photo #4757753

"In Search of Fresh Air"If you could somehow travel back in time to 1666 and visit the old city of London, England, you would find yourself immersed in a nightmare. It’s the height of the bubonic plague; people are sick and dying everywhere; and the College of Physicans has determined that the cause of the plague…are you ready for this? Is fresh air! That's right. The well-educated, intellectual geniuses of the day decided that the culprit is fresh air--so they recommended the frequent firing of cannons to blow away the fresh air. People sealed themselves in their rooms and burned messes of fetid, foul-smelling substances to ward off the fresh air. Chimneys were sealed, rooms gray with smoke, people suffocating in the stench. Outside, a pall of black smoke hung over the city. People sat in their tightly sealed chambers determined to endure the smoke, convinced they were immune to the plague. You try to explain to them that they're all wrong—that the real culprit is not fresh air, it's germs, microscopic organisms you can't see—spread by rats and fleas and black flies…and they laugh you to scorn. They call you stupid and ignorant and superstitious and dangerously foolish.It seems our intellectually astute culture had taken the same approach toward God in general, and the Bible in particular. Religion, they say, is dangerous; an infringement on human rights and freedoms--when in fact a wise God offers mankind common sense prescriptions for society, government, peace, prosperity, well-being, and health; guidelines for solving problems; and life more abundantly. Most of all, there is a clear path to God for everyone no matter how far they stray.The pronouncements of our modern “College of Physicians” has created a nation of deeply confused, divided, angry, bitter, miserable people. Like old London, our culture needs a healthy dose of fresh air—from the Word of God. We might be laughed to scorn, but it’s still the truth.