:1-21).