Nothing New Under the Sun

Our culture today realizes that each age brings its own set of presuppositions and has its own errors. One irony of our age of course is how we see ourselves as so uniquely different from other times.

The reality is there is nothing new under the sun as scripture teaches. Relativism is not new and contextual thinking is not new. We are only different from other ages by our degree of struggle with certain issues.

We are worse on some issues than other ages and better on others. The human condition is constant. All men are born in sin and born into cultures which promote errors.

Ultimately history repeats itself because the most essential element of man. His fallen nature and estrangement and enmity with God is always unchanged.

The expression of depravity in each age shifts a bit this way or that but it is always the same. The age we are in today is never as unique as we think.

Technology and many societal structures have changed, but each man is born with the same dark heart. The central question that each man should desire to answer in each age is how to solve his enmity to God.

The answer in every age is faith in Jesus. Before Jesus' incarnation on earth it was a looking forward and trusting in the promises of God in the future. The trust was in the promise of God that he would send a Messiah. Now we look back to the Messiah.

Many people scoff that the faith is the same. The expected Messiah and the Messiah who came seem somewhat different from what much of Israel was expecting. Of course the reality is that it is the faith which is credited as righteousness.

We always see through a glass dimly. Scripture states this plainly and the fogginess with which those of faith at times see is no argument against the nature of faith.

Mankind, Culture, and Progress

Often in our world we are convinced by the uniqueness of the current age. Technology has created a world which is so different it has created a fundamental disconnect from the past.

Really we just need to study history to see our folly. At many points the world said "ah yes this has fundamentally changed the world forever" and yet nothing really changed.

We often over estimate the uniqueness of our day. The problems of today are not much different than those one hundred years ago or one thousand years ago. The fundamental problem is always the heart of mankind which is similar in every age.

Certain issues are more prevalent in certain ages than others, but the heart manifests its wickedness in every age. Often there is progress on certain issues in certain cultures but often on other issues there is regress.

This is why the bible insists that there is nothing new under the sun. Many things changes but the fundamental problem of man's alienation from God because of his sin is always the same.

Some people often tend to go the opposite direction of seeing progress and instead focus on regress, thinking that the past was better than the present. It is really a similar failure in which the past is not understood.

It is not to say that a culture might be better or worse in a given age, but fundamentally every culture has severe issues to work through if the culture wishes to believe the fact or not. Some issues are worse than others, but the fundamental issue of the human heart remains if it is acknowledged or not acknowledged.

Post: Historical Progress or Lack There of