“What is truth?”
This is a crucial question; one of vital importance to understanding all of life.
As I write this, the United States is in a severe economic crisis; the threat of bankruptcy is a real possibility. This will have worldwide consequences (which would include Canada, their nearest neighbour), unless they come up with a solution in the next few days. How did a nation so blessed by God deteriorate to such a desperate state?
What are the solutions to problems of such magnitude? Raising the debt ceiling? Balancing the budget? Cutting government bureaucracy and social programs? Raising the debt ceiling has to be the worst solution; it only compounds the problem in the future. Presenting balanced budgets is a good start. Cutting government spending on bureaucracy and social programs is essential. But in a society where the entitlement mentality is so prevalent, this could be one of the most difficult to implement – but herein lies a root of the problem. It is not money, nor technique, nor technology that are keys to a nation’s healing and prosperity. A nation cannot divorce the metaphysical (spiritual) from the material and expect to have the desired positive results. Or as CHP’s former leader, Ron Gray, would often say, “We cannot have the fruit without the root.”
What does truth have to do with economics? How is truth fundamental to finding solutions national or worldwide economic crises?
Western society was built on a Biblical foundation. This spiritual and moral bedrock is what gave it stability, liberty, and prosperity. In our post-modern age, the West has removed God from the public square and somehow still expects to have the blessings without the Giver of those blessings. In Canada, we too are fast losing the Judeo-Christian legacy of our Founding Fathers.
In Vishal Mangalwadi’s book, Truth and Transformation: A Manifesto for Ailing Nations, he looks at what made the West into the success that it has been and sees the devastating results of removing the Bible and Ten Commandments from the courts, education, and the halls of legislative power. When a nation ousts the Bible, it loses the Truth. Only when there is truth can there be trust. If there is no trust, arbitrary rules and regulations become the order of the day. No longer is a man as good as his word. But when trust is established in society, there is liberty and hope.
Mr. Mangalwadi also challenges the church declaring the need for reformation so that it can be used by God to transform the nations. Today Christians are being shaped by the secular culture around them, rather than being the culture-shapers we are called to be.
Truth and Transformation is a refreshing and invigorating read for all concerned, ecclesiastical or political. The author, Vishal Mangalwadi, who was born and educated in India, has succinctly diagnosed the downward trend of the West. He challenges the Christian churches and Western nations to again embrace Truth, as this is the path to restoration.
CHP Canada is the only Canadian political party that seeks to restore the vision of our Founding Fathers, recognizing the sovereignty of God. The liberties their vision gave us are quickly being eroded. CHP Canada has only a four-year window in which to build and grow before the next election. As Christians in the political realm, we must be culture-shapers for the continued blessing of the great nation. There is hope. Share the vision for a better Canada.