To Hell and Back (as a summation of human history)

"Unto thee will I cry, O Lord my rock; be not silent to me. Lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit." Ps. 28:1

A world without God is Hell and nothing else. This is a truth that must be re-established, for though it is very obvious to the naked eye, it nonetheless has a tendency to get lost in the shuffle of our lives. The turn of the 20th century saw several then-obscure, later-prominent people realizing this truth about the consequences of God's absence, but rather than seek God they chose instead to seek out some new thing that was either in or by themselves. The results were disastrous and futile. What, exactly, can adequately replace God? If he is merely a socially constructed delusion meant to control the masses and fool ourselves, then perhaps we can construct a replacement. If, however, He is exactly what He has revealed Himself to be in His word and by His Son, then there is nothing that can replace Him, for there is nothing under the sun that can encompass the whole of reality, the whole of our experiences, and give it a total and satisfying shape and meaning. Only God gives the grounding and framework to answer all of the questions. All other "solutions" contain glaring gaps in them that grow into an abyss. If God is gone, then all is Hell; if He is silent, then we are in the pit. There is no other place to be.

Whatever others may tell you (with their eloquent pontifications), our current state of affairs is nothing new, our cultural and political corruptions are nothing new, our institutional failures and insanities are nothing new. It is simply the same long, sad story of history: humanity trying to find peace and happiness outside of God. There is no such thing. You'd think that if God was merely the creation of our own minds and/or institutions that it would be easy to move on. Our inability to move on, to find adequacy for life and the great questions of the soul speak volumes to His reality and existence. From Him and in Him are all good things. In Him and Him alone do we live and move and have our being. Separation from Him is death and death only. He is the "rock," the solid and stable ground; all else is quicksand and the mist of darkness.

-Jon Vowell (c) 2010