Living in the Hope of My Imagination #2

A definitive description of what the American public has become.....

In the time that we live Americans have become a spoiled and arrogant self-centered people whose main focus is what feels good and could care less about what is morally right. And I believe the experience of my life has earned a platform for me to say this. Life for me has not been easy and I was made to sleep in a bed of my choice. Living the way I have and working as a bartender has now given me an insider’s view of how ignorant people really are about their true self. For eighteen years I listened to your inebriated justifications as to why you behave the way you do.
You have a house, two cars and all the toys, a spouse if you’re married, however many kids and a pet, your career, a part time job or two, financial debt and nineteen credit cards all maxed out and you are stressed! Is it any wonder why you drink, do drugs and pursue emotional ease the way you do? This club and that committee, basketball on Monday and bowling on Tuesday. You don’t even consider church on Wednesday because this is ladies night with no cover charge for girls and domestic bottles are half price. Thursday is over the hump night and you corral with all of your buddies at a pub to watch soccer on a HDTV mounted over the bar and here comes Friday. “Everybody’s living for the weekend” date night out to dinner, big screen movie time and you end up at a club to dance all of your frustrations away; girl hunting, boy hunting or whatever your sexual preference and cocktails flowing to inebriated bliss. You wake up hurting about mid-morning on Saturday and stumble into a bathroom to get rid of the poison in your system. And then you begin to make calls planning the day’s events to try and recapture your lost youth. And that night you do it all again. Sunday morning comes around and your head is swimming with vibes of the weekend so you stay home to recuperate and pop a few tops watching ESPN, “Living Life.”

Man…..you have arrived and proud of your accomplishments! Sacrifice to career has earned you great respect among vain peers as you strut around in a pompous show of confidence having achieved the American dream. Oblivious to a reality that everything of value has crumbled all around, your spouse or significant other cannot stand you and the kids are going to hell in a hand basket. Having no guidance, no discipline and no direction, they turn to the mentally challenged individuals of today’s arts, entertainment, music and sports industries to model their dreams after.
The youth in America are hopelessly lost in their search of social acceptance and self-expression all because of the influence our cultures cliquish peer pressure has on young people today. The neighborhood where you live and the school you attend, what you wear to the car you drive and how many in-people you know and if someone is not like you, they are less than and made to know it! Youth today are mean spirited because the have no sense of purpose or self-respect. In school they are taught an evolution theory as truth and look at the effect it’s had on shaping the opinion of what they think of themselves…

How many times have I caught teenage girls in bars with fake ID’s and their parents haven’t a clue of where they are! They are being drugged and raped by men old enough to be their father while you sit back and discuss the lies of politicians with people who are as misguided as you. The priorities of people in this nation are way off of where they need to be and something must be done to alter the direction it’s heading in. And our secular governments’ biased involvement is definitely not the answer.
Just like the penal system; a government that intends to control what kinds of influence people are exposed too is the reason why so few have escaped the effects of moral decay that has now shaped a culture who have no value for human life. Look at how many entertainment venues there are for people to immerse themselves in while doing their best to numb that feeling of insignificance. The amount of alcohol that is consumed today by casual drinkers and full bourn alcoholics is staggering. Again, read the statistics about alcohol related deaths, spousal and child abuse, date rapes and all the other violence that is a result of excessive alcohol consumption. Like you I enjoyed the feeling because it was a temporary escape and the only place where I felt good about myself. The only problem is it doesn’t last and to get there again you have to drink more alcohol and over time it becomes addicting. You do things that, if you have a conscience you regret and most of the time it can never be undone and I’ll say it again, “Hurt people hurt people.”

And your children watch you do this. As they get older you pull your hair out wondering why they behave the way they do and have no respect for you. Look in the mirror…..they’re a spitting image of you! All through high school and college these young kids experiment with any form of mood altering substance to try and regain that feeling of normalcy because of what you subjected them to as a child, and one day they wake up to realize they’re just like you. And to justify what you have done you embrace the ideologies that claim a child’s behavior is the result of a medical condition and you continually vote into public office those who make laws and promote education that has removed from our culture a consciousness of accountability.
Young people today are mad and have no example to follow and you (Mr. and Mrs. Career) are the reason they have no knowledge of God or a chance in life to do something significant! The focus should be your family’s spiritual and emotional health and not what you do to try and make yourself feel good about you! Do you really want your children to be just like you? What is more important, a justification of hiding from the shame of your past or maybe even the pride of what you have accomplished, or their future? What will you have to experience before accepting responsibility for the many wrong decisions you’ve made? What you should do is ask for your families forgiveness, and then lead them in what is necessary to make things right?

The irony that I find in who we have become is the majority of those who were voted into office to represent the people have in my lifetime worked relentlessly to remove Christian influence from the decisions that govern this country. And look at the results! If you work in public office and the moral state of those who you were elected to represent does not appall you, then you should be ashamed of yourself and resign the office. But no, the populaces who have been duped by the, “I’m everybody’s friend” lie politicians tell continue to vote into office wolves in sheep’s clothing. Who are paid incomes that are not earned while so many people can’t even make it to the next paycheck! Don’t you find something wrong with this? I do!

I know this statement does not flow with those who are both politically and culturally correct, when I say that based upon my study there are only two beliefs that are prevalent in the day and time we live. One is truth and the other is a lie! Every person has to choose between Divine Salvation or reliance in ones own conscience. These are the only two choices that humanity can make. Either you are living your life in obedience to what the Bible teaches or you have made yourself god. And you don’t have to look very far to see the results of when humanity is left to their own self-indulgence! And the proof of this is a nation of confused people who willingly embrace these self-proclaimed spiritual advisors who are themselves deceived. The truth has been distorted with everyone’s opinion of what they want the Bible to say. All because the seeker friendly religious market that makes up the majority of churches and the so called spiritual awakenings of today has lost focus of God’s command to teach the truths of scripture in spite of popular opinion.
I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 2 TIMOTHY 4:1-4 (ESV)

This is the time we are now living in! There are no absolutes in the minds of people and it seems as though everyone has been left alone to do whatever they desire without a thought of impending consequences for the choice they make. And now that this self-indulgent mentality has shaped how we live, people refuse to hear and then acknowledge that their conduct of living is wrong and they will be held accountable by a moral God. This is why there is so much wrong in not only America, but in every nation today. What is taught in the Bible is the only how-to manual revealing the foundation of truth that can restore self-worth and bring about lasting change in societies that have lost all sense of who they are.