Ideas Have Consequences: Why Bad Ideas Can Bring Real Devastation

Word from the Center
Written By Dr. Gregory Seltz

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A two-kingdom perspective about how God is at work in the world brings a certain sanctified “common sense” to many of the issues we struggle with today. If one studies history, or even gets involved in trying to make this world a better place, one learns very fast that things are broken. (Deny that reality to everyone’s peril.) Even the good things that we seem to accomplish bring consequences of which we weren’t aware. (That’s one reason that cultural iconic commentator Thomas Sowell warns that in politics, there are NO solutions, just tradeoffs.) A two-kingdom perspective on how to preserve the world even as God saves it, realizes that human beings are sinful and bent towards evil by nature. All our efforts that we offer to overcome our failings and make things right tend to get skewed along the way. Therefore, “the quest for perfection” is often the enemy of a better (not perfect) solution.” And, there will be times we all face the reality that there is no “good solution” to an issue, but there is the lessor of two evil ones, that will require action and forgiveness, even with the best of intentions.

For that reason, we must be aware of the foolishness that seems to be invading our college campuses. In our history, Americans have always suffered a propensity to pietism, the notion that WE could create a perfect society. It stems from our puritan roots. But, today, secularism, wealth, and technology especially cause us to overestimate our ability to do what’s right, while underestimating the damage our propensity to evil brings in society too. Sadly, unmoored from any moral restraint today, some of the most horrific damage done in society is ironically done when people think that they are passionately doing the “right thing.”

Marxist thought is built on the premise that human beings aren’t sinful or evil by nature, it is the structures of our world that are evil. If those evil structures are removed (even if by violence), and pure, just, and egalitarian structures are put in their place, “good people” WILL be good to one another the way they were meant to be. Intersectionality is one of those ways of masking the notion of structural, not personal change, as if that will solve our problems.

So what’s the point? Utopian intentions tend to bring tyrannical, despotic results. Say what you will about the violence caused by religion in history. It’s nothing compared to the violence and murder perpetuated by the likes of Hitler, Stalin, Mao, and Mussolini, or Hamas on Oct. 7, all seeking the perfect structure for the perfect society. With a common sense view of the heart of people (including ourselves), with a knowledge of our propensity to evil in amidst the best of circumstance, public service is a “tradeoffs endeavor seeking the most good,” with a humble knowledge that even our best efforts may be a lessor of two evils, needing action and forgiveness both. With that in mind we can strive to think as the Bible teaches “to think about others more highly than ourselves” and seek to serve others with that wisdom and strength.

The Rev. Dr. Gregory Seltz is the executive director of the Lutheran Center for Religious Liberty.

Be Informed
Get up-to-date on a recent Pew Survey tragically showing that a majority of U.S. Catholics favor legal abortion in a conversation with Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse of the Ruth Institute.

Be Equipped
Why do we believe that even babies with “no chance of survival” deserve a shot at life? Click here to read the “why”!

Be Encouraged
“Jesus is not an absentee Son of God, but He is a Son of God who dwells with and in His people and makes Himself present for them.” – Rev. Perry Copus, Ernestville, Mo.

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