If you are unfamiliar with Hamilton’s “Aaron Burr, Sir,” I highly recommend giving it a quick listen before proceeding.
There is one line from this song that resonates in particular:
“If you stand for nothing, what will you fall for?”
Hamilton the Musical
Just take a moment to reflect upon this quote. For those of you unfamiliar with the musical or story of Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr is portrayed as an old friend of Hamilton’s who takes many different “sides” in order to raise his status without much consideration for the consequences of his actions. He is also notorious for his inability to make decisions and for his willingness to change, even political parties, in order to obtain greater power than his former allies. With this approach toward life, Burr eventually becomes the Vice President of the United States under Jefferson after he served as both a Continental Officer in the Revolutionary War and as a U.S. senator. However, he is hardly remembered for any of his accomplishments. Why? He shot Hamilton in an illegal duel near the end of his term in office, which ruined both his limelight and career — despite the fact that all charges against him were eventually dropped.
Burr chose which battles to fight-for with far less noble intentions than Hamilton, and these continuous, self-satisfying decisions led him down quite a glamorous path — at least according to society’s standards. He became quite the people-pleasing politician, and his “talk less, smile more” attitude took him even further . . . until his final decision in an illegal duel cost him not only his career, but also the life of a former ally.
His inability to stand for something slowly wore Burr’s relationship with Hamilton down, and ultimately this indifference became lethal.
With this in mind, I want to dedicate this particular post to all of those taking a by-standing, “it’s not my problem or my right to speak” position regarding any circumstance or political issue, whether it is controversial or not, today. As people, we need to do better for one another, if not for ourselves, but also for our future generations.
Apathy and indifference
“The most deadly poison of our times is indifference”
Maximilian Kolbe
There is a striking truth to Kolbe’s words. I think we can all agree that billionaires prioritizing the rebuilding of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris over helping to feed the hungry or to donate as generously to humanitarian relief services is one of the many instances within the last few decades that exemplifies the sad reality we live in. Although many people do sincerely care about the welfare of others, there are those who are far more conditional in their efforts. Many choose how to respond to any injustice according to a “buffet” of options, choosing the one that is the most politically correct, or the most likely to succeed, or the one that most-closely aligns with the value systems of society or those around them, similar to that of Burr.
There’s a slight difference between indifference and apathy. Apathy is a state of indifference, but it focuses on the lack of feeling or emotion concerned with an individual or event. Indifference, on the other hand, is far more general. It is a lack of sympathy, often associated with obliviousness and a lack of concern, with detachment to such an extreme that one does not have motivation to conduct any research to no longer be in a state of ignorance. Apathetic individuals do not care, and indifferent individuals do not act as a result.
Hypocrisy
One major problem today in society is that some people, particularly self-proclaimed Christians, “do not care” nearly as much about the selfishness of their actions. An increase in apathy of the moral worth of actions as a society has contributed to a significant increase in hypocrisy. We live in a contemporary era that is filled with instant-gratification, which has contributed to a large “I”-centered world. People want to “take” or “get” self-gratification from sex, substances, or material possessions, which are more widely available today than they ever were before.
As a result, many children grow up exposed to a variety of unhealthy adult relationships and mature material while very young. These things have become normalized in modern culture. Even though things deemed sinful (like pre-marital sex, drugs, intoxication, etc.) are explicitly condemned in nearly every major world religion, such behavior is evermore common among youth and their role-modeling adults. About 80% of the United States identifies with a major world religion, yet the number of truly practicing people who strive to live lives according to the “way of life” they profess is strikingly less significant. I couldn’t give you the numbers if I wanted to because most “churches” will only market weekly attendance. However, I wander, truly, what proportion of Religious truly attempt to adhere to their professed beliefs in every aspect of their lives? Nobody is perfect (as the video below and the existence of the sex-scandals in the Church have shown), but effort speaks far louder than apathy. Holiness is supposed to be a struggle. But that doesn’t mean “Don’t try.”
It appears that people may know things are “wrong” or immoral according to their self-identified religions, but a large percentage of popular culture, simply does not care. Television today should be evidence of this. If not, check out popular opinions in the News or simply on Twitter. Maybe people don’t understand why certain thoughts or behaviors are sinful, or maybe they have other personal mental-health-related issues. However, this reality has made Religion as a whole widely un-appealing to a wide-variety of people not raised in a religious household. It’s become more of a “buffet” of beliefs that one can just pick and choose from… And honestly… If it sticks like this for long, it won’t last.
This is a common thought-process from people who have grown up in non-religious or overly-religious households that neglect the free-will or education necessary to remain genuinely practicing their faith:
Why be religious if the people who “are” are such hypocrites? Why be religious if the people who are just go through the motions and put on a “happy face” every Sunday, while they spend the rest of the week partying or engaging in casual sex with multiple partners? See the problem?
People who desperately seek something tangible to believe-in need to witness sincerity and integrity, or else, Religion can become as superficial as Santa Clause or Area 51. And for those who truly believe in God, this is a great disservice not only to the present, but to the entirety of souls in the future. As human beings, we need to strive to be better.
The Sin of Omission
“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.”
James 1:22-25
Apathy and indifference often lead one to commit omission, the sin of inaction. Omission is knowing what is right and true and deliberately choosing to not act accordingly, or putting oneself in a situation to avoid doing something one knows he should do. Popular culture often describes morality as a list of don’ts, but that’s merely scratching the surface of what it means to live a God-fearing, let alone a moral, life. Countless witnesses of certain religious traditions view their faith as liberating, not restricting, and no, it isn’t because they are brainwashed. (Perhaps, instead of attributing their beliefs to ignorance, one should consider investigating why they believe what they do, not just why you think they believe it.)
When it comes to traditional Christian theology, one is as morally responsible for the things one fails to do as the sins one freely commits. However, this idea is not limited to Christianity. It is universally human. Being a bystander to a murder or a bullying incident is considered unethical in almost every country. In fact, there can even be legal consequences to inaction to others’ wrong doings. For example, most adults in the United States are required by law to report any suspicion of child abuse, and the failure to do so is a criminal offense.
“If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them”
James 4:17
People aware of this sin can commit omission simply by not opening a door for someone in need while merely watching them struggle, by failing to defend someone’s dignity, or by refraining from standing-up for one’s faith or morals when they are scrutinized by friends or enemies.
Jesus made some pretty bold claims, like “I am the way, the Truth, and the life.”
If Christians truly believe these words, they should live accordingly. They should follow Christ’s living, breathing, word in Holy Scripture, and they should not profess it as “outdated, sexist, or not related to the context of today.” Doing so undermines the sanctity and vitality of God’s word today. Its authors may have been men, but they are believed to have been inspired by the Holy Spirit, and thus Sacred Scripture’s meaning is eternal – it was prevalent in the beginning, now, and will be prevalent until the end of time. The videos below gives short theological explanations for how the bible can be God’s word, “without error”, yet also be written by human beings:
Inerrant, or being without error, does not mean that the bible is grammatically or literarily perfect nor consistent. It was written by human authors across many centuries. Rather, inerrancy refers to the idea that the bible contains God’s message necessary for salvation for human beings to acquire. Certainly the bible’s authors’ styles may be subject to their own personalities and biases, and thus the bible should be read with proper historical and theological context, but certain messages, although unpopular to our modern culture (such as the Church’s teaching on homosexuality) remain inerrant.
Common Issues with Overwhelming Ignorance and Indifference
Abortion and Fetal Heartbeat Laws
In nearly every major world religion, abortion is considered a grave injustice and highly immoral. Judaism, Islam, and Christianity are united in deeming abortion unethical, allowing it in the event that the baby is a threat to the mother’s life. Islam is the most “pro-choice” religion, but Judaism and Christianity – the most prevalent faiths in the United States – have very strict teachings about protecting all human life. Why, then, are so many people “pro-choice?” Well… like I talked about before… many people today appear to just “pick and choose” what they want to believe and not what their faith officially teaches. They have free-will.
An important thing to keep in mind, then:
You cannot be prochoice and truly religious without being a considered a hypocrite or indifferent.
If society is going to be consistent with pro-abortion – one’s baby is only alive if “the parents say it is” nonsense, then people should not have the right to tell people they’re sorry for others’ loss due to miscarriages or “congratulations” when a couple gets pregnant. Why celebrate what isn’t alive? Oh wait. Science says that it is. People just don’t like to agree with science or the facts. Start by looking into the 3% myth.
In the culture we live in today, the second someone is happy about their choice – whether to abort or maintain a pregnancy …. only then do the majority of people give polar opposite responses. (i.e. The same person may congratulate a pregnancy to one couple, but an abortion to another). Society is infiltrated by this sort of relativism and hypocrisy. Science, on the other hand, isn’t.
I encourage you to start to investigate the Truth, not the popular opinion when it comes to major “controversial” issues. Convenience does not warrant the “right” choice, nor do people’s feelings.
For example, here are some lesser known facts about abortion-related services:
Fetal Heartbeat Laws
The past few months have been filled with controversy from popular media platforms about Fetal Heartbeat Laws passed in a variety of states recently. Tweets drew attention to these laws as being “anti-women,” emphasizing rare cases of pregnant 11-year-olds, rape, incest, or when the woman’s life is in danger as situations in which abortion should be medically justified. However, these “hard-cases” boil-down to two scenarios: either abortion is not medically necessary and the fetus will unfortunately die naturally, or the event that “two-wrongs do not make a right” (rape is incredibly unethical, but in the event that an innocent child is conceived, it does not justify termination of a perfectly healthy baby).
In Alabama, the social media outcry was about how anti-women the legislation was, despite the Governor being a woman, as well as the majority of pro-life advocates.
If you are neutral, for, or against abortion, I recommend looking into women’s defenses of protecting life rather than assuming all laws such as the Fetal Heartbeat laws were entirely male-oriented or intended to restrict “reproduction rights.” The links below are very women-run and women-targeted, detailing the common misconceptions about abortion. They stem from the argument that all human beings, especially the innocent, deserve the inalienable right to life, and our future generations should not be an exception.
For more on abortion: See “My body, My Rights” , Feminists For Life Planned Parenthood’s Annual Report, & Live Action
Not one soul is exempt from humanity as a whole. We are all guilty of indifference or ignorance at some point in life, and most of us will continue to struggle with this concept until we perish. However, we should never allow ourselves to maintain indifference at the expense of another human life, regardless of whether someone is experiencing physical, psychological, or spiritual abuse.
So, I ask you…
What do you stand for?
Keep an open mind. Research both sides, but don’t limit yourself to the Internet. Make yourself uncomfortable, and ask individuals from both extremes the serious questions and their respective rationales. I encourage you to break free from popular stereotyping, to recognize the abundance of overlooked similarities, and then, to take it one step-further and choose for yourself what is worth defending.
They’ll call us out for our fallacies. People aren’t idiots. You’re either all in, or you’re not in. There’s no middle ground as much as you’d like to believe there is.
God bless.
LG❥
Pursuit of Truth 
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