Jeremy Treat, pastor at Reality LA in Los Angeles, discusses how our longing for God reappears in different forms in a secular society. Exploring topics like sports, politics, witchcraft, wellness, and mindfulness apps, Treat shows how people seek power, purity, and peace. However, he emphasizes that our deepest longings can ultimately be found in Jesus Christ.
In a secular society, people redirect their longing for power from God to other sources such as astrology and witchcraft.
The secular longing for purity takes a different form in our society, particularly within food culture, where people seek purification through diets and organic, pure food.
Deep dives
Secular longing for power
In a secular society, people redirect their longing for power from God to other sources. This can be seen in the rise of astrology, where almost a third of Americans now turn to the stars for guidance. The secular longing for power also manifests in the dramatic increase of witchcraft in the United States, with over 1.5 million self-identified Wiccans today. These alternative belief systems and practices fulfill the human longing for an external power that can bring about change.
Secular longing for purity
The secular longing for purity takes a different form in our society, particularly within food culture. People use religious language to talk about food and health, seeking purification through diets and organic, pure food. This pursuit of purity has even led to an entire industry centered around wellness and self-improvement, marketed as a quasi-spiritual experience. By focusing on the purity of their bodies and souls through food, individuals attempt to find the sacred in their day-to-day lives.
Jeremy Treat, pastor at Reality LA in Los Angeles, observes how our longing for God does not disappear in a secular society. It just reappears in different forms: sports, politics, sexuality, and more. Treat describes how secular people today seek power, purity, and peace—traditionally sought in religion—in things like witchcraft, wellness, and mindfulness apps. Yet our deepest longings, Treat says, will not be found in any spiritual system or clean diet, but in a person: Jesus Christ.
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