Western civilisation is floundering and teetering

James Cary  |  Comment
Date posted:  1 Aug 2023
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Western civilisation is floundering and teetering

Nancy Pearcey, author of Love Thy Body

Are we comfortable in our own skin? How do we feel about being human? If we call ourselves evangelicals, we are nervous about thinking about ourselves too much. After all, that way lies narcissism.

Narcissus was a beautiful youth who rejected Echo, the nymph, and fell in love with his own reflection in a pool. There he lay, transfixed by his own image, until he was changed into a flower that bears his name. Is this really any different from staring into phones, taking selfies and posting them, ever so slightly enhanced and filtered, on Instagram?

In our rush to avoid vanity, we may have forgotten that God made us the pinnacle of His creation. Does that idea make you feel uncomfortable? It shouldn’t. It’s clear that the creation of mankind is the climax of the account in Genesis 1, and the completion of His work. Neither animals nor angels bear God’s image. But we do. God gave us bodies with mind-bogglingly complex biological systems, and He gave us minds to eventually unboggle those systems, fix them and medicate them.

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