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A New Year's Resolution Pat Boone I've never felt this way before. By nature, I'm an optimist. Always have been. And admittedly, I'm a practicing son of the Judeo-Christian faith, and therefore believe in a good God who loves mankind and who loves to bless all his creatures, especially those who seek his will and try to share his love with others. And, like most people of any or no particular faith system, my world travels have convinced me that other folks are basically good, basically wish each other well. So I've come to each New Year's Eve with a feeling of hope, for the long term, if not the immediate future. But not this year. We've raced to the end of a turbulent year, a painful and distressing year for so many of us, and as usual we're straining to see over the edge, or around the corner, hoping something better lies ahead. And while there are surely many reasons for optimism, in technological and material and even economic realms, there are terribly dark storm clouds roiling over us, far worse than any snowstorms temporarily crippling areas of our country. And apparently, too few of the free world's leaders seem to be aware of it. Or if any are, they misread or underestimate the danger. I'll come right to the point. The whole world, every person on this planet, is soon to be faced with a life and death decision — between two spirits. I'm not referring to specific religions, although religion is intertwined with each of the two spirits. No, I'm talking about two elemental mindsets, two visions of reality, two all-encompassing approaches to life and death and the meaning and purposes of both. Two spirits whatever name they wear. Story Continues Below
One of the spirits contributed to the formation and nurturing of what we think of as "the free world" — those societies in which liberties and individual worth are championed, in which equal justice for all is something to fight for if necessary, in which women have rightfully claimed the same opportunities as men, in which government is proclaimed the servant of the people and not their master, in which the needy and aged and helpless are deemed the responsibility of the advantaged, and especially in which religious freedoms, no matter how diverse, are protected, even encouraged. The other spirit is determined to silence all dissent, to exercise absolute authority over all humanity, to establish one religion that demands obeisance and devoted obedience (and can execute any who disobey), a spirit that denies the equality of women and men, and in fact has little regard for the quality or value of personal autonomy or individual expression in any area. Above all else, the first spirit values life itself. A beating heart, a living soul, is more valuable than any material consideration or cause. It is devoted to preserving life and enhancing and expanding its benefits to as many as possible — even promising eternal life to those who love God and their neighbors as themselves. The second spirit, in very serious ways, values death more than life. For decades, it has been indoctrinating millions of vulnerable young minds with the macabre notion that killing others who don't share their spirit is admirable, even and especially when they die along with their innocent victims. These children are taught that those who disagree with them are not worthy to live, that their lives are worthless, even a contaminant to their own world conception. And if they die themselves while killing other men, women, and children, a fabulous eternal reward is promised by the spirit that permeates their idea of religion. One spirit dictates what we call "the Golden Rule": Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. The other commands that its adherents either convert, subjugate, or exterminate the rest of the world's population. History, and any objective analysis, shows that wherever the first spirit has motivated a nation's laws and society, freedom and quality of life has flourished in unprecedented ways — without exception. But the same objective analysis shows that wherever the second spirit has controlled a nation and its society, individual liberty and expression have been severely limited; women have been subjugated; dissent has been absolutely disallowed; and in spite of whatever resources and financial wealth that country has, its citizens endure a quality of life far, far inferior to that considered "average" in free nations. And now, as we stand on the edge of 2007, most of the elected leaders in the "free world" seem to think we can communicate and employ sophisticated diplomacy with those leaders motivated by the other spirit. Those leaders not only think we're inferior and unworthy, they feel they're commissioned and authorized to subjugate or eliminate us. What are we to do? The answer, it seems to me, is clear. Since we are the prize and the actual battlefield in this elemental and final contest between two primordial and vastly powerful spirits, we have to choose which side we're on. There is no spiritual Switzerland in this conflict; nobody can just opt out and watch what happens. If any of us likes the idea of living in a country controlled by the second spirit, just hang around and wait; that wish can be granted. It's coming on strong, worldwide. But if that idea is unacceptable, unthinkable, there is only one other alternative. There is only one other power in the universe that can thwart and disarm the second spirit. It's the living spirit that breathed life into our Constitution, our Bill of Rights, and birthed the concepts of equality and freedom in every nation that would receive it. And in every individual who will receive it today. As scripture proclaims, undeniably, "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty" (2 Corinthians 3:17). I believe it is found nowhere else. We need to pray for that spirit to defend and guide us in the coming year, thankful that we still have the opportunity to do it. Let's make that our New Year's resolution.
Editor's note:
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