Individualism and the Real Problem with the World

Martin Lloyd-Jones said "The trouble with mankind is not any one particular manifestation of sin, but rather sin itself." I tend to get caught up, as I think many do, in diagnosing the world and our culture with particular problems. While it is true sin may look different in different times, Solomon's statement also holds true: "What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun."

In this vein, D.A. Carson has a very helpful article on Individualism. While I am often tempted to despise our current obsession with individualism, Carson applies wisdom, nuance, and history to our present culture. For example:

The fundamental issue is not the priority of the individual over against the community, or the reverse. The fundamental issue is whether individuals and communities live their lives in this broken world, by the grace of the gospel, in joyful submission to our Maker, Redeemer, providential Ruler, and coming Judge. To displace this basic theological analysis by turning individualism into the primary bogeyman—or, in some cultures, by elevating individualism as in itself a heroic good—is to lose sight of the Godward dimension that must determine Christian understanding of what is fundamentally right and wrong.

It's a long article, but it's worth reading the whole thing, especially if your prone, like me, to obsess over the culture instead of focusing on the Gospel. There is good news in knowing there are no new sins: the same grace still avails for sinners. "For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation, to the Jew first and also to the Greek."