Barack Obama and other Leftists reject this worldview.  They believe that we can get back to Eden or create Heaven here on earth. We can, via our own efforts, achieve this not through prayer, patience, hope and faith but through government. The State will be our Lord and Saviour. 

The human condition, with its contradictory wishes seeks satisfaction where it can never find it.  Here on earth, here and now with material goods.  These are seen as realistic by those who reject a Biblical worldview. T hey scoff at notions such as the Bible, but they are also scoffing at the Greek philosophers such as Plato who recognized the temporary nature of the material world.  That car that you look to for joy will rust, and your body will age.  The second law of thermodynamics is in play ever since the fall of man in the Garden.  Entropy is a law: order becomes disorder; things wear out, they fade.  There is no hope in the temporary.

When you seek peace and satisfaction in temporary objects, you will never have satisfaction, merely temporary emotional highs (and lows). George Harrison sang "All Things Must Pass" and as far as this world goes, the former Beatle was correct. The Rolling Stones sang "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction."  Were they right?  Can we have no satisfaction in this life? 

I find that we can be satisfied with good things, those intangible things such as family, love, justice and faith are good.  The idea that the material world is inherently evil or that it is an illusion is tied to a school of thought called Gnosticism.  The Apostle Paul refutes the Gnostic heresy in his Epistles.  Hindus say that the world is "maya" (an illusion) ,but besides a few gurus, the majority still strive for academic success and material wealth.  Why?  If life is an illusion, then why work so hard?  Why study so diligently?

If we recognize that the world as it is has good things but it is a fallen world and not the ultimate good, it leads us to what can best be described as a conservative point of view.  Conservative thinkers recognize the simple fact that we cannot eradicate all the problems of this life.  We cannot make the world heaven on earth (what Eric Voegelin called the impulse to "Immanenitize the Eschaton"- use that phrase to impress and stupefy your Leftist pals the next time they want extol the glories of state run health care, media, economy etc.)

There are things that we can do to conserve the world as we have received it, not only conserve forests and beaches but culture and society.  We are the heirs of Western Civilization.  Christians, not Muslims, eradicated slavery.  Atheism and materialism have no ethical imperative to end the institution of slavery.  Taken on a purely cost/benefit analysis, slavery profited the majority and harmed the minority.  It was devout Christians like William Wilberforce in Great Britain and Abraham Lincoln in the U.S. who ended slavery, an evil which still exists in Muslim-controlled countries like Sudan.  If humans are merely a cosmic accident, there is no God, so there is no notion of human dignity as a result of man being made in the image of God.

People like Mr. Obama bow down to Hirohito's son and bow deeply before the Muslim Saudi Prince because they do not believe that the United States is anything special.  They are biased against the West and against Christian culture.  Christian culture gave us the institution of marriage between one man and one woman.  Barack Obama campaigned saying that he was opposed to "gay" marriage but then announced that homosexual relationships are a "moral good" and must be promoted by the state as such. This is contradictory and a paradox.  Either Mr. Obama is a liar, or he has wishes that are in an impossible conflict.  Mr. Obama wants "immigration reform" which is liberal speak for "amnesty," but we cannot simultaneously have open borders and a welfare state.  No nation, even the USA, can invite in the world's poor and supply all the world's needs.  Somebody must pay for it.  The government does not create wealth; it siphons wealth from one group and gives it to another.  Citizens struggling to make ends meet are tired of their hard-earned money being taken from them and given to illegals, many of whom hate this country and all that it stands for.  Like Cesar Chavez, conservatives believe in legal immigration and that it is a fair system for the millions who dream of coming to this country.  Mr Obama, however, believes in government.  He is a man of enormous faith, faith in his own greatness and the majesty of the state.  Obama believes that we can achieve heaven on earth by his wisdom and through the force of governmental power. 

Do you agree?