Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’
    and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’
Bring my sons from afar
    and my daughters from the ends of the earth—
everyone who is called by my name,
    whom I created for my glory,
    whom I formed and made.”

• Isaiah 43:6-7

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

• 1 Corinthians 10:31

But be sure to fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you.

• 1 Samuel 12:24

I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do.

• John 17:4

“The writer and philosopher Ayn Rand was born in Russia, but moved to the United States in 1926. She was working as a screenwriter when her novel The Fountainhead (1943), the story of an ideal man, made her famous. She is the founder of Objectivism, which challenges the idea that man’s moral duty is to live for others. Reality exists as an objective absolute and man’s reasoning is his manner of perceiving it.”

• Sam Atkinson (senior editor), The Philosophy Book, Big Ideas Simply Explained

Ayn Rand (1905-1982) was a Russian-American writer and philosopher.  She was a political activist, outspoken about the conditions of life in the Soviet Union. And I cannot comment on her novels.  My wife read a couple, but I never did.

Her Objectivism philosophy became somewhat a religion for a time.  It was attractive in that you could determine your own objective.

Up to choosing your own objective, or purpose in life, I might agree, but all objectives that are not glorifying God and enjoying Him forever fall considerably short.

The first two Scriptures above speak of us glorifying God.  The last two Scriptures speak of how that is accomplished.  Note that the verse from John 17 is part of the prayer Jesus said in the Garden of Gethsemane.  He had completed His purpose, and we can complete our purpose by finishing the work God gives us to do.

But Objectivism focused purely on people’s self-interest.  She even wrote into some of her novels loser-type characters that lived through other people or for other people.  Her philosophy was opposite that of what Jesus said about when we do something for the least of these, you are doing it for Him.  No, she might protest a literary or theatrical work that downplayed the suffering in the USSR, but to stoop her hand down to aid someone else took the focus off self and thus she had veered from her objective.

In a world that is all about what is in it for me, we do not need to add a religion that speaks to the same purpose.

I heard someone, maybe a comedian, say that for the first two years of a child’s life, we teach them to talk and to walk.  Then, for the rest of their lives, we tell them to sit down and shut up.

Let’s expand that to how modern parents spend anywhere from 18-22 years building up the child’s self-esteem, and then they wonder why they are so arrogant that they think themselves gods, unwilling to worship the true God.

Yes, Objectivism is interesting, but it is very dangerous.

If you like these Tuesday morning essays about philosophy and other “heavy topics,” but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Tuesday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.