Danny Kruger, a British Member of Parliament, recently delivered a barn-burning speech. At least it would have been, had the chamber not been empty. He made the audacious claim that “Christianity is the wellspring of the West” and that a prosperous future depends on a restoration of “respect for human dignity, responsibility for the created world and the worship of God.”
Kruger identifies the problem as “social breakdown, social injustice, loneliness and emptiness on a chronic scale.” As evidence, he points to his government’s recent laws authorizing “the killing of the weak and most defenseless human beings. It was a great sin.” Had the chamber been populated, the mention of sin would have drawn jeers. The modern mind cannot tolerate moral reproach. It believes in personal autonomy in all things, especially morality. It also believes in leveraging power to that end. This recalls the Biblical indictment, “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Jdg. 21:25). The predictable result is an increase in confusion, meaninglessness, and rage among people who may not even be aware of what is happening.
How did we get here? Kruger blames the belief “that it was possible for a country to be neutral about God.” In 1971, John Lennon sang “Imagine there’s no heaven. It’s easy if you try! No hell below us, above us only sky.” A decade later, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Russian author, delivered his speech, “Men Have Forgotten God.” He said, “The failings of human consciousness, deprived of its divine dimension, have been a determining factor in all the major crimes of this century.” Erase God from national life and you reap the whirlwind.
Envision a world with strong marriages and secure children eager to learn and contribute. Picture nations that keep world peace and govern their citizens with efficiency and justice. Imagine differences among people welcomed as attractive and complementary. How much better the world would be if we each look to the interests of others! Such would be the world that remembers the God above us.
The hope for the world, for nations, and for you is simple. “Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the Lord, and He will have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord” (Isa. 55:7-8).
MP Kruger said, “There is a great hunger in society for a better way of living.” In his country, interest in Christianity is surging. Between 2018 and 2024, polls indicate a 56% rise in those who attend church at least once a month. People are discovering that above us is more than sky. You can, too, and all will be better off for it.