Being a Disciple in a Secular Culture Pt. 3
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We are continuing our study on The American Culture and The Challenges for Christians and Churches to not be affected negatively by it. We have tried to make some observations about the culture and how the secular worldview of American Culture differs from a Christian Worldview and why. Last week I mentioned a couple of prominent pastors in America that basically are ignoring the Old Testament and apparently don’t believe it is the inspired Word of God and applicable today. We then discussed how it's difficult for people and some Christians today to accept God’s judgment described in The Old Testament. So the question came up as to how do we reconcile God’s love with God’s Justice?
But Before we talk about this specifically, Why are Christians questioning this and why don’t they or why won’t they try to comprehend this part of God’s character? What do you think? Why the disconnect? Do they not believe the same God is the God of the Old and New Testaments? Is the bible not clear? Has God not revealed his character in scripture? Are people ignorant of his character or just dismissing part of it?
I think they are just dismissing a part of God’s character. What kind of God is He? According to scripture God is perfectly Just and perfectly Loving. Deuteronomy 32: 4 He is the rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. Psalm 89:14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; steadfast love and faithfulness go before you. Can God be perfectly loving or perfectly just without punishing evil? No. Why? Does love demand acceptance of any behavior? Just because we love someone are we then required to accept anything they do? Do we love our children? Do we accept their behavior 100% of the time? I hope not.
Why not? Because they make bad decisions. And we correct them why? Because we love them. This seems to me where the disconnect is. The view our culture has right now is They believe“That if I love you then I must affirm you and anything action you “feel” that is right. Whatever you say or do, I must not object, if I love you. Why? Because if that’s what makes someone happy, and remember happiness is the ultimate goal in a secular culture. Remember the four tenants of Secular culture we talked about last week? If it makes them happy then it must be right or ok to do. And If you disagree with me, then you're judging me and that’s the biggest offense in a secular culture. Comments? Why does making a judgment on what they are doing offend the culture so, do you think? Because Who are you to withhold happiness from me? How can you know what makes me happy? And Why would you want to keep me from being happy? If you judge me you must not want me to be happy. Isn't that insane? But that’s what people believe. And it actually makes sense if your ultimate goal in life is happiness and there is no objective moral truth, no accountability, no hope of life after death.
If we did accept immoral behavior from our children would we be showing them love? I would argue no.
Love requires pointing out the ruth, otherwise, if we didn’t speak the truth and teach them truth then we wouldn’t love them. Love must stand for truth or it's not love. It's something else. Reinforcing a lie maybe? 1st Corinthians 13:6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
I have heard it described this way. If I don’t speak truth to you in love then I care more about myself and your feelings of me. If I do speak truth in love to you, I care more about you than your feelings of me. You can try it this way. Just ask someone if you knew I was making a bad decision, would you love me enough to say something to me? If they say yes, then you can say, I would like to say something to you out of love because I care about you.
Everyone is either going to receive grace or Justice. We all deserve Justice, but only believers in Jesus receive grace thankfully. It seems that the world and some Christians think that just because there is the possibility of grace or forgiveness is made available to us, that it then somehow removes the possibility of Justice & punishment. There has to be both possibilities. If not, What are we receiving grace or forgiveness from? The Justice that we deserve. There would be no need for a savior if there was not the possibility to be judged and separated from God. It’s the same reason some churches won't talk about separation from God in Hell. But that option has to be available. Why? Because God will not force us to love and worship Him here and now, or in eternity. It's our call.
There is a standard created by God that we must meet despite our sin. If we don’t meet it, then we are judged. Thankfully there is a way to meet it, through Christ’s sacrifice and our faith in Him. Any other thoughts/comments on this?
Does anyone remember what Supreme Court decision happened in 2015 that has caused a lot of controversy since? It changed one of the foundations of Western World. Same-sex marriage. An article written in The Washington Post several years ago was titled “A question to conservative Christians on Gay Marriage.” He writes "why draw the line here?" The author stated if Christians view other things as sinful, like adultery or drunkenness for example, why is there no controversy for other sins? Why don’t Christian Businesses take a stand against other sins and not just same-sex marriage?
It’s a fair question. How should we answer this do you think? One response I think is that same-sex marriage really isn’t marriage at all as defined by God in the bible which is who created marriage since the beginning. Genesis 2:24 24 That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. So we have redefined what marriage is. Some might say well same-sex marriage is legal now, why don’t you support it as a Christian? What would be your response to that? Well abortion is legal too. But it doesn’t make it morally right. It was also legal to own slaves 170 years ago.
The main reason it is wrong is that it's against what the scriptures in both the Old and New Testaments command. And that's God’s call, not ours. We didn’t make this up out of thin air because we are out to get these people. Its also contrary to nature or natural law. What is natural law? Natural law states that humans have inherent rights, moral values, and responsibilities that are part of human nature. It's based on the idea that these laws are a universal moral code and are not based on any culture or customs. People just know that certain things are wrong. Murder is wrong, and stealing is wrong. Torturing a child is wrong. The Genocide of a people or race is wrong. This basic moral code is on all of our hearts which is what the Bible says in Romans 2:14-15 -- 14 Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.
Some try to say that homosexuality is an orientation that people are born with. That Its different today because we know more about it than in biblical times they say. I think what we have to do in a loving way, is promote that we as Christians have to be consistent with trying to live our lives as scripture requires. And we fail at it regularly. But we must interpret our culture through the lens of scripture instead of interpreting scripture through the lens of our culture. Scripture has to take precedence. Otherwise, it's just someone’s opinion or 5 judges opinion.
The activists said we just want to be able to marry and we'll be happy and leave you alone. Well, the Supreme Court gave them what they wanted. But has the activism stopped? No, now we're onto Trans-activism. Something that’s interesting is A large majority of homosexual couples choose not to get married. They get what they wanted supposedly, and now they don’t get married. So Why do you think? Why did they want the government to recognize this? One theory is it will give them validation and normalization. They believe this will make it acceptable and stop any opposition because its legal. Christians also believe abortion to be wrong, and has that stopped the opposition since it was made legal back in the 70’s? No. They want respect, and the behavior to be considered normal. So it's not just the right to marry it would appear.
If not, then why wouldn’t more of them marry? Besides the moral question there are many practical arguments against Same Sex Marriage:
- Natural marriage is the foundation of civilized society. The 3 Pillars of Western society is Marriage, The church, and government. Without the procreating family, there is no need for church or government because the society will die out more quickly. It lengthens life spans, it civilizes men, how many roaming gangs of married men are there in America? It protects women and mothers, land owers welfare costs. It benefits children greatly. Children from natural marriages are 7 times less likely to live in poverty, 6 times less likely to commit suicide, less than half likely to commit crime, less than half likely to become pregnant, much healthier physically and emotionally. There are many more good arguments against same-sex marriage that I don’t want to take the time to talk about in this study on the culture but I wanted to mention it because it's happening and it is affecting some churches. The United Methodist Church Denomination has basically split over the issue, so some Progressive Christian Churches apparently sanction it.
But An interesting thing has happened since people have started identifying as different genders depending on the day or their mood. This actually undermines the argument that people are born gay. If you can change your gender by the hour or day then how can you say you were born that way? I think it supports the argument that it is clearly a choice people make. Part of our free will.
Now I’m not saying its not a very difficult temptation for some people, especially the kids. Social media is a big persuader of young people about this issue and the trans issue that I want to talk about next week. Anyway, the bottom line that we have to remember I think, is People don’t go to hell because they are homosexual. People go to hell because they are sinners and reject Christ, just like everyone else who rejects Christ. Just as One doesn’t go to heaven because you're heterosexual. There are plenty of sins that must be dealt with besides our sexual preference. We go to heaven when we put our faith and trust in Christ as our savior for our sins and believe and repent. But people say that they have felt this way since they were very young so how could it be wrong? Look we all have desires that God has ruled as sinful. But If we were left to our own nature, and had no moral law given to us by God, what kind of world would we live in? I mean, Lets face it most men would like to have sex with as many women as they could. I hope you noticed that I said most men, not the men in this class of course. Unfortunately, a lot of men and women do engage in this behavior, Christian or not. But that's what our flesh wants to do. Our nature tells us to live for yourself, and to be selfish, that’s what we would do if there was no God to answer to. Why, that’s what our nature wants. That’s what feels right sometimes to us. But we must overcome our feelings, urges, and desires and live to a higher standard given to us by God.
NO, we can't follow our heart. Why because scripture says it will deceive us. But just because we might “feel” this way it doesn’t make it right as the culture promotes. That’s the difference between our secular and biblical worldviews.
Christians just cant rely on our feelings to determine what's right or wrong. God’s boundaries for us don’t just apply to some groups of people, they apply to everyone. Any final questions or comments on this topic?
Let's talk about Truth. The word of the year at The Merriam-Webster Dictionary in 2006 was the word: Truthiness: Its defined as A truthful or seemingly truthful quality that is claimed for something not because of supporting facts or evidence, but because of a feeling that it is true or a desire for it to be true. Truthiness. I have never heard of it. Have you? That definition sounds like a word we already have. Blind Faith. Which is defined as to believe in something because you feel it's true rather than because you know it is true based on evidence or reasoning.
Now here is the 2022 word of The year we have all heard. Gaslighting. It's defined as emotional abuse that involves manipulating someone into questioning their own reality in relationships, politics etc. Here's how you do it. 1st you deny facts, feelings or the victims perception of reality. Then the abuser may create confusion, embarrassment or misconceptions and say things like you're imagining things or you're too sensitive. The abuser may even use love and flattery to gain control.
HB Charles is quoted as saying “Truth is not safe in a secular world.” Truth is whatever you feel is true apparently. It might be the same as your friend or completely different and that’s ok in our culture. So who wins? Whoever has the most power? The truth of the powerful wins out regardless of the facts. Karl Marx believed that truth is not discovered but fabricated to support one's political power. That sounds familiar. Maybe that’s where the term spin comes from. Darwin said something that makes sense to me. He said that if Baboons are our grandfather, can we trust our mind? Good point. Of course the people that claim truth is relative to each individual is actually making a truth claim. Truth is relative. Is that true? Apparently not because that’s not everyone’s perspective according to the culture. I like what Ben Shapiro says in his debates with the culture. “Facts don’t care about your feelings” Most of the discussions and debates in our culture are moral questions. What do people consider right and wrong. And then the second question to ask is by what standard are you determining that to be right or wrong. What people don’t realize is that there is one moral standard and God is the author of it. Any other standard used is only an opinion. Opinions can go wherever they want to. The Nazis used their own standard, America justified slavery by its own standard, The Soviet Union had their own too. Bad decisions occur when God’s standard is ignored. Christ is our standard. He is our truth. He is what we strive for and His ways are what we compare our lives to. He is the way, the truth, the life.
Here is a quote by a guy named Selwyn Dukes” The further a society drifts from truth, the more it will hate those who speak it.” We live in a cancel culture. Do you agree that it is usually the truth that gets canceled? It is ,isn’t it. Why? Shouldn’t the lie get canceled, not the truth? It reminds me of The Covid Pandemic. This was a huge event as you know that we all lived through. This really affected our culture.
How did if affect our culture? What did we see? What happened? How did it affect the church? Now to be fair, people were dying, people were scared. But look at how people act when they are scared. It was incredible I thought. For those of you who were here at Cornerstone, how did our church react and what happened here? Now I will say that our staff and elders did a great job. They not only were dealing with the Pandemic, but were in the middle of a 3 million dollar construction project when the price of building materials suddenly tripled in price. I would say that they set up reasonable guidelines for our members. So How did the Pandemic play out in our country? It became what? Political What happened in churches all over the country? It became political. Nearly every church had families leave their church based on political beliefs on how that church handled the pandemic. Including Cornerstone. I was dumbfounded by this. I couldn’t believe it. We are going through a crisis as a nation and the church and Christians cant even stay united. I realize that everyone had an opinion on the vaccine, on masks, and how people should continue to live through the pandemic. It was crazy. There were governors that were banning church services, but leaving the casinos and liquor stores open. Social media was censoring Dr’s trying to give professional advice to the people. There was censorship everywhere. I guess my point here is when truth was really needed by our culture in a serious life and death situation, we as a country did not have easy access to the truth. It was hard to find the truth because people were worried more about politics than the safety of the public. The Culture it seemed did not want to find the truth it wanted to promote its own version of it. Some of you have probably heard this story. I like to tell it when I talk about truth. Truth without love is not heard or believed.