By Marianne Mauti
The Cultural Captivity of America: Morality Without God?
The decline of a culture begins with it's system of values. Everyday men are devising different ways to teach values apart from God and His Word. A decade ago they called it, "values clarification." These are "values", which are rooted in the idea of desire (what we decide is important to us.) If "values" are only influenced by a persons feelings or opinions here is the question we need to ask,"Is it possible for a society to have morality without a belief in God?"
Secularists would like you to believe the answer to that question is, yes! They have been working tirelessly over the last several decades to en-culturate our youth to believe that their values are personal and as such can and should evolve over time! We see the result of that effort everywhere we look especially in social media. It would be hard for anyone growing up in todays ethical system to believe there used to be a firm biblical moral consensus in this country and a time when Christian Institution’s commanded respect. When asked today about their view on Christianity, many are of the opinion that anyone who still relies completely on God for their "personal values" is obviously using religion as a "crutch". The number of those who see the need for a personal relationship with God as emotional weakness has greatly increased over the last several decades! What has become increasingly alarming to me is the growing moral confusion I see within the Christian community!
According to a survey by George Barna (The Barna Group), of young adults (20's), indicates that less than one in a hundred has beliefs consistent with a Biblical worldview. The growing evidence is that even adults have abandoned their belief in "absolute truth". Back in 1994, the Barna Research Group conducted a survey of young people who regularly attend church. They found that of these churched youth, 57% could not say that an objective standard of truth exists. They also found that 85% of these same churched youth reason that "just because it's wrong for you doesn't mean its wrong for me." George Barna says that the younger generation often cut and paste their beliefs and values from a variety of sources, even if they are contradictory. More to the point, they hold these contradictory ideas because they do not have a firm belief in ABSOLUTE TRUTH. If truth is personal then there is no right decision and each person should do what is right for him or her. Yet other surveys by The Barna Group show that only 9% of Bible believing teenagers were certain of the existence of absolute moral truth. That was almost 20 years ago. I don't think we need to wonder what the result would be now! One reason so few people act like Christians is because they don’t think like Christians. Behavior results from our values and beliefs. If we think from a biblical point of view will live from our biblical point of view! At the core of our view is the matter of ABSOLUTE TRUTH!
So what is Absolute Truth?
Every thing we need to live a successful life must be based on truth that never changes! It begins and ends with our belief that God is who He said He is and He will do what He said He will do. HE IS TRUTH, therefore all truth comes from Him! It never wavers it never changes, it is absolute and therefore the standard by which all moral thought and action must be measured. Because He is truth we :
1. Have knowledge of Him and why we were created.
2. Know our life has purpose, meaning and direction .
3. Have a clear, absolute, moral and ethical standard by which we can make the right choices.
Here is what Jesus had to say about truth:
"I am the way , the truth, and the life!" John 14:6
JESUS declared that He was the embodiment of Gods truth ! Yet many believers feel this life sustaining TRUTH is antiquated and irrelevant! The small "t" of truth has been replaced with the big "T" of TOLERANCE and Christians have been duped (or pressured by their peers) into accepting tolerance as a reasonable compromise of their biblical faith and values (according to the previous surveys). Individuals now reserve the right to "tolerate" whatever they believe is acceptable and to reject any moral absolute (except right to have no absolutes, which in and of itself is an absolute) .
I think it is time to stop ignoring the elephant in the room. What we see happening isn't the responsibility of those who don't know the truth, it is the responsibility of those of us who do. This isn't a cultural phase we are going through and it isn't going to eventually go away. God isn't going to send a plague to stop it and he isn't planning to jettison us out of this mess either! For those of you who believe that please read my last Blog, “The Decline of a Nation”. America won’t be the first Nation to fall because of it's apostacy and it wont be the last! Whether we continue to be "ONE NATION UNDER GOD" or not is dependent on our willingness to take responsibility for who we are and what we believe. To stand for TRUTH however, wherever and whenever God asks!
God wants to lead and guide us in all truth but only those who want to hear Him will respond. Jesus said many times, " He who has ears to hear, let him hear." (Matthew 11:15, Mark 4:9, Luke 8:8, 14:35 ). What many have been responding to is the lie that we can intellectually separate our religious beliefs from our secular life. It is no longer necessary to define our morality solely on the Word of God. We see this happening when socially prominent and beloved TV personalities such as, Oprah Winfrey, (who professes to being a Christian) say publicly about theology, “I took God out of the box . . . I'm a free-thinking Christian who believes in my way, but I don't believe that it's the only way, . . ..” A philosophy like Oprah's can only advance when Christians are willing to accept the premise of an evolving relationship with God and we don't challenge that erroneous way of thinking ! Our lack of a meaningful response tells the world that we are willing to abandon the God of the Bible and create a God who thinks like us! We want to decide which laws of God fit into our personal theology and which ones don't! Heres the problem with that, God has the idea that he gets to decide what is moral and immoral and we don't get to have an opinion or different interpretation! We also don't get to pick and choose!
So where do our "publicly recognized" Christian leaders stand on this? I often wonder what would happen if the Christian leaders who have been given a television platform would use it more to challenge todays moral and ethical philosophies ! Maybe they wouldn't last too long on television. If they were doing it for the right reason would they care? Perhaps they could better use there media opportunities to address the "Oprahtization" of the world! I remember growing up and watching early TV preachers calling it like it was! I suppose part of my frustration is that I see today's TV ministries more interested in pumping up their viewers self confidence (not that there is anything wrong with being confident in who you are in Christ) then preaching morality,ethics and biblical values to a lost and confused generation! I want to make it clear,while I may question their use of air time, I don't judge their motives. I will leave that to God! I suppose I just wonder, with such tremendous opportunities to address the problems our world is facing and the convoluted system of values the American culture wrestles with, why we don't spend a little more air time speaking to the real issue!
The real challenge we face, the root of all contention from those who oppose us is, "ABSOLUTE TRUTH". Who gets to determine it, what happens to those who disagree? This is the train that is barreling down the track and it's time we realize it is heading straight for us! The "Alliance for Defending Freedom", recently posted a petition to stop advocates of same sex marriage from trying to have the biblical teaching on marriage criminalized as "Hate Speech ". I know there are many of you reading this who will say,"That won't happen ,not in America!" It is that level of naivety that has gotten us here!
IN CONCLUSION.....
I want to conclude todays Blog and this series on, "The Cultural Captivity of America," by reminding us that everyday we get up we have an opportunity to let our lives reveal, to a lost and dying world, the true character and nature of God! We are called to be living Epistles of His love, His grace, His mercy, but most importantly His TRUTH. Everything the world will ever see or know of God (HE is truth) will be seen through us!! Christ in us should be the standard that brings conviction and repentance and salvation to others! It almost sounds too simple. I heard someone say recently:
"Preach the Gospel and when necessary use words!"
What he was saying was, your life can "exemplify" what your words can only "amplify" .What truth there is in that simple statement! Frances Schaeffer (Author of "The Christian Manifesto", "Whatever Happened to the Human Race, etc.) had this to say about absolutes and truth,"Today not only in philosophy but in politics, government, and individual morality, our generation sees solutions in terms of synthesis ( an evolutionary process) and not absolutes. When this happens, truth, as people have always believed truth to be, has died." Schaeffer, in his belief of mans evolving worldview declared that man has now placed himself as the "measure of all things". Schaeffer believed that the Church had forsaken its duty to be the salt of the culture and what we are now seeing is the result.
Every revival ,awakening or whatever you want to call it begins when people really see and understand the spiritual condition around them,hear the call of God to repent, ask God to heal their land and then have the courage to live according to Gods moral truth! Each one of us must take inventory of the life we are living in front of others! Are we afraid to be too salty in the saccharin world of tolerance, or are we more concerned about getting along in a world of differing opinions ? I thank God He is so patient and loving toward us!
I think it is time to stop ignoring the elephant in the room. What we see happening isn't the responsibility of those who don't know the truth, it is the responsibility of those of us who do. This isn't a cultural phase we are going through and it isn't going to eventually go away. God isn't going to send a plague to stop it and he isn't planning to jettison us out of this mess either! For those of you who believe that please read my last Blog, “The Decline of a Nation”. America won’t be the first Nation to fall because of it's apostacy and it wont be the last! Whether we continue to be "ONE NATION UNDER GOD" or not is dependent on our willingness to take responsibility for who we are and what we believe. To stand for TRUTH however, wherever and whenever God asks!
"Many are called but few have chosen……" Matthew 22:14
God wants to lead and guide us in all truth but only those who want to hear Him will respond. Jesus said many times, " He who has ears to hear, let him hear." (Matthew 11:15, Mark 4:9, Luke 8:8, 14:35 ). What many have been responding to is the lie that we can intellectually separate our religious beliefs from our secular life. It is no longer necessary to define our morality solely on the Word of God. We see this happening when socially prominent and beloved TV personalities such as, Oprah Winfrey, (who professes to being a Christian) say publicly about theology, “I took God out of the box . . . I'm a free-thinking Christian who believes in my way, but I don't believe that it's the only way, . . ..” A philosophy like Oprah's can only advance when Christians are willing to accept the premise of an evolving relationship with God and we don't challenge that erroneous way of thinking ! Our lack of a meaningful response tells the world that we are willing to abandon the God of the Bible and create a God who thinks like us! We want to decide which laws of God fit into our personal theology and which ones don't! Heres the problem with that, God has the idea that he gets to decide what is moral and immoral and we don't get to have an opinion or different interpretation! We also don't get to pick and choose!
So where do our "publicly recognized" Christian leaders stand on this? I often wonder what would happen if the Christian leaders who have been given a television platform would use it more to challenge todays moral and ethical philosophies ! Maybe they wouldn't last too long on television. If they were doing it for the right reason would they care? Perhaps they could better use there media opportunities to address the "Oprahtization" of the world! I remember growing up and watching early TV preachers calling it like it was! I suppose part of my frustration is that I see today's TV ministries more interested in pumping up their viewers self confidence (not that there is anything wrong with being confident in who you are in Christ) then preaching morality,ethics and biblical values to a lost and confused generation! I want to make it clear,while I may question their use of air time, I don't judge their motives. I will leave that to God! I suppose I just wonder, with such tremendous opportunities to address the problems our world is facing and the convoluted system of values the American culture wrestles with, why we don't spend a little more air time speaking to the real issue!
The real challenge we face, the root of all contention from those who oppose us is, "ABSOLUTE TRUTH". Who gets to determine it, what happens to those who disagree? This is the train that is barreling down the track and it's time we realize it is heading straight for us! The "Alliance for Defending Freedom", recently posted a petition to stop advocates of same sex marriage from trying to have the biblical teaching on marriage criminalized as "Hate Speech ". I know there are many of you reading this who will say,"That won't happen ,not in America!" It is that level of naivety that has gotten us here!IN CONCLUSION.....
I want to conclude todays Blog and this series on, "The Cultural Captivity of America," by reminding us that everyday we get up we have an opportunity to let our lives reveal, to a lost and dying world, the true character and nature of God! We are called to be living Epistles of His love, His grace, His mercy, but most importantly His TRUTH. Everything the world will ever see or know of God (HE is truth) will be seen through us!! Christ in us should be the standard that brings conviction and repentance and salvation to others! It almost sounds too simple. I heard someone say recently:
"Preach the Gospel and when necessary use words!"
What he was saying was, your life can "exemplify" what your words can only "amplify" .What truth there is in that simple statement! Frances Schaeffer (Author of "The Christian Manifesto", "Whatever Happened to the Human Race, etc.) had this to say about absolutes and truth,"Today not only in philosophy but in politics, government, and individual morality, our generation sees solutions in terms of synthesis ( an evolutionary process) and not absolutes. When this happens, truth, as people have always believed truth to be, has died." Schaeffer, in his belief of mans evolving worldview declared that man has now placed himself as the "measure of all things". Schaeffer believed that the Church had forsaken its duty to be the salt of the culture and what we are now seeing is the result.
Every revival ,awakening or whatever you want to call it begins when people really see and understand the spiritual condition around them,hear the call of God to repent, ask God to heal their land and then have the courage to live according to Gods moral truth! Each one of us must take inventory of the life we are living in front of others! Are we afraid to be too salty in the saccharin world of tolerance, or are we more concerned about getting along in a world of differing opinions ? I thank God He is so patient and loving toward us!
Is it possible for a society to have morality without a belief in God? No!
NOTE: I hope you have had a chance to read all three articles in this series,if not please refer to the blog archives! God Bless!
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FORGING YOUR FAITH
To 'Forge' something, is to mold and shape something for suitable use. We believe that our lives are constantly being shaped and molded by the hand of God for His divine purpose! This publication strives to encourage believers who are beginning this process and those who are well into it! We also believe a truly successful life is a Christ-Centered Life! We hope you will join us and become a regular reader!
Thank You and God Bless,
Marianne Mauti
Founder and CAO
'Forging Your Faith' is the online Christian publication of 'Christ the King Church' in Bellevue, Pa.
About Marianne Mauti: Marianne is a writer and blogger as well as a Pastor at "Christ the King Church" in Bellevue, Pa. She is currently the Dean and Chief Operating Officer of "Christ the King Seminary" a full time Bible Institute. For more information about us please contact us at: crowncntr@aol.com
About Marianne Mauti: Marianne is a writer and blogger as well as a Pastor at "Christ the King Church" in Bellevue, Pa. She is currently the Dean and Chief Operating Officer of "Christ the King Seminary" a full time Bible Institute. For more information about us please contact us at: crowncntr@aol.com\
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ARTICLE RESOURCES
ARTICLE RESOURCES
* The Bible
*George Barna: The founder of “The Barna Group”, a market research firm specializing in the study of religious beliefs and behavior of Americans and the intersection of faith and culture.
* Quotes from Frances Schaeffers book, "The Christian Manifesto" published in 1981
* AllianceDefendingFreedom.org
*Dr. George R. Beninate: Is Bishop of "Christ the King Church" in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. A Doctor of Theology, Biblical Apologist, conference speaker, lecturer and my spiritual father.He is also the Author of several books including,"The Age of Glory", Thank you for your relentless pursuit of truth!
* Quotes from Frances Schaeffers book, "The Christian Manifesto" published in 1981
* AllianceDefendingFreedom.org
*Dr. George R. Beninate: Is Bishop of "Christ the King Church" in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. A Doctor of Theology, Biblical Apologist, conference speaker, lecturer and my spiritual father.He is also the Author of several books including,"The Age of Glory", Thank you for your relentless pursuit of truth!
