The power of a worldview to shape the world

High-level delegations from the US and Russia have begun meeting in what the Wall Street Journal calls the “highest-profile Russia talks since [the] Ukraine invasion.” Today’s discussions in Saudi Arabia could lead to an eventual summit between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The State Department described the talks as an opportunity to explore Russia’s intentions on the Ukraine conflict and other central issues rather than the start of a detailed negotiation over Kyiv’s future.

According to international relations scholar Michael C. Horowitz, Mr. Putin’s “intentions” center in his belief that an independent, democratic Ukraine is a threat to him and to Russia. Three years ago, he began the largest land invasion in Europe since World War II in response.

Mr. Putin alleges that NATO and the West broke promises in 1990 not to expand eastward beyond Germany, a claim Western leaders dispute. The flatlands to Russia’s west have enabled several invasions from Europe over the last five centuries; Putin therefore views NATO’s “encroachment” into Ukraine as threatening his nation’s security.

Ukraine and the West vehemently disagree, seeing Putin’s immoral and illegal invasion as a part of his metanarrative to elevate “Mother Russia”—and himself—on the world stage.

“Whatever does not kill you makes you stronger”

In other news, Israel yesterday eliminated Muhammad Shaheen, the head of Hamas’s Operations Department in Lebanon. According to Israeli security forces, Shaheen was planning attacks not only against Israeli citizens but also against Jewish targets outside of Israel.

As with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, once again we see the power of a worldview to shape the world. Hamas is not only convinced that Israeli citizens are complicit in a perceived theft of their land from its “rightful” Palestinian owners; they also view Jews themselves as “apes” and “pigs” (Qur’an 5:60; 2:65; 7:166) and claim that they control the world media. They blame Jews for “most of the revolutions we heard and hear about” and allege that they were behind World War I and World War II.

In short, Hamas is convinced that Jews are hostis humani generis, the enemies of humankind itself. Killing Jews anywhere in the world therefore advances their ideological agenda.

As a third example of the power of worldview, my wife and I recently watched the Netflix excellent limited series, All the Light We Cannot See. Based on Anthony Doerr’s Pulitzer Prize-winning bestseller, it is set in Nazi-occupied France.

At one point, a young man is being groomed for Hitler’s SS through physical abuse and mental torture, all under the guise of Friedrich Nietzsche’s dictum, “Whatever does not kill you makes you stronger.” The Germans are portrayed as fanatically committed to Nietzsche’s Übermensch doctrine, by which our highest aspiration should be to become an “overcomer” who rules the passive nihilists that make up most of humanity.

This doctrine, coupled with Hitler’s fervent belief that the Jews were responsible for Germany’s defeat in World War I, motivated the rise of Naziism and the murder of six million Jews.

“A watchword, magnificent and mighty”

According to Scottish biblical scholar James Stewart,

Every new idea that has ever burst upon the world has had a watchword. Always there has been some word or phrase in which the very genius of the thing has been concentrated and focused, some word or phrase to blazon on its banners when it went marching out into the world. Islam had a watchword: “God is God, and Mohammed is his prophet.” The French Revolution had a watchword: “Liberty, equality, fraternity.” The democratic idea had a watchword: “Government of the people, by the people, for the people.”

Then he added:

The greatest idea that has ever been born upon the earth is the Christian idea. And Christianity came with a watchword, magnificent and mighty and imperial; and the watchword was, “the Kingdom of God.”

Stewart was right:

• Jesus announced, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17).
• He taught us to pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10) and to “seek first the kingdom of God” (v. 33).
• The Lord said of himself, “I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” (Psalm 46:10).

The psalmist declared, “God reigns over the nations; God sits on his holy throne” (Psalm 47:8). Note the present tenses. No matter the circumstances or appearances, God is right now “the King of the ages, immortal, invisible” (1 Timothy 1:17).

What to do when we’re afraid

Jesus came to “preach the good news of the kingdom of God” (Luke 4:43). Why is this kingdom “good news”? It tells us:

1. We have a king. Despite the tragedies and challenges of this broken world, there is purpose and order to the cosmos (cf. Colossians 1:16–17).
2. Unlike the autocrats and terrorists who seek to rule by force, this king knows and loves us (Psalm 139:13–16; Romans 5:8).
3. We can have a personal relationship with him that will save and transform us (John 1:12; 2 Corinthians 5:17).
4. He will bring this fallen world to an end one day when Jesus returns as “King of kings and Lord of lords” (Revelation 19:16).

Accordingly, we can pray with David,

“When I am afraid, I put my trust in you” (Psalm 56:3).

Of what are you “afraid” today?

Quote for the day:

“Christ liveth in me. And how great the difference—instead of bondage, liberty; instead of failure, quiet victories within; instead of fear and weakness, a restful sense of sufficiency in Another.” —Hudson Taylor

Our latest website articles:

• “The surprising reason young adults are more pro-marriage: A St. Valentine’s Day meditation on truth and transformation”
• “The civil war in Congo could soon reach a tipping point: How one of the world’s longest-running conflicts has roots beyond its borders”
• “A long, joyful obedience”
• “A review of ‘Dominion’ by Tom Holland: A secular humanist’s guide to how morality comes from Christianity”
• “What does the Bible say about love?”

Denison Forum

Should celebrities tell us how to vote?

Singer and songwriter Sheryl Crow made headlines over the weekend by posting an Instagram video in which she waves goodbye to her Tesla as it is driven away. She explained: “There comes a time when you have to decide who you are willing to align with. So long Tesla.”

She added: “Money donated to @npr, which is under threat by President Musk, in hopes that the truth will continue to find its way to those willing to know the truth.” She included hashtags for “PresidentMusk” and “ProtectTheConstitution.”

Actor Gabriel Basso, who stars in the Netflix thriller The Night Agent and played a young JD Vance in Hillbilly Elegy, takes a different approach. “I don’t believe that actors should be famous,” he said, speaking out against celebrities who use their platforms to deliver political messages. “We’re saying words that we’re told to say,” he stated. “We’re told how to say them, we’re told where to stand. And then we’re telling people how to vote?”

He believes that an entertainer’s job is “illegitimate in that way.” In his view, “We’re court jesters. We’re entertaining. We’re public servants. We’re there to perform, to entertain. And then all of a sudden, the jester, because he’s in the courtroom, starts to be like, ‘I might want to go sit on the throne!’”

 “The man who would not be king”

The preponderance of celebrities seeking political influence across the partisan spectrum stands in sharp contrast with the hero our nation celebrates today.

Presidents’ Day (sometimes spelled President’s Day or Presidents Day) is officially Washington’s Birthday at the federal level. Since 1879, the US has honored George Washington in this way. And appropriately so: He led the Continental Army to victory in the American Revolutionary War, presided at the Constitutional Convention of 1787, and served as the first US president from 1789 to 1797.

However, he was in many ways a reluctant hero who avoided celebrity whenever he could.

When asked to lead the army, he responded, “I do not think myself equal to the Command I am honored with.” After winning the War for Independence, he was reluctant to lead the Constitutional Convention lest he be perceived as grasping for power. When elected president, he lamented that he lacked the “competency of political skill . . . necessary to manage the helm” and said, “Integrity & firmness is all I can promise.”

When he voluntarily stepped down after his second term as president, a dumbfounded King George III proclaimed him “the greatest character of the age.” Historian Matthew Spalding calls him “the man who would not be king” and notes that “no one walked away from power with more dignity.”

Washington exhorted his fellow citizens: “The name of ‘American’ which belongs to you, in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of Patriotism.” But his sacrificial and humble patriotism made him the “father” of our nation in ways no words could.

Now it’s our turn.

We must be the change we wish to see

An article on the proliferation of pornography in popular culture notes: “The logical endgame of the sexual revolution has been to turn sex into a recreational activity whose only meaning is defined by the people experiencing it, and whose only moral issues center around consent.”

The facts regarding the devastation of pornography are clear, from its ties to sex trafficking and child abuse to the brain damage it causes. However, given its pervasiveness, if Christians want our broken culture to adopt biblical morality regarding sexual purity, we will first have to model it ourselves. Only when we “remain faithful to one another in marriage” (Hebrews 13:4 NLT) can we expect others to follow our example.

In other news, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul rejected a request from Louisiana to extradite a doctor who prescribed abortion pills to a pregnant minor in their state, violating their strict anti-abortion law. According to Louisiana authorities, the girl who received the pills experienced a medical emergency and had to be transported to the hospital.

The facts regarding the devastation of abortion are clear, from its emotional damage and medical risks for mothers who choose it to the tragedy that more than sixty-three million babies have lost their lives since the procedure was legalized in 1973. However, despite bans in many states, the number of abortions in the US actually increased in 2023.

Given the pervasiveness of abortion, if Christians want our broken culture to adopt biblical morality regarding the sanctity of life, we will first have to model it ourselves. Only when we “bless” children as Jesus did (Mark 10:16) by encouraging adoption and caring for women with at-risk pregnancies can we expect others to follow our example.

I could go on, but you understand the point. In a secularized culture that rejects biblical authority, we must be the change we wish to see. This is only fair: If we claim that Jesus transforms people into “new creations” (2 Corinthians 5:17), the world has a right to expect such transformation in us.

How “Christ takes shape in a believer”

Imagine the difference in America if every American Christian imitated Jesus; where we asked, “What Would Jesus Do?” and lived accordingly. Consider the evangelists we would become, the ministry we would share, the obedience we would model.

Here’s what makes imitating Jesus different from emulating any other laudatory figure of history: Jesus will help us do so.

St. Augustine observed:

Christ takes shape in a believer through the faith that is in his inmost soul. Such a believer, gentle and humble of heart, is called to the freedom of grace. He does not boast of the merit he gains from good works, for they are worth nothing. It is grace itself that is the beginning of merit . . . [as] Christ is formed within the believer who accepts the form of Christ, who comes close to Christ by means of spiritual love.

How can we “come close to Christ” today?

1. Make it our ambition to imitate Jesus (cf. Romans 8:29). This and nothing less must be our highest purpose in life.
2. Admit we cannot imitate Jesus without his help. Ask his Spirit to “fill” and control us (Ephesians 5:18), manifesting the “fruit” of his character in our lives (Galatians 5:22–23) and using us to demonstrate Christ to the culture.
3. Join the Spirit in our sanctification through prayer, Bible study, worship, and other spiritual disciplines. These position us to experience the transformation only God can make in our lives.
4. Measure success by service. As with Jesus’ earthly ministry (Matthew 20:28), the consequences of our faithfulness will far outlive our obedience.

St. Augustine assured us:

“The believer who imitates Christ becomes . . .  the same as Christ whom he imitates.”

Will you seek to become “the same as Christ” today?

Quote for the day:

“Almighty and eternal Lord God, the great Creator of heaven and earth, and the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, look down from heaven in pity and compassion upon me thy servant, who humbly prostate myself before thee.” —George Washington

Our latest website articles:

• “The surprising reason young adults are more pro-marriage: A St. Valentine’s Day meditation on truth and transformation”
• “The civil war in Congo could soon reach a tipping point: How one of the world’s longest-running conflicts has roots beyond its borders”
• “A long, joyful obedience”
• “A review of ‘Dominion’ by Tom Holland: A secular humanist’s guide to how morality comes from Christianity”
• “What does the Bible say about love?

Denison Forum