Name: How should we then live?
ISBN: 9780891072928

How should we then live?

As one of the foremost evangelical thinkers of the twentieth century, Francis Schaeffer long pondered the fate of declining Western culture. In this brilliant book he analyzed the reasons for modern society's state of affairs and presented the only viable alternative: living by the Christian ethic, acceptance of God's revelation, and total affirmation of the Bible's morals, values, and meaning. - Publisher.

What Hacker News says

aliasxneoSep 2024

I recently finished Francis Schaeffer's "How Should We Then Live?" and found his conclusions quite timely, considering the book is approaching its 50th anniversary. The latter half of the book specifically dwells on the effects of postmodernism on culture, especially the arts. Watching Rick Beato's criticism of modern music, I can't help but notice how eerily similar it is to Schaeffer's criticisms.

Personally, I've struggled to understand whether I'm suffering from nostalgia or if the era of good music is truly coming to an end. I wasn't able to afford college when I was younger, but I did have an opportunity to take a university level class on music appreciation later in my life. It's what still has me going to the symphony every year. Perhaps if such courses were more affordable/accessible, we might seem some improvements in this area?

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milesfFeb 2017

The problem with this line of argumentation is atheism does not explain or give reasons for the most basic questions we have as human beings. Who am I? Why am I here? Where am I going?

Also, in the realm of morality, everything atheism purports to be true is completely optional. We can all agree that murder is wrong, but what's to stop an independent person from asking the logical question "who says?". Objectively, why is murder wrong? Societies are very delicate things, and it does not take much to spin them out of control. When chaos rises, people will trade their freedoms for order, and there will be guns in the street. Just look at the rise and fall of the Roman Empire.

Have a look at the series "How Should We Then Live?" by the late Dr. Francis Schaeffer. His insights into art, music, and architecture being a reflector and record of history is fascinating. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0Hr0RLHxnI&list=PLl7doUcMOr...

So people may very well give up their beliefs, for a time, but then the pendulum will swing back the other way hard, and societies will be grasping at some other explanation to answer those basic questions: who am I? why am I here? where am I going?

This is all very well trodden territory. People chase their tails their entire lives trying to live without God, and end up being right back where they started at the end of their lives, just like Bertrand Russell did.

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