Our beautiful country is in a dilemma. For that matter, our beautiful planet, that glowing blue sphere floating in space, is in a dilemma. Chaos is everywhere. Some say we are on the eve of destruction. Some will even say that even if changes are made there is no coming back from the abyss. The world is doomed; or is it? I say, “no way”!
The world is in a realm of chaos and it is going to get worse but the time will come that it gets better. We will see peace in the future. Though the space we live in looks bleak at times we have been in much more dire circumstances. When we think of the events that led to two world wars, the atrocities of the Jewish holocaust, the savagery of slavery and thousands of other events that made many feel that Armageddon was certainly upon us, what we have today is smaller. In retrospect, man does neutralize bad events just as good defeats evil.
John Locke wrote of this in his Second Treatise of Government. He spoke of man being in a “state of war”. This does not always mean a war of guns and planes but instead any time that a group of humans is not at peace. This could be a war in the Ukraine, attacks on innocent ships in the Red Sea or a mob attacking policemen in Time Square or individuals spraying graffiti on places of worship. All of these are examples of a people in a “state of war”. Lock also spoke of a “state of nature” which is a time of peace. He went on to write that the “state of nature” is the natural state of man and thus when things are bad they will eventually return to a state of peace.
Locke was not only a writer and a philosopher and a doctor; Locke was also a major influencer of the men that wrote our hallowed documents, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Locke’s Treatise is not the only document that reassures us that peace will return to our world; at least to different parts at different times.
The Christian Religion relies on the Bible to teach man about the origins of the world and religion and then on to the time that prophesies came to fruition and the seeds of Christian doctrine blossomed. The Bible does state that peace will become the norm. Isaiah 11: 6-9 provides reassurance that Locke’s State of Nature does replace a State of War.
“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’ den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.” This has been modified for modern use to read, “and the lion will lie down with the lamb”.
God Bless America, Pray for the Ukraine and God Protect Israel.
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