America the Teenager

Whether you were a rebel or a saint in your adolescent years, a seed of rebellion exists in every single soul. By definition to rebel means to oppose or disobey one in authority or control. There is not a human on earth who has not tried to oppose another person in authority at one time or another. The innocence of youth wears off, even if it happens at the age of one, and we begin our quick descent into controller disagreements. Thus, you could say that the term: "sin" can be replaced with "authority opposition."

America just celebrated her 247th birthday, and in terms of national identity that means the U.S. is a teenager. As such, she is trying her hand at a little rebellion. Well, Linguistic Theft to be more precise. As defined by “Mama Bear Apologist,” Hillary Morgan Ferrer, linguistic theft “occurs when people take a concept, virtue, or idea that most people already agree with, and then change the definition to promote their own agenda. Without understanding that this change has taken place, many people swallow an agenda to which they might normally object.”

For example, it’s one thing to call someone “sick” and have the words culturally shift from meaning "a person who looks ill" to "someone who looks awesome or rad.” But to call someone “progressive” now asserts a specific agenda with altercations attached to it. What many people once deemed practical, natural, even evidence-based is now subjective. Like a teenager arguing with an adult about what is "cool," many Americans cannot converse because we don't know the definition of the words we are refuting. It is foolish to argue with an adolescent. 1 Corinthians 2:14 says, “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly” — they are foolishness — “to him,” which is why a person who holds to Biblical definitions is regarded as foolish.

Once upon a time, humans could disagree and still truly love one another. But, if we openly disagree today, especially about definitions of authority or personhood, it means we must own hatred, and hatred involves bigotry and intolerance. These words carry such universally negative connotations, that we have to distance ourselves from them by agreeing to any agenda that we once did not. Love now equates to perfect harmony.

Here is the United States, our freedom to speak, define, and preach was built into the fabric of our democracy, but it was paid for at a great price. Unfortunately, like any adolescent, we left the innocence of our youthful hope and are being humbled by our hormonal presumptions. We forget the work our ancestors did to provide us freedom. Now we base our beliefs on our feelings as any teenager would do.

We were once a nation that other countries coveted. We were the land of the free and the home of the brave. Opportunities were limitless. Sadly, I've been told by friends abroad that envy has been replaced with mockery. We appear as as silly as we sound. We are so consumed with our pubescent romances that our feelings dictate reality. Opportunities only exist within a parameter of political correct realities.

Teens wear their skepticism, emotionalism, and progressivism on their tattered sleeves. Likewise, America has become a place without identity, but feelings of progress. Searching for our lost dictionary, we are trying to write a new one, and I fear we are fumbling our way through it. We are free-falling without a parachute just for the sake of adrenaline over authority. Like every cycle of rebellion though, and this is not our first, it will not last forever. But, if we are unable to lovingly disagree, then we may close the doors for future progress.

As such, I thank God that nothing is new under the sun, and nothing is too difficult for Him. No matter how much our country confuses itself, we always have a chance to grow and mature. I pray we take those chances and humbly look to what is "true, right, and fitting," not just what we feel in our skeptical, emotional, adolescent state.

~Carefully Careless