Who's Your Daddy?

There is something to be said for the origin of your belief system, the mindset of your "Founding Father." We, as Americans, love to go back to Washington, Jefferson, Adams, etc to show what an idealistic nation we are - because we were borne out of men who were idealistic.

Jesus Himself said this:

"But wisdom is proved right by all her children." (Luke 7:35)

With that in mind, let's take a look at the word of the founding fathers of the two key belief systems in the US:

1. Charles Darwin

The full title of Darwin's Magnum Opus is Origin of the Species by means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of the Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life.

"With savages, the weak in body and mind are soon eliminated; and those that survive commonly exhibit a vigorous state of health. We civilised men, on the other hand, do our utmost to check the process of elimination; we build asylums for the imbecile, the maimed and the sick; we institute poor laws; and our medical men exert their utmost skill to save the life of everyone to the last moment. There is reason to believe that vaccination has preserved thousands who, from a weak constitution, would formerly have succumbed to smallpox. Thus the weak members of civilised society propagate their kind.

No one who has attended to the breeding of domestic animals will doubt that this must be highly injurious to the race of man. It is surprising how soon a want of care, or care wrongly directed, leads to the degeneration of a domestic race; but, excepting in the case of man himself, hardly anyone is so ignorant as to allow his worst animals to breed.

The aid which we feel impelled to give to the helpless is mainly an incidental result of the instinct of sympathy, which was originally acquired as part of the social instincts, but subsequently rendered in the manner previously indicated more tender and more widely diffused. Nor can we check our sympathy, even without deterioration in the noblest part of our nature ... We must, therefore, bear the undoubtedly bad effects of the weak surviving and propagating their kind.

(Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man, 2nd Ed., pp. 133–134, 1887)

2. Jesus Christ

Now read the words of the Founding Father of Christianity. I hate to trivialize Jesus like that, but just for the sake of comparison,let's hear what He has to say:

"I have not come for the healthy, but for the sick."

"Love your neighbor as yourself"

"A bruised reed He will not break, a smoldering wick He will not snuff out."

"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

I could go on and on, but I think the point is made. Our Father has regard for the weak while the father of evolution wanted them systematically eliminated.

Ugly fathers produce ugly children. The children of evolution are hopelessness, drug addiction, suicide, depression, abortion, euthanasia, bullying, school shootings, terrorism, etc. Why? Because evolution is an ugly father.

The children of God, the true children (because I know that there are many false disciples seeking their own gain), are compassionate arms reaching into nursing homes, poor countries, hospitals, prisons, etc. Why? Because a beautiful father produces beautiful children.

As Christ said in Luke 7:35 - the children of any belief system reveal the eternal wisdom of that system.

So - who's your daddy?