Haase_UZ_x007E_DTh (2).pdf - South African Theological Seminary

future was no longer heaven, but a society of [supposedly] sharing, caring people who, it
was believed, would work collectively to make life better for all. The grand experiment
of Marxism seemed the ultimate answer, and for a time, even seemed to work; but was,
like all other human-originated constructs, doomed to failure. In time, this Tower of
Babel (Gen. 11:1-9) fell too (c.1989). Men are seldom content to accept what God
provides (cf., Num. 11), preferring in their arrogance to live in rebellion against God,
supposing in their grand foolishness that they know better how to live. “There is a way
that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Pro. 16:5). Lesslie Newbigin
adds:
Once the real end of history has been disclosed,
and once the invitation is given to live by it in
the fellowship of a crucified and risen messiah,
then the old static and cyclical patterns are
broken and can never be restored. If Jesus is
not acknowledged as the Christ, then other
christs, other saviors will appear. But the
gospel must first be preached to all the nations
(Newbigin, 1989:122).
Stackhouse, with others, argues that religion is a necessary component of any society,
without which the moral and ethical foundations will crumble. Stackhouse said religion
is, or should be, “the moral heart of social history. It provides the inner logic by which
the most important aspects of civilization operate, with theology as the science proper to
its understanding. When religion is transformed, the society changes; when religion falls
apart or dries up, not only do people suffer meaninglessness, but the civilization
crumbles” (Stackhouse, 1988:82). Yet, again, which religion should be used as the moral
foundation of a society
Christian’s entrust their future to Jesus Christ, who alone is able to save us from our
sin and ourselves, a faith rooted in the biblical revelation without additions (cf.,
Mormonism). The faith is not founded upon the whims of mere humans, but that which
was entrusted to us by Jesus Himself. Honest disciples of Christ know the gospel always
comes with clay feet, not with any splendour we provide, but in the power of the Spirit. It
is precisely as the Apostle Paul said long ago:
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University of Zululand, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa