Idols for Destruction

I just finished the most insightful book I have ever read on contemporary Western culture. I wholeheartedly recommend Idols for Destruction by Herbert Schlossberg written in 1990. No book review I do could do it justice. So the following is some the best quotations from the book.

"The pragmatist, as Hilaire Belloc said, suffers from 'an inability to define his own first principles and an inability to follow the consequences proceedings from his own action.' He cannot define his first principles because he is not interested in first principles; that is what makes him a pragmatist. The ultimate consequences of what he does escape him because he focuses his attention on the immediate ones." pg. 81.

"The [Christian] doctrine of creation meant that there was nothing of the divine in a rock, a plant, or a human body, permitting them to be studied rather than feared or worshiped. Clearing the world of spooks made it possible for us to learn about it. Now the spooks are back..." pg. 169.

"This concern with the poor, which could have the healthy effect of sending the churches back to rediscover the biblical meaning of service and wealth, has instead all too often thrown them into the arms of the state." pg. 243.

"It should be clear from all this that what is widely regarded as a struggle between the religious and the secular is really a struggle between religions. The current strife over such issues as abortion is perfectly in order, because it is an attempt by both sides to establish a rule of order in accordance with basic religious precepts. Man is the autonomous ruler of himself, able to define right and wrong and frame statutes according to whatever he defines as just. Or else man is created and sustained by a holy and just God who declares matters of right and wrong in the form of law. Both are religious views held in faith." pg. 275.

This one struck me in relation to current conversations on healthcare and the perceived evil of profits: "The mistaken assumption of zero-sum economies is self-fulfilling. If people believe that their gain must come from someone else's loss, they seize what they are able; and if they can do it under cover of the law, they do it with impunity. A society imbued with this vision of economic life finds taking what others have to be more rational than producing what others need in return for fair payment." pg. 282.

"As the famous report to the Club of Rome explained it, the world's situation will worsen progressively with the rising population and will find relief only when the death rate increases. Death, then, is the answer to our economic problems. The elderly will be called selfish if they insist on living, and it will be a humanitarian deed and moral duty to see that they do not continue to lvie and so deprive others of the quality of life to which they aspire." pg. 289. We've already heard Nancy Pelosi make this argument earlier this year.

I could quote much more, but you may have surmised that the book, in a scholarly fashion, outlines our culture's idols. What do we worship? Schlossberg analyzes that and shows how it will ultimately bring our culture's demise, if we do not repent and follow the God of the Bible.