It is heart-rending but quite fascinating to see a culture in decline.
Following the rejection of God and the Bible by the Swiss public, there is now a general run-down in Switzerland.
For example, someone I know is involved in running a company, and complained recently of increasing number of mistakes in the functioning of the Betreibungsamt: instead of a Betreibung being issued on behalf of his company (let us call it X) to another Company (let us call it Y), the Betreibung was issued by the Betreibungsamt against his own company (X)! And this was the 2nd time that this has happened in some three months!!!
Another person I know involved in running a small company, complains that Swiss accountants can no longer be trusted to do an accurate job.
Yet another person complains that Swiss Treuhänder no longer give reliable advice.
There is now rubbish thrown on the streets in small towns such as the one I live in, and even on remote rural pathways - this has started happening noticeably in "my" area only from this year.
Zurich has of course for the last few years grown increasingly hospitable to graffiti.
People in Geneva complain of daylight robbery even in shopping centres.
Is this only due to an increasing number of foreigners, as some Swiss think? Or is this because Switzerland's own culture is breaking down?
It is true that, in the big cities, the increasing number of foreigners may contribute to this phenomenon. But in smaller towns like "mine" where there are hardly any foreigners anyway, that can't be the reason.
Which is why I say that I am watching a whole culture break down - and the tragic thing is that the Swiss don't want to even notice it.
I had always thought that when the Bible talks about people being "blinded" by their sins, it is speaking about "spiritual blindness". I now realise that the blindness relates not only to spiritual phenomena, it is relates even to the physical world around us.
That is why Italians (who never had a Biblical culture anyway) put up with the physical mess in which so much of the country lives.
That is why my own people (in India) see neither the physical mess which is much worse than in Italy, nor indeed are alarmed by large-scale corruption.
So I guess that what will come, after physical signs of decay and disorganisation have become prevalent in Switzerland, will be large-scale corruption.
And the consequence of that is always widespread poverty.
I wonder how long that will take to get here.
Unless of course the Swiss public turns to God and the Bible again, and rebuilds its culture in a way that is fit for the twenty-first century.
Following the rejection of God and the Bible by the Swiss public, there is now a general run-down in Switzerland.
For example, someone I know is involved in running a company, and complained recently of increasing number of mistakes in the functioning of the Betreibungsamt: instead of a Betreibung being issued on behalf of his company (let us call it X) to another Company (let us call it Y), the Betreibung was issued by the Betreibungsamt against his own company (X)! And this was the 2nd time that this has happened in some three months!!!
Another person I know involved in running a small company, complains that Swiss accountants can no longer be trusted to do an accurate job.
Yet another person complains that Swiss Treuhänder no longer give reliable advice.
There is now rubbish thrown on the streets in small towns such as the one I live in, and even on remote rural pathways - this has started happening noticeably in "my" area only from this year.
Zurich has of course for the last few years grown increasingly hospitable to graffiti.
People in Geneva complain of daylight robbery even in shopping centres.
Is this only due to an increasing number of foreigners, as some Swiss think? Or is this because Switzerland's own culture is breaking down?
It is true that, in the big cities, the increasing number of foreigners may contribute to this phenomenon. But in smaller towns like "mine" where there are hardly any foreigners anyway, that can't be the reason.
Which is why I say that I am watching a whole culture break down - and the tragic thing is that the Swiss don't want to even notice it.
I had always thought that when the Bible talks about people being "blinded" by their sins, it is speaking about "spiritual blindness". I now realise that the blindness relates not only to spiritual phenomena, it is relates even to the physical world around us.
That is why Italians (who never had a Biblical culture anyway) put up with the physical mess in which so much of the country lives.
That is why my own people (in India) see neither the physical mess which is much worse than in Italy, nor indeed are alarmed by large-scale corruption.
So I guess that what will come, after physical signs of decay and disorganisation have become prevalent in Switzerland, will be large-scale corruption.
And the consequence of that is always widespread poverty.
I wonder how long that will take to get here.
Unless of course the Swiss public turns to God and the Bible again, and rebuilds its culture in a way that is fit for the twenty-first century.
