In his 1972 book, Never Confuse A Memo With Reality, author Richard Moran compiled the things he wished someone had told him early in his career. They include: “Be nice to receptionists.” “Never take a problem to your boss without a solution. You’re getting paid to think, not whine.” “When you hear words like `de-layering,’ ‘restructuring’ or ‘rightsizing,’ get your resume together.” And this: “If you tell a racist joke, be prepared to be fired.”
The piece of advice from which the title is drawn reads: “Never confuse a memo with reality. Most memos are political fantasy” (Note 1). If we were to write the book today, it would be entitled “Never Confuse A Memo or Politics With Reality.” (Note 2)
Being confused about reality arises innocently enough from holding a faulty worldview. But it is a march against the created order of things. In the Biblical Worldview (to which we hold (Note 3)), this is called idolatry. Idolatry is worshipping a god other than the God of the Bible. Idolatry includes believing you can be your own god. Or looking to government as god. The practice of idolatry ensnares those who participate in it by deceiving them so well that they are no longer able to ask, is there not a lie in my right hand (Isaiah 44:20), (Note 4)?
At its core, idolatry is confusion about truth, and it leads inexorably to the loss of reason. And, ultimately to the inability to function as an organized society (see, for instance, Marxism, Marxism-Lite, Neo-Marxism). Anthony The Great (251 – 356 AD) captured it perfectly: “A time is coming when men will go mad, and when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him, saying, ‘You are mad; you are not like us’.”
So, in keeping with the original Never Confuse A Memo With Reality (“never take a problem to your boss without a solution”), what is the antidote to faulty worldview idolatry (“FWI”)? First, resist the urge to cede reality to politics. If allowed, politics corrupts everything. Second, examine how the created order works, considering it in the context of God’s revealed truth. You will find that a Biblical Worldview comports squarely with reality.
Note 1: We believe the original would have more accurately read ‘Never confuse a memo with reality. Most memos are political fantasy or legal cover.’ But we quibble.
Note 2: Or Brussels. Or Washington.
Note 3: If you find the Biblical Worldview inimical you may be at the wrong blog. #imjustsaying
Note 4: Adapted from The Moody Bible Commentary.