What a time to be alive!

Welcome Address

By: Chico J. Collie

I’ve found that, “thoughts aren’t benign things”.

Sometimes, thoughts lay dormant waiting for optimal fertility. Others are malnourished and die. But often times, they grow. They are fed by complementary thoughts, collaborating behavior, compliant speech and complex desires. Then they spread, seeding within the culture. In return, the culture cultivates ideas - watering, fertilizing, and pruning. It’s a fascinating dynamic indeed. Simply put, whether for good or bad, thoughts have consequences, particularly those that we ponder upon. That, of course, isn’t a new idea. Societies have acknowledged this, to varying degrees, for centuries. The 20th century, however, saw the rise (and gradual decline) of postmodern philosophy, a potent blend of philosophical existentialism, relativism, and secularism. While humanity continues to contemplate its next big popular theory, our societies are still ailing from some of its adverse effects. But we suffer not like a person with a bad stomach ‘bug’ but rather like someone with a deep cancer. It’s there and growing but you don’t usually feel the effects until it’s well advanced.

How frequent is the cry for individual rights and ‘tolerance’ accompanied by open disregard and occasional disdain for the ideas of transcendent order and objective morality? How often are mandates sought for subjective preferences? But what about God’s rights and His desires? Does the creature have more rights than the creator? Or am I mistaken, have we become the creator? Confusion, contradiction and the facade of neutrality - Welcome to the 21st century.

Forsaken in the conversation is the need for a sincere desire to discuss, find, and embrace truth. Social issues are undoubtedly important. But greater conscious effort needs to be dedicated to the more substantial questions surrounding our existence, which serve as the foundation for the answers to society’s problems.

Here at May Grace Precede, we believe in the historical reliability and divine inspiration of the Bible, as well as the compelling nature of the Gospel and the superior coherence of the Christian worldview. We also believe that proper thinking is indispensable to knowing and loving God profoundly. As such, we want to encourage sound thinking generally, creating the way for sensible discourse, and build a confident, caring, and contemplative Christ-exalting culture in Christian communities by teaching them to “Consider yourself dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ” (Romans 6:11, ESV) and to thoughtfully engage the wider society at multiple levels (at work, in school, with policy makers, via technology). He has “made us alive” (Ephesians 2:4-7, ESV) not only for our joy but for the joy of others through Him (John 15:11).

September 2020