The Bible speaks about the Big Fork in life’s road where our ultimate decision is made. Here’s one option: “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” (Prov 14:12) And the other? Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (Jn 14:6) There are no other real alternatives.
Interestingly, both routes promise paradise at the end. More specifically, because paradise has biblical implications—something increasingly distasteful to moderns—the road “that seems right” promises utopia instead.
In utopia, they say, there is freedom to make your own choices, live your fantasies, indulge every desire, all the while deftly avoiding bitter consequences or binding obligations.
The road there actually had its beginning in Eden, where the human race first stood at the crossroads. The choice was never more obvious: continue to enjoy God’s friendship and generosity as junior partners, discovering and utilizing the world for the benefit of all, or break free from the “slavery” of one meager command and do your own thing. No need to submit to a God who is holding you back from what you really want to do and be, said the Tempter. And if so, “you will be like God.” (Gen 3:5) This is the road to Erehwon.
It was Thomas More who first borrowed the Greek ou-topos to coin the word ‘utopia.’ In case you haven’t heard, it means ‘nowhere.’
The road to the Father’s house begins with a very simple decision: agree with God that His Way is best. His Way is a person, Jesus, the Savior of sinners like us. Once we make that simple choice to “Repent, and believe in the gospel,” (Mk 1:15) we find the path uncomplicated if we just trust Jesus. Each step moves us up towards the summit. Yes, it’s uphill all the way to paradise, but Jesus never fails to guide and sustain His people.
On the other hand, the road to nowhere is a very slippery slope, and it’s downhill all the way. Humanity, in their attempt to act like God, are in freefall.
People know it. Thousands are drugging themselves into oblivion. Despair hangs like a dense fog across the landscape. Suicide is skyrocketing. And now governments are helping the desperate do it.
In the Atlantic magazine, psychiatrist Scott Kim says “an otherwise healthy Dutch woman was euthanized 12 months after her husband’s death for ‘prolonged grief disorder.’”
In Canada, the news recently told of a soldier suffering from PTSD who called the Department of Veteran Affairs’ hotline only to be informed he might consider killing himself.
It’s hard not to be an alarmist these days. When Disney’s FX is airing their “Little Demon” movie about a 13-year-old who is the antichrist, and kids are being groomed to embrace every perversion known to man, you know the last bus to perdition (the real destination) has already left the station. Seemingly, it has no brakes.
This is the Lord’s message to His people: “‘Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.’ See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” (Eph 5:14-16)
They are indeed.
Article by Jabe Nicholson first published in the Commercial Dispatch, Sunday, September 11, 2022