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The Prodigal Nation

By Ernesto Cullari, also published in the December 15, 2011 edition of the triCityNews

I don’t know anything about football, except that I like cheerleaders and half-time shows. As for the game, it just gets in the way of my ability to appreciate those gracious and hardworking women on the field. With that said, I’m not even sure who this guy Tim Tebow of the Denver Broncos is. What I am sure of is that he’s quickly becoming a legendary quarterback and, according to Tebow himself, he owes every one of his glorious game performances to Christ Jesus and to his teammates, facts that he is consistently quick to point out.

God is a funny topic, because for too many people in this nation God and His Son Jesus are offensive. Take former Broncos’ QB Jake Plummer for example. During a radio interview in November, with XTRA Sports 910 in Phoenix, when asked about Tim Tebow, Plummer stated:

“Tebow, regardless of whether I wish he’d just shut up after a game and go hug his teammates, I think he’s a winner and I respect that about him,” remarked Plummer. “I think that when he accepts the fact that we know that he loves Jesus Christ, then I think I’ll like him a little better. I don’t hate him because of that, I just would rather not have to hear that every single time he takes a good snap or makes a good handoff….Like you know, I understand dude where you’re coming from…”

In a nation where people are quick to either pat themselves on the back for the smallest of achievements or deprecate (and likely medicate) themselves over their personal shortcomings and where celebrities and athletes wallow in vainglory, Tebow’s expression of faith in Jesus is humbling. When a person with such great accomplishments refuses to take the credit for himself first, but instead thanks God and his amazing teammates, it is a clear indication of where true glory, long-suffering and meaningful victory comes from. It all comes from the providence of God.

But we are a nation at war with God. Nothing is sacred. We have lost our greatness along with our reverence of God. Look at the evidence. We hate and abuse our greatest of His blessings, our children, by killing them in the womb. And those that survive, we degrade them by sexualizing them in our popular culture. In defiance man’s institutions vainly protect child abusers so as not to sully their reputations. Tim Tebow is a man who knows his place in the world and the value of his life’s blessings. By placing God first in his sights his victory on the field has proper perspective. He is careful to point out that God probably isn’t concerned about the outcome of Broncos’ football games, he acknowledges that God’s work through the faithful can accomplish many great things, least of which is a win on the field. Tebow knows that God is concerned with humility and character.

All across America this Christmas season public schools, city halls and other public settings, once adorned with heartwarming reminders of the Lord’s birth are carefully obscuring any indication of it. Schools no longer celebrate Christmas they celebrate the winter festival. We once were a nation that revered God for blessing us with Liberty. However, groups like the ACLU and others have turned us into a nation that fears litigation over outward expressions of the very traditions and practices that made us a great. A nation without its culture is no more. The indivisible has become divisible.

One of the forefathers of Conservatism, Christopher Dawson once wrote, “It is the religious force which supplies the cohesive force which unifies a society and a culture…a society which has lost its religion becomes sooner or later a society which has lost its culture.”

Take this from a guy who hasn’t been to church on time in a decade. I sit in the last row, in the seat closest to the door and most of the time I forget my Bible in the trunk of my car. We are a nation of ungrateful, profligate spenders with our hands out looking for a piece of someone else’s glory. From the self-righteous Occupy Wall Streeters to the Wall Streeters themselves who willingly received taxpayer bailout money all the way down to little ol’ me, it’s time we kept our hands to ourselves and thanked God as one nation for what we do have.

By putting God back into our culture, back into our daily conversations and back into our moral fabric all things (a great many wonderful things) will once again be possible.

Posted: December 17th, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments »

6 Comments on “The Prodigal Nation”

  1. Lois said at 8:41 pm on December 19th, 2011:

    It absolutely frosts me that a loud-mouthed, arrogant very small minority of US citizens–all non-subscribers to a belief in the Almighty–have been able get as far as they have in ripping and rending and all but destroying the Judeo-Christian threads running through the fabric of our American culture. Why have we Christians not stood up to them??–turned out en mass to say, “NO. We will not allow you to rob us of the visible signs of our Faith!”??? FINALLY, some are:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-B8SnvMx50&feature=player_embedded

    i hope the link works. An example of what henceforth we must do. Time to stop tut-tutting, and show up!

  2. Lois said at 9:01 pm on December 19th, 2011:

    Word of explanation: that is 5,000 (!!) people who showed up in a Texas town to say the Nativity Scene stays (underlined).

    “Winter Festival”–???? Who’s bright idea was that? Time to get a backbone…grow a few cahones….check our hearts to see what we really do believe in….and then open our mouths to object. No more taking this lying down–next year it should be “Christmas Break” on the school calendar.

  3. Lois said at 9:11 pm on December 19th, 2011:

    (should be ‘whose’—not ‘who’s’). Sorry.

  4. Lois said at 9:50 pm on December 19th, 2011:

    Further clarification: i am actually directing my remarks to “we Believers”–we people of Faith in the Almighty, who believe that God’s got it right: “LOVE your neighbor, love one another, as I have loved you. Don’t lie cheat or steal….(etc etc)”—all that good stuff that keeps us on the right track/path, that provides us with a good strong healthy moral compass. Hence our Jewish brothers and sisters have a stake in this too, to stand up to those who would erase from our public life and our culture all the symbols of this oh-so-powerful ethic of love which has so wonderfully in-formed us throughout our history.

    i want to see the Menorah out there right next to the Christmas Tree.

  5. Lois said at 7:40 am on December 20th, 2011:

    re “We are at war with God” above:

    Um, i think it’s the vociferous crowd over in the Human Secularist camp that are at war with God—they have become a force for “NOT-God”——for no God—-for ‘down with God’—–and have been busy trying to purge out culture of all signs of God.

    We the People are the sorrier for that. i am hopeful we Believers can find our voices to countermand that force. In Martin Luther King Jr style, of course.

  6. Merry Christmas said at 5:06 pm on December 20th, 2011:

    Nicely said Lois. Merry Christmas to you!