Lux Lucet

Richard Weaver

Ideas Have Consequences is title of well know philosophical work by Richard Weaver. First published in 1948, the book argues that the decline of the West began with the rejection of absolute truth by the medieval scholastics, and that this decline has continued into modern times.

While we do not share the author’s analysis of origin of the decline of the West, his prescription for curing it, or even what constitutes Western Civilization, we can appreciate his insight about the importance of ideas. All practice – the actions we take, the words we use – are the result of some prior theory. John Robbins put it this way,

Not only do ideas have consequences, but only ideas have consequences: Human actions are not independent of ideas but the results of ideas (The Religious Wars of the 21st Century).

Given the practical mindset that dominates in the US and throughout the West, the notion that ideas are logically prior to, and more important than, actions may seem strange to many. One 20th century theologian who well understood the importance of ideas was Gordon Clark. For Clark, ideas were not merely the thoughts that a man thinks, they were the very definition of the man himself. Clark wrote,

the definition [of a person] must be a composite of propositions. As a man thinketh in his (figurative) heart, so is he. A man is what he thinks…a person is the propositions he thinks (The Incarnation, 54, 55).

It is not true that we are what we eat. We are defined, not by what we consume at the dinner table, but by the thoughts we think. And the thoughts we think have consequences for all eternity. Our very salvation depends upon our understanding of, and accepting as true, the propositions of the 66 books of the Bible, especially the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

But not only do ideas have consequences for individual persons, they have consequences on the civilizational level as well. One of the major themes of this blog has been civilizational collapse, both in the US and in the West generally. And it is important to understand that the many, seemingly unrelated crises facing the West all have a common cause: the rejection of Jesus Christ in favor of secular philosophy. A writer could proclaim with force and eloquence against the many particular ills of our age – the pop culture sewer, abortion, mass shootings, rampant sodomy, the growth of government, the destruction of personal freedom, the rise of false religions, the grossly fraudulent financial system, incompetent leadership in the home, business, government and the church – but were he to fail to understand that these are but symptoms of the collapse, and not the collapse themselves, were he to fail to connect these many ills with the West’s rejection of the Gospel of Christ, he would ill serve his readers. Yet it is this writer’s observation that such is often the case.

Contrary to the propaganda one hears in the mainstream media, Christianity, far from being opposed to personal freedom and economic prosperity, is the origin and guarantor of both. This was the main point John Robbins made in Christ and Civilization.

In the sixteenth century, God caused the Gospel of justification by faith alone to be widely preached and believed in Western Europe for the first time, using Luther and Calvin and many others to accomplish his purpose of building his kingdom. God blessed his people in Western Europe and America beyond anything they could have imagined, and his blessings spilled over into society at large, creating what we now call Western civilization…

All these things – the things we call Western civilization – were added to the European and American Christians, on an historically unprecedented scale, just as Christ had promised [But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you (Matthew 6:33)]. And they were added because their priorities were straight: They believed the Gospel, seeking first the Kingdom of God and his imputed righteousness, not their own righteousness or prosperity (Christ and Civilization, 45, 46).

That Western civilization is the product of the widespread preaching of and belief in the Gospel is likely a new thought to many, even to those who are professing Christians. We simply are not taught this today. Certainly not in school. Not even in the churches. But if we do not understand the source of our freedom and prosperity, how can we ever hope to preserve them in the face of growing tyranny?

The West is in collapse, because the people of the West have exchanged the truth of God for the lie. And the lie is producing its destructive consequences, many of which are manifest every day on the evening news, others of which continue to fester in the background. This fall the American people will be treated to a visit, including an address to Congress, by Antichrist in the person of Francis I. Yet so dull of hearing are most Americans that they will welcome this servant of Satan and his encyclical siren song as though he were an angel of light. Sadly, numbered among them will be many who call themselves Evangelicals, whose inability to discern evil right in front of their noses is a direct consequence of their failure to systematically apply the truth of the Word of God in all areas of life. Ideas have consequences.