[Vision2020] The Downfall of 20th Century Capitalism

Sun, 23 Feb 2003 03:24:50 +0800

The Downfall of 20th Century Capitalism
by Douglas Stambler

I challenge the audience of this essay to stand up for the next stage in world history: Christianity. There is no doubt that all the other “isms” have failed to produce a satisfactory, spiritual result for humankind. Socialism is a failure, because it breeds corruption and apathy; Communism is a failure, because it is oligarchic in its institutional foundations; Hellenism (the plurality of cultures) is a failure, because it leads to the moral degradation of entire civilizations; Buddhism is a failure, because there is no tangible evidence of reincarnation, plus Buddha never told others to create a religion based on his teachings; Judaism is a failure, because it excludes 9/10 of the human race from God’s favor: By definition, it has to be a lie; and, finally, capitalism is a failure, simply because any society that uses material possessions to define what a human being is, will eventually go the way of Nietzsche, Freud and Heidegger: To the grave as a passé, philosophical qu!
 irk in history. But clearly, the Downfall of 20th Century Capitalism necessitates a new movement in historical thought. Ironically, the movement that will save all of humanity and the Earth from utter annihilation is about 2,000 years old. The movement of which I speak, of course, is Christianity. 

Who was Jesus Christ? Was he a man? Was he God? Was he both man and God? Why are these questions so difficult to answer? Is there a definitive way to address these very important puzzlements? I, for one, say that there is a method by which someone can once and for all find out for themselves if Jesus is God, or not. Try this right now: 1) Close your left eye, and look at an object across the room; 2) Now, switch eyes, so that your right eye is open and the left is closed; 3) Now, more rapidly, look at the object across the room, alternating between the left and the right eye. The object appears to move, doesn’t it? Or you might say that the object appears to be in two different places, depending on which eye is open at the moment. Now, think back to the first time when you were afraid to do something because you felt it was wrong to do. Perhaps you wanted to steal something, or maybe you wanted to harm another person. Do you remember that feeling of fear, as if you were some!
 how going to cross an invisible line of no return? 

Well, that was God talking to you, telling you not to do what you were planning to do. That awful feeling we get inside of us when we are about to do something wrong is actually God talking to us, and saying, “No! Don’t do it!” How does this all relate to the alternating eye exercise I described in the second paragraph? Simple. A person with one good eye will see objects differently than if they had two good eyes. In other words, each person’s ability to see depends on their eyesight. And since the human body almost never operates at total perfection, it would be safe to say that each human being relies on some other, non-physical ability to determine their actions with “moral clarity.” Some people call this a “third eye,” but I like to call it, “God Inside of You.” In any event, no human being can accurately claim to always know what’s best for them to do in a given circumstance. As humans, we receive information/direction from something else, that is both part and not part!
  of us: That, my reader, is called God. 

Here’s the part about Jesus, okay? So, hold on, and get ready to understand Jesus like you never have before. You see, Jesus is what you and I and all of humanity were born for. This is our raison d’etre: Jesus Christ. Does this demonstrate that Jesus is God, and that he came to Earth for all humanity? Yes. How? I’ll briefly explain. Since by definition God is the creator and sustainer of all life, everywhere, then by definition, God would always try to guide each human being to decisions that sustain and affirm life, rather than towards the death or destruction of life. God shows each one of us, every moment we are alive, that life is preferable to death or destruction of life. If you are alive, you have the will to survive. God has created you with the will to live, not the will to die. Not even suicidal maniacs like Palestinian terrorists or front-line combatant troops in a war would ever say that they didn’t have the will to keep on living. 

Only God gives us the will to keep on living, and by definition, would never take that will to live away from us, because God would never negate God’s inherent nature: sustainer of all life and creator of everything. The fact is, that only Christianity has the life-affirming message that God wants us to live by. God wants us to LIVE, not to die; God wants us to affirm life, not destroy it or live according to lifestyles that will lead us to premature death. Only God provides the answers all human beings want to know, and only the New Testament explains how God came to Earth in the form of a human being, to reassure all of humanity that life has answers now, not tomorrow, not later in life, not after death: That’s why Jesus Christ is called, “The light, the truth, and the way.” Jesus is now. Jesus is today. Jesus is everything you’ve wanted in life to go right. Jesus is God’s answer to that nagging question EVERY HUMAN BEING gets, at least once in a while: “WHAT’S NEXT?” Well!
 , reader, Jesus is next: Next in history, next in philosophy, next in religion. Christianity is the only answer to the world’s problems today. And, refreshingly, there will never be another major, emerging ideology after 21st century Christianity takes root in the world. One way to follow, for all humankind. That’s all there is left. Ask yourself quietly if that’s true or not. There is nothing else to live for than for God, and Christianity is the ultimate expression of living for God. 

I have lived a life of no regrets, because I have accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Savior. I used to be a liar, now I tell the truth; I used to harm others, and now I live selflessly; I used to be shy, but now I am a mouthpiece for Christ. Don’t let the downfall of 20th century capitalism leave you looking at the world, first through one eye and then the other. Let Jesus Christ focus your eyesight on what’s real and true in the world: God, other people, compassion and Jesus Christ.

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