I have never heard of Alex Jones in my life. Drudge linked him this morning, so I went and watched his Youtube video about the nation's sick obsession with Lebron James.
Given my worldview convictions about God's sovereignty, I don't freak out about the U.S. collapsing the way Jones does and some of my conservative and libertarian leaning friends do. The state of our nation and our world is, and always was, in God's capable hands. Even Rome in 410 A.D. was in God's hands, right? Nevertheless, there is a grain of truth in what Jones is saying about the state of our nation.
I agree with Jones that we are largely a nation of non-thinkers who would rather worship and obsess about Lebron James than spend the time to read a book or think critically about life. Sports (and celebrity worship, did you hear the latest about Lindsay Lohan?) has become the major religion of culture. It is what people use to fill the hours and escape the boredom and in some cases pointlessness of reality.
By far, the most disturbing part of Alex Jones' video was seeing the governor of Ohio serenade Lebron James to stay in Cleveland. That "we are the world" moment was unsettling at best and nauseating at worst. Did that really happen?
Yes, Rome was in God's hands in 410, and so are we today, but the hand the Romans were dealt and we might be dealt was a pretty harsh judgment. The question you're not addressing is whether going through a revisit of the Dark Ages is something in which you're really interested when the option of Ninevah-style repentance is still on the table.
Posted by: Michael | July 09, 2010 at 13:35
Ninevah-style repentance would be awesome.
The bigger concern, to me personally, is remaining faithful to God and trusting in His sovereign plan for the nations, rather than giving in to fear or fatalism.
If God's redemptive plan involves preserving the affluence of the United States, so be it. If it doesn't, well, then it doesn't. Either way, we can trust His plan to be the best plan.
As you can tell, I am not an open theist. ;)
Posted by: Mr. D | July 09, 2010 at 14:10
I missed this the first time watching the video.
At 4:19 there is a picture of Lebron in a Christ like pose with the words "one for all" next to a Nike symbol.
This is an obvious allusion to Heb 10:10 and a suggestion that Lebron has Messiah-like qualities.
This is even more disgusting than the Ohio governor singing "We need you" to Lebron.
This Lebron stuff is scarier than I thought.
Posted by: Mr. D | July 09, 2010 at 14:43
Umm, isn't trusting in God's plan effectively fatalism by definition?
Posted by: tgirsch | July 15, 2010 at 16:54
All is not lost. Some of us had to go to wikipedia to see who Lebron James is.
Posted by: Nickp | July 16, 2010 at 09:35