Written by Nick Mitchell
Fast Moving Culture
Our culture is moving so fast that it can be dizzying. As this culture is in motion it is producing new societal norms; i.e.
- Same-sex Marriage
- New Gender Identification, from biological to thought distinction
- PC replacing free speech
- Bathroom Issues
What is happening ?
The culture is rapidly heading in a direction that is distinctly unbiblical.
There are at least two ways to think about the relationship between this culture and the bible.
- The culture is moving, advancing, outgrowing the old outdated moral principles of the bible
- The culture is simply no longer in agreement with traditional biblical values and has decided to set up new societal norms.
Either way the outcome is the same. The present cultural movement is separating itself from biblically directed societal norms.
Here are a couple of examples of this separation in action.
Cultural Pressure on Traditional Religious Norms
The Culture Blames Traditional Marriage
Just recently in the news there was a massacre in Orlando. According to an article written by Eric Metaxas ‘An ISIS-inspired terrorist attack killed 49 people at a gay night club in Orlando. Yet just three days after the attack, the New York Times editorial board laid the blame for Omar Mateen’s self-professed act of Islamic terrorism squarely at the feet of…believers in traditional marriage.’
Christian Colleges and Universities
Here is an excerpt from an article posted in Mere Orthodoxy concerning Biola University, a Christian University.
Biola University, located in Southern California and one of the country’s most well-known and prestigious evangelical colleges, now finds itself arguing for its right to be evangelical. The state legislature is seeking to amend a non-discrimination law which would stipulate that the only schools that can be granted religious exemptions to the non-discrimination statutes are schools that exist for the training of pastors and theological educators. Schools that offer more general programs—like a degree in humanities, engineering, or public education—would be required to submit to the non-discrimination law, effectively ending any legal protection for colleges and universities that want to only admit professing Christians or maintain campus-wide spiritual life programs.
The effect of the amendment would be to redefine religious liberty so as to make a clear distinction between institutions that integrate religious faith and public vocation and those that focus only on parochial training. Conceivably, supporters of the bill are fine with the idea of students receiving a religious education that teaches that marriage is the union of a man and a woman, and that sexual expressions outside this category are morally problematic—as long as this education is clearly not intended to go beyond the walls of a church service or a seminary lecture hall. Pastors and polemicists, yes. Business managers and brain surgeons, not so much.
The pressure we feel as Christians is for us to move with the culture and abandon biblical principles.
We must be careful not to nullify the Word of God by watering down the truth of God’s Word in order to fit in socially, culturally.
Joshua 24:15 (NASB95)
“If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
The following articles may be interesting: