This Life on Loan

I'll never understand why people continue to think that they can fix the world. The French believed that their revolution would take the world by storm, as did the Russians. Now, modern progressives and Marxists make excuses for why they failed, and assure us that their promised utopia is still attainable. Rousseau was wrong; you can't force people to be happy.

On the other hand, all those who think democracy is going to fix the world don't really seem to have much of a leg to stand on either. After all, Mussolini and Hitler were fairly elected, and the Athenians eventually followed the will of their people into imperialism (and they sort of killed Socrates, too). Most politicians don't have the balls to say it, but following the will of the people doesn't do shit if the people are stupid.

The world is broken, and if we haven't found a way to fix it by now, we aren't going to. We will continue to become more barbarous in the name of progress, and millions will continue to die in the name of peace. And of course, every generation will still believe that it is somehow more special than all the generations before it; that if everyone in the world really pulls together and respects each other, than the world will be just peachy. It's an endless, meaningless cycle.

I, for one, refuse to dedicate my existence to something as futile as progress. Even if it does fix the world eventually, I won't be involved in any process so cruel, calculating and impersonal. I'd prefer to actually live.

Individuals and civilizations both fade away, but God never does. The only way to get any meaning out of life is to sign it over to the only being that is eternal. God isn't our grandfather; he didn't give us life so that we squander it and then die (I'm aware most grandfathers don't do this either, but I like this analogy, so shut up). God is our father, and he gave us life so that we could use it.

This blog is going to have three main purposes. First, to reinforce that selfish and progress-obsessed ideologies are futile and dissatisfying. Second, to show that the only life worth living is a life given up to God. Third, to try and figure out what the hell a life lived for God actually looks like. Here's hoping we succeed.