About a month ago, around the time I released Part 4 of this video series, I coincidentally received a message from a new subscriber regarding, believe it or not, covenant! She had watched my “recommended reading” video about the book A Father Who Keeps His Promises by Scott Hahn: In this book, Hahn shows that God’s covenants are central to salvation history; and that God instituted them to build a divine family relationship with his creation. I was happy to hear the “recommended reading” video resonated with the viewer and gave her a more complete understanding of Salvation History.
And to all viewers who have sent me positive messages about my blog: I sincerely appreciate the kind words! What’s more, I am always glad to hear about people who become more immersed into their faith journey as they discover, or rediscover, Catholic Christian belief.
Now, as it has been a month since since my last posting, it is more than time to reveal why I think a real connection to covenant could completely crush chaos. So much so, I will say it again: A real connection to covenant could completely crush chaos. (And yes, that alliteration was intended!)
How so, you may ask?
If we really take the time to reflect on the history and purpose of covenants, as well as why God established them in the first place, we see they are THE core foundation for having strong morals and values. They are an oath. They are a sacred promise and commitment between us and God — which, in turn, means we should also being responsible and accountable to each other.
When I was first planning what to write in this blog, I had thought about listing all of the immoral, secularly-fueled issues plaguing our world right now, and most heavily in Western society. However, the whole purpose of covenant goes far beyond any specific period of time. After all, we humans have blatantly chosen to sin — again and again — since near the beginning of creation. I have said in past blogs/videos that Original Sin is the *sin that keeps on giving*: That’s because our Achille’s Heel, since the fall in Garden of Eden, has been to think we can become gods who replace God. And this problem is not limited to modern society. Read the entire Bible — carefully. Then, ask yourself: What is a running theme throughout the Old Testament, and which led to the entire corpus of the New Testament?
The running theme is that God’s people, again and again, kept rebelling against being morally accountable to God and to one other. They had a covenant with God; they were guaranteed abundantly fruitful lives, despite the ultimate reality that death was always waiting in the shadows. Yet, to put it bluntly, they just could not get over themselves. Neighboring, morally conflicted cultures, kept luring the Jews into worshipping pagan gods, or in tandem with the true God — and there was no shortage of sexual perversions and doing “whatever makes you happy.”
That “do whatever makes you happy” statement, right there, is such a sloppy, misguided way of navigating life. Really, *anything* qualifies as something we should allow to make us happy? Really, we each should create whatever “truth” – -and I mean *whatever* — that works best for us? Really, we should force alternate, albeit false ideas, on one another? And really, we should be a morally relativistic society with little to no accountability?
This is very much in line with the entire Old Testament — and which is a pervasive issue to this day: When we think we can redefine rights and truth into empty words that have no meaning, we are morally bankrupt. When we deliberately tear apart relationships and families, in the name of self-love and entitlement, we are morally bankrupt. When we think we are gods — and that we don’t have to answer to anyone else but ourselves — we are morally bankrupt. When we no longer see each other as God’s creation, when we longer think we are accountable to each other, when we continually diminish the value of a sacred oaths — of sacred covenants – we are morally bankrupt.
If we don’t care about covenant, then we don’t care about commitment; we don’t care about genuinely loving and honoring one another; we don’t care about goodness; we don’t care about love.
That may sound like a straw man fallacy — but think about it: If we don’t know whether we can consistently count on each other, or if we are frequently manipulating our lives and each other for our own personal gain, then we are not being true to covenant. And that includes dishonoring our relationship with the ultimate covenant: our salvation through Christ’s death and resurrection.
Isn’t it more than time that we fully connect with the true meaning of covenant? Imagine a world where we see each other as a reflection of Christ’s love for us. Imagine most people being morally accountable to each other and to God. Imagine that even though we would still have to deal with with natural disasters, and with occasional slip ups into sin, we would have a society of real respect and dignity for each other. Imagine that through the covenant of salvation — which God formed with us, through his Son, Jesus Christ — we would embrace love and goodness. We would keep this at the forefront of our entire existence. And we would do this by remaining faithful to the oath that keeps us accountable: covenant.