Sophocles was a 5th century BC playwright. There is a line from his play, Antigone, that struck me when I heard it this evening: “Whom the gods would destroy they first make mad.” A more recent variation of Sophocles’ line reads: “Whom God would destroy, He first makes mad.”
In other words (and to allude to the prophet Isaiah) to those whom God leads to destruction, evil is good, bitter is sweet, and darkness is light.
I thought of those ancient words as I pondered the recent events rampaging through and changing the country I love – and am losing by the hour.
It was 1965 when Barry McGuire wrote, The Eve of Destruction. I fear his lyrics were prescient. Here is part of the song:
“I can't twist the truth, it knows no regulation, Handful of Senators don't pass legislation, And marches alone can't bring integration, When human respect is disintegratin', This whole crazy world is just too frustratin', And you tell me over and over and over again my friend, Ah, you don't believe we're on the eve of destruction.”
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Watch the news any day for five minutes, and then tell me you don’t think we are as close to the eve of destruction as we can be without actually falling into the pit; and tell me you don’t think “Whom God would destroy, He first makes mad.”
So, Christian -- how then ought we to live?
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