Step Back Up…All the Way Up
I hear and read stories all the time that cause me to shudder. We hear of how deeply sin is entrenched in our culture, and we see evidence that it is getting worse all the time.
Many of our young people laugh at the “puritanical” nature of early TV programs, where everyone was respectful and where sexual situations–even between husbands and wives–were never discussed. We remember that it took the “signing off” of some people to allow a singular curse word in the film Gone with the Wind. As fashion has grown more and more sensual, we think the days when groups like the Beatles wore suits in their performances are just relics of yesteryear.
And it is not just in the media. Everyday people talk more crudely and act in ways that are openly sinful, and we wonder why this downward spiral continues.
But this article is not just to describe the world “out there.” It is meant to be a challenge to Christians.
Far too many Christians look at the sinful world and say with pride, “I’m not as bad as that!” or “At least I don’t do that!” Of course, they have plenty of trash to pick from, but they choose something awful and proudly state that they are better than that.
However, all the time, our own morals are declining, too. As the world goes further and further away from God, we follow a line downward, too, just a little further behind.
Just think with me:
- How many Christians used to consider using euphemisms for God’s name (like “gosh”) to be totally unacceptable, but as the world has started taking God’s name in vain more and more, have just said that it’s okay now to use words like that?
- How many Christians would have never watched a show that promoted homosexuality just a decade ago or so, but now sit and laugh at Modern Family or other programs with openly homosexual characters?
- How many Christians used to fight against clothing that was revealing, but started to wear things that showed “just a little more” as the culture started wearing things that showed a lot more?
You see, we are often guilty of going down the same spiral, but just a little behind the culture.
My challenge for you is this: let’s not let the world be our standard any longer. Let’s let God be our standard!
Christians are to be holy people, and that means we are going to look very different from the world in which we live. Instead of slowly trending downward, let’s step all the way back up to God’s perfect standard and do all we can live our lives thereby.
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Where else have you seen this downward trend?
What suggestions would you give to work against it?
9 Comments
Teresa Glenn
Amen! We have allowed the world to tell us what is “politically correct” for so long (in business, politics, in our families, even sometimes in the church) that we have forgotten that what really matters is if we are “Spiritually Correct”! If GOD says something… that is the standard! No ‘ifs’, ‘ands’, or ‘buts’ about it. I doesn’t matter who says what to the contrary. Along with Donna I would like to encourage all of us to re-evaluate our outlook on things and start using the ‘old standard’, the Word of GOD, to measure things ( our language, our dress, our recreation, our business choices, our child rearing, reading materials, our TV viewing, our movies, music and our attitudes, etc) to see if they “measure up” to GOD’s standards or take us ‘down’ that long spiral away from GOD!
adfaughn
NOTE: The “Donna” in this comment is my mom, who mentioned this post on Facebook. –Adam
Thanks for your passionate words, Teresa!
Teresa Glenn
Opps! Sorry I thought this was Donna’s sight. Hope I was out of place in anyway by responding to this. I usually try o reserve my comments to the ladies sights. But I did enjoy & agree with your article.
Teresa Glenn
Opps! Sorry! I thought this was Donna’s site. I hope was not out of place in posting my response. I usally reserve my comments to ladies’ sites. I did enjoyed & agreed with your article but I don’t ever want to leave the impression that I am stepping outside my place. Sorry.
Teresa Glenn
Opps! Sorry! I thought this was Donna’s site. I hope I was not out of place in posting my response. I usually reserve my comments to ladies’ sites. I did enjoy & agreed with your article but I don’t ever want to leave the impression that I am stepping outside my place. I removed it so no one gets the wrong impression.
adfaughn
Not a problem at all! I just put that “note” on the comments to let others know who the “Donna” was. Feel free to read and comment anytime!
Guest
Um. Modern Family is hilarious.
adfaughn
“Guest”,
Thank you for reading the post. I did not argue that Modern Family lacks humor, but the things that we laugh at, we usually end up endorsing. There are plenty of homosexual publications (most notably advocate.com) that openly flaunt the fact that the homosexual community has gotten Hollywood writers to portray homosexual characters in a positive light in comedies. One of their major points of emphasis is Modern Family and its success. It is clear that they are pushing an agenda, and one of their major ways of doing that is to get us to have the psychochemical reactions which attend laughter.
We need to be very careful what we consider to be funny, because we usually will endorse it, if we don’t already. Again, thanks for reading, and I hope you will continue to do so.
Guest
yes. a sneaky plot it is. we must be vigilant in our paranoia.