Take a look at this remarkable exchange, and then let's make a few painful but necessary observations.
Subscribe to view the full article, including all images, videos, and social media embeds.
When asked to define what he means by a system, the woke kid couldn't.
When asked to give a concrete example of a racist law or institution, the woke kid couldn't.
When pressed for evidence that might challenge his belief, the woke kid says plainly that nothing would change his mind.
What unfolds there is not merely confusion, but the collapse of the basic categories that make thinking possible. A belief that cannot be defined, tested, or falsified is no longer an argument. It has become an article of faith.
And that is where the Christian diagnosis must begin.
Scripture teaches that rebellion against God does not leave the mind untouched. It darkens understanding and bends reason itself. The Apostle Paul writes, "Although they knew God, they did not honor him as God … but became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened" (Romans 1:21).
The crisis, in other words, is not intellectual first, but spiritual. Thinking collapses because worship has already collapsed. A mind determined not to submit to truth will eventually lose the ability to even recognize it.
This is why the student cannot define his terms, weigh evidence, or imagine being wrong. But it's important to understand this issue is deeper than campus culture or curriculum. It is the ancient human impulse to exchange truth for a story that feels morally satisfying.
Subscribe to view the full article, including all images, videos, and social media embeds.
Perhaps the most chilling moment in that video comes when the student rejects even the possibility of degrees or complexity. Racism, he insists, simply is or is not - no spectrum, no context, no room for nuance.
He speaks with moral certainty, but without moral responsibility. Evil is always located somewhere out there, in systems or structures or other people, never in the accusing heart itself.
The Christian story runs in the opposite direction. Before injustice is institutional, it is personal. Before sin is systemic, it is internal. "None is righteous, no, not one" (Romans 3:10).
This is Christianity's great leveling truth. It removes both despair and superiority. Everyone stands guilty, and therefore everyone may be forgiven.
Christianity insists on telling the whole truth about reality.
If the West is to recover the ability to think, it will not happen first in lecture halls or legislatures. It will happen where it has happened before, with men and women submitting themselves to the source of all real wisdom:
"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge."
Enjoying this article? Subscribe for full access.
Subscribers see every embed, image, and video inline — plus comments and our fully-featured social platform.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Not the Bee or any of its affiliates.
