state of fear

By way of recommendation (from my friend Mark) I recently read Michael Crichton’s “State of Fear”. Having also read “The DaVinci Code” I agree with my friend Dave who said that Crichton is much more intelligent than Dan Brown. “State of Fear” was a good read and thought provoking yet I would still place it firmly in the fluff category. In the same way the “The DaVinci Code” leads you to think about the history of the Church, Crichton’s book makes you question what the real facts are concerning global warming. I am consistently amazed at how I just accept some things because they seem to be the more enlightened point of view. Although this was a book I read purely for entertainment I learned a lot about my lack of critical thinking on many issues I think are true. Most of all the idea that whoever can scare us the most will have the most power was brought back to the forefront of my thinking. One of the characters in the book says that the media, the legal system and the political system has found that if they can keep us scared then they can stay powerful. It’s easy to see, color coded threat levels, hyping the discovery of a group of incompetents living in a warehouse as reason for all of Chicago to be in fear and lawsuits for every occasion. The sad thing is I see Christians who have bought into this culture of fear. The offensive Department of Defense has our full support because we are afraid. In other parts of the world the powerbrokers play on the fears of others and recruit them into their pointless jihad. It is a horrible cycle of fear and power. Now comes global warming which is a nice general fear to fall back on at any time since everyone needs to breathe. Can we adopt a more careful approach to how we interact with creation without buying into the fear that is peddled by some scientists and concerned environmentalists. We can’t excuse anyone for what is perceived to be the enlightened point of view. After all we are people of truth and the Truth will set us free.