So apparently people still don't get the full panoptic of what
we're dealing with in society. The inability to understand the staggering injustice of Lindsey Clancy methodically killing her children is merely a symptom of a much
larger spiritual disease that is actually a judgment against a nation.
America is not only in decline, it is actively under judgment by Biblical
standards. I've said it numerous times before but it warrants saying again
because I've heard so many implying a question through a statement similar to this:
"I honestly do not understand what is going on in
society anymore with this Clancy case. I can't comprehend a mother killing her
children. What is more troubling is the women supporting it under the guise of
postpartum depression."
I present a quick Biblical aside from 2 Timothy
3:1-6 and and a detour to Paul’s letter to the Romans in this post.
There will be terrible times in the last days. People will
be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient
to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous,
without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash,
conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God......They are the kind
who worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible women, who are
loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires...
The passage above is
describing the root cause of a complete breakdown of society during "terrible times" in the last days. The text warns that people will become "unloving or specifically without
natural affection" or astorgoi/ ἄστοργοι in Greek. Theologically the
historical interpretation of this Greek word in context is understood as the ultimate
corruption of natural bonds—specifically parents becoming callous, cold, or
negligent toward the welfare of their own children.
In the context of the Lindsey Clancy horror show the phrase “unloving/without natural affection” is significant because storgē refers to
natural familial affection or the bonds between her and the children she brutally murdered. Paul places the absence of astorgoi/ ἄστοργοι alongside brutality, lack of self-control and rejection of what is good. When a society begins losing its
understanding of paternal love, it is not merely experiencing a political or moral problem. It is experiencing a massive spiritual problem. So this passage now provides us a biblical framework for discussing the horrifying breakdown
of natural moral bonds in this case. If family is the building block of society
it would begin to explain why the entirety of society is now in full freefall.
The family also needs to be seen as the building block of the
Church which is why Paul writes this portion. It is a warning not just to
individuals but to the Church. The endgame for
the Devil is to bring the Church down. Family destruction is just a collateral damage or
serendipitous side effects of the evil. Timothy is not merely being given a lesson about
wicked people “out there.” Paul is warning Timothy about conditions that will
affect the people and communities within normal society and the Church. That is
the exact reason I have seen women on social media who claim to be Christian right within the
Church touting support for Clancy. Their minds are twisted or they’re gullible.
While the Clancy case isn't necessarily the cause of the
cultural problem—it is an especially horrifying illustration of a deeper
problem Paul warned about. The erosion of self-control, moral restraint and
love of God. The farther we've gotten away from God and scripture the more debased our actions have become. Paul described
the corruption of the instincts that ordinarily hold
human society together. Paternal instincts. That is why so many are making perplexed statements of disbelief searching for an answer to the madness. Those stating types of statements can’t possibly comprehend what
is going on with the cold, callous people since they are not one of
them. To understand the madness, you must become the madness.
What we now need to contend with is the degeneration of society. What happens to a society when self-control, natural affection and love for God have eroded? The Christian answer cannot
simply be, “I don't understand how society got this way.” Paul told us what
happens when humanity turns away from God in these passages. When God is rejected,
His truth is rejected. When His truth is rejected, moral boundaries are rejected. When moral boundaries are rejected, desires that once
were restrained become celebrated, defended, and normalized.
Romans 1:28-31 Furthermore, just as they did not think it
worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved
mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with
every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy,
murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters,
insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil
Furthermore…
Romans 1:32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that
those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very
things but also approve of those who practice them.
The irony of v.32 tells us exactly why there
are so many women supporting a murderer who slaughtered her three children,
“…they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who
practice them.” Many of these women have what some would call toxic empathy. Those supporting this have had their brains seared because they are godless. So their minds don’t function in the manner
they were made to. This is why Paul would earlier say:
1 Timothy 4:1-2 Now the Spirit expressly says that in later
times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful
spirits and teachings of demons, such teachings come through hypocritical
liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.
The act of searing flesh will, over time numb it by
destroying nerve endings near the surface due to scar tissue that builds up.
Repeated burning will only increase and thicken the scar tissue. In society
people’s minds and thinking have become numb over repetitive searing.
The further society moves from God, the more deeply human rebellion and enmity against God
digs its heels in and affects our understanding of gender, marriage, family, sexuality,
responsibility, authority, self-control, and value of human life. This
is why we should not be surprised when a culture that has spent a century rejecting biblical authority begins producing increasingly distorted ideas
about morality.
If we ever hope of living in a normal society again, Christians need to do the following to push back against the tide of darkness we see enveloping us…
- We should grieve the victims.
- We should condemn evil.
- We should name the evil explicitly while holding people accountable that committed it.
- We should show compassion toward those suffering from mental illness.
- We should be able to discern if said actions are actually demonic in origin stop it.
- We should study the spiritual/moral condition of the culture and turn to God to fix what we can.
While we can simultaneously have compassion for people suffering from real mental illness, we must never be confused with calling evil good or the demonic a mental issue. The Bible delineates the two. Lindsey Clancy clearly stated she heard a male voice tell her to do it. We can acknowledge the devastating effects of postpartum and other psychiatric illnesses while still maintaining the biblical conviction that the taking of innocent human life is profoundly evil and needs to be punished, not acquitted or freed of all responsibility because of blame shifting.
When the bonds that God designed to hold families together begin to unravel, the consequences will not remain confined to the family. They will eventually be felt throughout society destroying society and inevitably the Church.
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