America is growing darker—literally.
Consider. Everybody wants to sell you an LED bulb that's "the equivalent of 60 watts." But what if you have a somewhat larger room or a higher ceiling? What if you want the equivalent of a 100-watt bulb? Not as readily available.
Then there's the dimming of hotel rooms. It's not just that they've switched to LEDs (in this economy, who could blame management?). The problem is they use the absolute lowest wattage bulbs money can buy. Which means your room is quite dim.
Another example. This summer, we installed a new ceiling fan in my home office. The attached light fixture allows for a maximum of 19 (wimpy) watts of power.
For thousands of years, civilizations struggled to find enough light to illuminate their homes adequately. Today, we have the technology but live in dimmer and dimmer rooms. You could almost believe that in America, we love darkness.
Of course, my gripe about lightbulbs is small potatoes compared to the moral darkening we seem to encourage, culturally. Our movies, music, video games, and schools are moving from dim to dark—all the while calling darkness light and light darkness.
We vilify anyone who suggests that having biologically born boys showering with girls at school is wrong. We assault (legally) anyone who offers gender conversion therapy. Would anyone just ten years ago have believed this could happen in America?
The prophet Isaiah said, "Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness" (Isaiah 5:20).
How shall we then live? The words of Jesus come to mind:
"Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." —Matt 5:16
