The fool knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. ~ Oscar Wilde ~ |
Christians in America are living in unmapped waters and uncharted territory. We have come to the time when we no longer seem to understand that there is a difference between that which is legal and that which is moral. Legal is based on the majority vote of man. Moral is based on the minority veto of the only wise God. I have the privilege of teaching an Ethics course to seminary students. I introduce biblical principles that are eternal and apply them to temporal problems that are plentiful. The recent moral revolution has been won by the popular culture and lost by the Christian Church. This is evidenced by the new polls that reveal that a majority of the country believes that abortion should be legal, and also that transgender is a gift of science and homosexuality is a gift from God. The quest for absolute autonomy and unqualified authority confirms what the Apostle Paul declared, “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” (Romans 3:18) However, we know that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” (Proverbs 9:10) But such knowledge is unknown to our lost and dying world. To the perennial question asked by Francis Schaeffer; “How should we then live?” in this post Christian, Christ hating culture, the answer has always been and forever will be, “to know Christ and make Him known.” It is to fulfill the great commission by proclaiming truth. We still believe there is truth…even True Truth. We are to manifest the music of the gospel through our lives and proclaim the message of the gospel through our lips. We must radiate winsomeness and manifest wisdom. However, there are limits to our accommodation to a corrupt culture. Although we must have the mindset of the Apostle Paul and seek to become all things to all men that we might save some (I Corinthians 9:20-22), we must realize there is a time when we must not accommodate or affirm our culture. Living in a pluralistic culture it is essential to know when to be dogmatic and when to be "bulldogmatic." There is a difference. In today’s American culture, the thought police declare that it is not enough to simply allow for moral perversion. The moral revolution demands that we affirm its perversion. They call it "declarations of affirmation." We are demanded to affirm and declare our approval of that which the Lord does not approve. As Theo Hobson reminds us: “Moral revolution must include: What was condemned must now be celebrated. What was celebrated must now be condemned. Those who will not celebrate must now be condemned.” Perhaps another way of sensing our cultural collapse:
I think it is time we got ready to be rejected and ridiculed in a variety of ways. And yet we must maintain the mind of Christ from the cross. “Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.” Serving Him with you until He comes for us, Fred |