‘We need Jesus,’ podcaster Rogan says

OPINION:

This past week, Joe Rogan said the following on his podcast: “The problem with living in a secular society … that has a lot of people who are atheists, who have no belief system … is that you find a belief system and that a lot of these people that call themselves atheists [have] subscribed to the religion of ’woke.’ You know, their god is equity and inclusiveness. Their god is this ideology that they think you have to subscribe to.

“And that’s why it’s spooky. Human beings seem to have a very strong desire for some sort of order and form and some sort of pattern that they can follow, which seems to be the right way to go. And they can be led. They can be led by cults. They can be led by groups of people. They can be led by, you know, intolerant governments and evil armies and corrupt politicians. They can be led.

“But I think as time rolls on, people are going to understand the need to have some sort of divine structure to things, some sort of belief in the sanctity of love and of truth. And a lot of that comes from religion. A lot of people’s moral compass and the guidelines that they’ve followed to live a just and righteous life have come from religion. We need Jesus. For real.”

What Mr. Rogan said is precisely what Christians have been saying for 2,000 years.

First, as Pascal inferred, a vacuum is always filled. Everyone who claims to have no belief system will, by default, create a new one. History is replete with the lesson of Robespierre: All who deny God will inevitably declare themselves to be God. Or, as St. Paul told the first-century Romans, everyone either “worships the Creator or worships the created.”

Human beings, by definition, as Mr. Rogan says, “have a strong desire for some sort of order and form.” If none exists, we create it. Chaos cannot sustain itself. It is always corrected by the rule of government over every aspect of our lives or the rule of God in our hearts.

Second, people will be led. From time immemorial, we see that men and women will inevitably follow the leader. Whether it be the coercion of “governments and evil armies,” as suggested by Mr. Rogan, or the creeds of the church, we will all “choose this day whom we will serve.” This is human nature. Bob Dylan told us we are all “going to serve somebody.” “It may be the devil or it may be the Lord,” but we will be led.

Third, human beings are the imago Dei; we are not the imago dog. We are made in the image of God, and as such, we alone, as Mr. Rogan suggests, understand the “sanctity of truth.”

This is an exclusive human capacity. Dogs don’t argue or debate. Animals have no understanding of the difference between honesty and deceit. God’s thumbprint of moral awareness is uniquely stamped on the human soul.

This alone explains what Mr. Rogan calls our desire to “live a just and righteous life.” This is what separates us from the rest of creation. We are made in God’s image. Nothing else around us is.

Fourth, we need Jesus. Our dilemma is that despite standing alone as bearing God’s likeness in our hearts, minds and souls, we are broken. Our rebellion against our Creator has brought a universal curse on all people, in all times and in all places. Evidence of this is rife in the daily news.

G.K. Chesterton said nearly 100 years ago that “original sin is the only doctrine that’s been empirically validated by 2,000 years of human history.” All we need to see the proof that everyone is a hopeless sinner is to read today’s news.

Joe Rogan is absolutely right: We all need something to believe in. All of us can and will be led. We all yearn for truth. And every one of us “needs Jesus.”

But which Jesus is it that we need? Is it the one that looks like the God we see in the Bible, or is it the one that looks like the God we see in the mirror, you know, the “affirming” one rather than the great “I am” who said we “must be born again” and to “go and sin no more”?

C.S. Lewis once instructed: “Either [Jesus] was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse.”

The Jesus we all need is neither a liar nor a lunatic, but precisely who he said he was and proved by his resurrection: He is our Lord, our savior and our king. He is the Alpha and Omega and the beginning and the end. He is the Word made flesh and dwelling among us. He was there at the “beginning of days,” and he will judge us at the end of them. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, and no one comes to the Father but through him. This is the “for real” Jesus that we all need. Without him, our culture is doomed, and we are all lost.

• Everett Piper (dreverettpiper.com, @dreverettpiper), a columnist for The Washington Times, is a former university president and radio host.