{"id":228,"date":"2012-07-16T11:29:07","date_gmt":"2012-07-16T11:29:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/meditations.kafkasworld.com\/dir\/?p=228"},"modified":"2012-07-16T11:29:07","modified_gmt":"2012-07-16T11:29:07","slug":"a-sleeping-baby-and-the-future-of-western-civilization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sheaoakley.com\/index.php\/2012\/07\/16\/a-sleeping-baby-and-the-future-of-western-civilization\/","title":{"rendered":"A Sleeping baby\u2026.and the Future of Western Civilization"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
A Sleeping baby\u2026.and the Future of Western Civilization
\nCopyright 2010 by Shea Oakley
\nAll rights reserved<\/p>\n

Many years ago I happened to gaze upon the face of a sleeping baby boy. I\u2019ve seen many infants in the course of my life, but for some reason God decided to grant me an epiphany as I looked at this one. Perceiving his face I felt a then-rare sense of awe steal over me. In the serene visage of a tiny child I was suddenly overcome with a deep recognition of the dignity of a particular human being made in the image of almighty God. The perception only lasted in terms of seconds, but I have never forgotten it. That child\u2019s face, and the realization of the presence of the divine in it, has been burned into my memory.<\/p>\n

In an era when our culture has progressively forgotten God a sense of the reality of human dignity and the sacred value of human life have also become increasingly lost to far too many of us. Without the grounding of human worth in the reality and ultimate worth of the Creator of human existence people become expendable. This is because, apart from God, our existence is increasingly seen as meaningless and, thus, worthless. We see the results of this kind of thinking in everything from the contemporary fetish for violent media to the ongoing expansion of legalized abortion to our inexorably climbing suicide rates. Detach human value from divine origin and image-bearing and you are left with a sort of \u201csocietal death fetish\u201d. This is the horrific trademark of the Post-Judeo-Christian worldview that has continued to gain ground in the West during the last few decades.<\/p>\n

For this reason it is imperative that we who call ourselves Christians find the time to meditate on the implications of our origins. The truth is that a taste for violence and self-destruction is not unknown even among professed believers today. It is difficult not to wonder if this reflects just how deeply we have allowed ourselves to be influenced by the world that we are in, but not supposed to be of. In this light perhaps a holy rediscovery of the God-given value of human life must begin in the Church long before we expect to try to re-introduce it to the surrounding culture.<\/p>\n

Such a re-discovery starts with the realization that while all value is derived from something. Ultimate value is only derived from Someone. Despite the Secular-Humanist\u2019s sometimes strident objections nothing and no one has intrinsic value apart from God. It does no good to talk about human rights unless there is a transcendent value imputed to human beings that both justifies and delineates those rights. If that value is assigned by human beings it is being assigned by imperfect creatures whose perceived self-interest, at any given moment, will define what a \u201cright\u201d is for themselves and others and what isn\u2019t. Such rights are fluid and will ultimately be changed to fit the temper of the times. We saw what this can lead to in the mass depredations of atheistic political systems during the 20th Century, so far the bloodiest in human history.<\/p>\n

The only ground for real human moral progress will be found, if it is found at all, in re-centering human value from our profoundly imperfect selves to the perfect Maker of the Universe, the one perfectly revealed by the God-Man, Jesus Christ. Apart from this all that the most well-meaning people hope for in our future is doomed to be lost forever.<\/p>\n

As I write these words I find myself wondering what kind of world that precious slumbering baby from years ago is even now growing up to inherit.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Sleeping baby\u2026.and the Future of Western Civilization Copyright 2010 by Shea Oakley All rights reserved Many years ago I happened to gaze upon the face of a sleeping baby boy. I\u2019ve seen many infants in the course of my life, but for some reason God decided to grant me an epiphany as I looked… <\/p>\n

Read more A Sleeping baby\u2026.and the Future of Western Civilization<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-christian","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6GkOA-3G","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":455,"url":"https:\/\/sheaoakley.com\/index.php\/2014\/01\/17\/a-sleeping-baby-and-the-future-of-western-civilization-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":228,"position":0},"title":"A Sleeping Baby\u2026.and the Future of Western Civilization","date":"January 17, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright by Shea Oakley All rights reserved Many years ago I happened to gaze upon the face of a sleeping baby boy. I\u2019ve seen many infants in the course of my life, but for some reason God decided to grant me an epiphany as I looked at this one. Perceiving\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Christian"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":586,"url":"https:\/\/sheaoakley.com\/index.php\/2014\/10\/22\/personal-responsibility-and-the-future-of-western-civilization\/","url_meta":{"origin":228,"position":1},"title":"Personal Responsibility and the Future of Western Civilization","date":"October 22, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright\u00a0 by Shea Oakley All rights reserved We live in an age in which the entire concept of personal responsibility has become suspect in the popular mind. 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