Is Rousseau’s “General Will” Valid Today?
It is the Heart of Rousseau’s Concept of Truth
I have dealt with this concept of General Will beginning with, Father of the Never Ending Revolution, Rousseau. History is the key to understanding today but Satan is the master of delusion; is the concept of General Will valid or relevant for today and if so, under what label does it persist? Postmodernism claims to be new but in fact its lie was evident in the first sin when Satan deliberately misrepresented God’s words to Woman creating doubt in her mind to tempt her to substitute her truth for God’s truth (Ge 3:1-5; Ro 1:18-28). Today it flies under the radar by another name, worldview. It is in this iteration that it has entered Christianity to wreck havoc in the Church {Pergamum and Thyatira for examples} (Re 2:12-29). Rousseau would have been proud of his work.
Rousseau’s one truth has little to do with truth but much to do with his concept of the General Will which does not come from the people but it the guiding darkness for the people; i.e., it flows from some other source unionizing the inspired to become the eyes, ears, arms and legs of government. Rousseau would have defined as lies anything and everything that detracted from this General Will; hence, neither has anything to do with actual truth.
To illustrate this point let us briefly examine the maxim, “Murder is wrong!” Ask the Christian why it is wrong and they will, should, point to God’s Word which is absolute truth, “Do Not Murder” (Ex 20:13). Ask anyone else and you will get an indefensible answer such as: everyone knows it is wrong; society agrees it is wrong; or it violates natural law, however that may be defined; etc. Each of these alternative explanations flow from logical fallacies and fall back onto beliefs that flow from a works-based faith or religion. Christendom is a works-based belief system that claims the Bible as its basis but readily substitutes man’s philosophies in lieu of Scripture; i.e., Christian psychology is one example. The oldest of these is Roman Catholicism (RCC) which gave birth to nearly every other so-called Christian belief system: Greek Orthodoxy; Protestantism, etc. In fact, Rousseau’s General Will was a justification for rejecting France’s RCC tyranny in league with the Monarchy the French Revolution sought to overthrow and replace with Socialism that masqueraded as Reason or Scientism. And out of this societal remake rose Napoleon who nearly brought European Greco-Roman culture under one ruler; himself! But, as our post, Democracy: Socialism by Mob Rule {Antifa}, reveals societal remaking requires the effort of grassroots or populists enthusiasm via the consent of the enslaved to be successful. How does this occur today? Communistic-type socialism has either failed or morphed into some other form to stay afloat. Yet, Western nations are hurdling headlong into international socialism with wild abandon supported by grassroots movements such as Antifa. How? Why?
Schematic Suggesting How Worldviews
Form The General Will Truth
Worldview is, “a comprehensive conception or apprehension of the world especially from a specific standpoint {Merriam-Webster.}.” It is based on agreed upon knowledge that is passed onto each member of the societal culture, or nation-state in modern parlance. At its heart is a set of values, agreed upon truths and lies, that form its definition of morality. The source of one’s morality is one’s religion; thus, even those who deny God, atheists, have a religion since ALL people’s have an innate sense of right and wrong {part of being made in God’s image} (Ge 1:27). Lost people, which is everyone ever born, build their worldview apart from God’s truth; hence, ALL worldviews are built to justify one’s sin and condemn those who are different as worst sinners worthy of death (Ps 51:5; Ro 1:18-28; 2:1-11; 3:10-18, 23). Everything, I mean everything, flows from one’s lost worldview. All worldviews are the same in that God is rejected. Worldviews are different in that they are tailored by each society to justify the aims of that group. It may be enshrined as culture or heritage or some other holy word to make it inviolate against competing worldviews or God’s Gospel of Salvation (Ac 17:16-32). It is absolutely essential that a critical mass of believers have similar worldviews in order to develop into a certain General Will. If the General Will is in harmony with societal’s worldviews then this occurs seamlessly; however, if the General Will is foreign to the current societal system then it is resisted until there are enough grassroots believers to push their system onto others, usually, but not always, violently. Public education, formal and informal are essential to propagate society’s worldview and to incubate opposing worldviews that seek to become the new General Will.
As Worldviews Join into a Coherent Unity
They Merge into The General Will Collective
Marcuse developed his liberation philosophy, theology, to propagate socialism’s General Will into countries seeking economic freedom from Christendom or Western mercantilism; yes, even into the 20th century {Marcuse and Davis: Parents of Antifa.}. As people with similar worldviews merge into a group the General Will is developed based on accepted truths. When enough people merge and have access to power, elites, then this General Will competes against societal’s General Will. Rioting; Violence; Rebellion are the usual mechanisms of change along with wholesale degradation because: Sin. The mistake is to only associate General Will with Socialism. Every society has a General Will. America’s General Will is that America was founded as a godly nation based on rugged individualism to overthrow colonialism around the World. None of these concepts were, are, true but were propagated through public education to advance Protestantism as America’s religion. Socialism crept into public education and by the 1960s was strong enough to begin the change toward a different General Will based on obvious Socialism. Today we experience the battles between two different, but not Christian, General Wills.
Where Do Wars and Fightings Come From?
Satan Refining His Opposing General Wills
James asked, “From whence come wars and fightings among you?” (Ja 4:1a KJV). He answered it individually and timelessly. I am expanding it collectively in modern parlance; via the General Will. Daniel shows us that Satan has been refining governments, collective General Wills, to achieve his goal of having a single world government, socialism, that directly worships him. He uses the survival of the fittest technique to have different General Wills battle to determine which one is better. History is his process of refining lost man via wars. Today’s competition between competing General Wills, misconstrued with worldviews, has come to the churches. America has been defined by a series of religious awakenings that have become ensconced into its General Will. With the change from Protestant morality, not to be confused with salvation, to progressive socialism, America has entered a different awakening called, wokeism {The New Religion of the West. Converge Media.}. This grew out of communism’s reaction to Germany’s workers socialism via Antifa and the Frankfurt School which moved to America to develop socialism’s Critical Theory and Liberation philosophies.
Christendom embraced this new movement because it was consistent with its roots of old school socialism and psychological theology as being science when in fact it was scientism. However, because evangelical churches became embroiled in political elections based on America’s General Will error, it too began adopting the new, not really new, religion of wokeism. Christians are being given a false dilemma logical fallacy: Accept America’s traditional General Will or reject it as false and embrace America’s new General Will being propagated by Antifa mobs and laws via a Democratic government. This is being pitched as a battle against God and Satan when in fact it is simply Satan giving YOU a choice of which LIE to embrace as he continues to refine competing General Wills to achieve the strongest Control possible as he prepares for Christ’s coming (Re 12:7-12).
So, to answer our question, “Is Rousseau’s “General Will” Valid Today?” Yes! It has always been valid just under different labels. Christians are to discern the times based on Scripture to avoid being drawn into the Delusion of Satan (2Th 2:3-12). However, this is a minority view and often rejected by the General Will of most evangelical Christians. How true did Christ prophesied when He asked, “…will he find faith on earth?” (Lk 18:6-8). We have the written word taught by the Spirit; we should not be so easily led astray (1Co 2:14). But, as Christians rely on sources other than the Bible they will be babes in the Word and easily led astray (He 5:11-14). Pray, study to show yourself approved by study in the Bible (2Ti 2:14-19; 3:16-17).