In the 20th Century, Relativism became the biggest threat to Christianity and to Christianity's "moral absolutes." The "spirit of the times," aligned itself with Pontius Pilate and asked the age-old question; "What is truth (John 18:38)?" The Bible, the Mosaic Law, the widely accepted absolute truths that had been rooted in a Judeo-Christian Ethic---and accepted by most in the 20th Century, now came into question. Moral absolutes that had been defined as the standard for hundreds of years, with little question, were now being replaced by an opinion rooted in Relativism.
People began to search for an Ideal that they could live by that was not grounded in the "oppressive" and "archaic" Biblical method. The new "Intellectual" refused to enslave himself to the antiquated dogmas, traditions, and institutions, that had become incompatible with true "human liberty." A "liberty of the mind" had become their Mantra. Autonomous Man; the "Creator of his own destiny" had become their Utopia aim.
Naturally, problems quickly arose; when there is an absence of method and a liberty of the mind, there is by default, a deluge of conflicting opinions. Conflicting opinions about what is right and wrong---and what should and should not be. They liberated themselves from one yoke of slavery, only to espouse another. Man was in constant contradiction with himself. In order to stay true to his new ideology of Relativism, man desperately attempted to harmonize opposing, but "equally valid" opinions. This cannot however be done. Why? Because all men have an innate desire to prove that their way is the "right" way---hence, the massive contradiction to Relativism---and, the perpetual betrayer of man's so-called, but severely deluded, harmony. Harmony flies in the face of autonomy---and autonomy flies in the face of Relativism.
Despite the above defeating contradiction in the Relativistic mind of 20th Century man, humankind will stubbornly stick to it's script---no matter how incongruous it might be. Despite his dogged determination, autonomous man must still deal with the problem of his contradictions---especially where morality is concerned. Just because 20th Century man had declared himself the creator of his own destiny---and the jury and Judge of his own ideology, does not change the fact that his quest for non-absolutes will still be challenged by some. What does 20th Century man do when he is challenged? He throws temper tantrums! That's what he does! He says things like; "I have tenure!" and "I'm being victimized!" He rails at his opposition; "you are a bigot and a racist!." "You are a homophobe' and fundamentalist! After his colorful tirade, Autonomous Man also quickly voices his disapproval of an invitation to "dialogue" and "reason" about his little personal Utopia. He maintains that his challenger is "irrational" and "unreasonable" and as such, he refuses to waste his time debating someone who obviously is going to bring their Puritan, subjective, and outdated presuppositions into the discussion.
So then, the 20th Century came to a close with Autonomous Man, having sworn off the oppressive Judeo-Christian moral absolutes that had denigrated our society and enslaved the minds and actions of millions of people. Man has smugly and condescendingly touted his liberty of the mind from the narrow, repressive, tyrannical ways of the Moral Absolutes that have robbed us of our freedom to chose that which makes us happy.
20th Century man still however, came into the 21st Century with those fundamentalist, Moral Absolutists nipping at his pant leg like a tenacious dog in heat. His attempts to ward off these pests with their archaic ideas and methods, have largely been successful---but they are still there---rearing their ugly heads from time to time. Because 21st Century man refuses to dialogue and reason with these opponents to humanity's liberation, they go along their merry way---using their University classrooms as beachheads for spouting off sermons to their students about Utopian Socialism and Communism. They quietly go about their business as Medical Researchers habitually destroying Embryonic Stem Cells. They spend millions funding the political campaigns of politicians who will fight for "Women's' Health"---which is the nomenclature for a woman's right to chose to terminate a baby's life in her womb (after all, why carry it to Term and give it up to one of the millions of couples in the world that have desperately tried to have children of their own, but can't---why give it up to a good home with them and give it a great life when you can just kill it right now)? Relativistic, Autonomous Man also goes about the board rooms and conference rooms of Wall Street, hedging educated bets that when won, perpetuate the love of money as the root of all evil---their mantra; he who dies with the most toys wins!
Given the dilemma above for the Moral Absolutist---you know, the guy who thinks the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount are a great guide for a society to live by---that guy. What has he largely done in the 21st Century thus far, with the "liberating" ideologies of Autonomous Man? Has he fought to spur the University Professor onto a debate? Has he used his money to promote the political campaigns of those politicians who truly are for the sanctity of all human life? Has he taken the money he has made on Wall Street and used it to advance the Kingdom of God on earth. Well, to be fair, some have---but most have not.
Most, have no desire to "study to show themselves approved---a workman that needeth not be ashamed (2 Timothy 2:15)" so that they can successfully refute the moronic ideology of the College Professor. They have refused to volunteer for the political campaigns of those local men and women who they know can make a difference for morality in Washington. They aren't interested in civilly and quietly protesting across the street from an Abortion Mill. They aren't interested! They have become largely apathetic!
The Body of Christ in America is in trouble---as evidenced by her apathy and neglect. Her Members have largely retreated into their Christian Subculture and have no real interest in evangelically engaging anyone in the name of Christ. This is so true and undebatable that I'm not going to waste anymore time on it. The statistics are legion---look them up! Let's instead, talk about what will happen next---about what is actually happening as you read this.
Apathy has given way to Desensitization. In the first paragraph I said that the one thing that can be coined about the 20th Century as being true, is the problem of Relativism. Well, I have a newsflash for you; Relativism isn't the biggest problem that the Church has in America today. The biggest problem the Church has today is the fact that persistent Relativism, over such a long period of time (20th Century), has led to Desensitization in the 21st Century. Desensitization of what, you ask? A Desensitization to Moral Absolutes---to Truth in general. When an entire Generation allows apathy toward Relativism to take root, the next Generation will have to face the consequences. The consequences of allowing Relativism to eradicate Biblical Moral Absolutes in a society, is the Desensitization to Relativity. When a Relativistic Spirit of the Age, is allowed to permeate our schools, local and state governments---when it's allowed to saturate the minds of our children vis-a-vis films, video games, and TV shows, the next Generation becomes Desensitized to it. Our kids and teens have become Desensitized to violence, the sanctity of courting and marriage, prayer in the public square, and the sacredness of the traditional family unit and its responsible and influential place in our society.
To make matters worse, parents, through everything from guilt to a desire to vicariously live out their dreams in the lives of their kids, will not only allow their kids to espouse a "Situational Ethic" under the guise of Relativism, but they will also discourage their kids to become or stay Desensitized to a position. I would be completely amiss if I didn't cite examples here. When I was a kid, we ate dinner as a family at 5:00 PM---no matter what---there were no exceptions! Dinner was a sacred time for mom and dad to set examples of unity and discipline in conversation in front of their children sitting at the table. It was a time for them to teach their kids about how to navigate through this game of life with as little bruising as possible. The table was also the place where Johnny and Susie were able to tell mom and dad about their day---their hurts, fears, and successes. It was a place and a time in their day to learn, adjust, belong, and become stable emotionally and spiritually. The baseball coach knew that if he scheduled practice or a game for 5:00 PM, no parents and their kids would show up. Why? Because just about everyone ate as a family between 4:00 and 6:00 PM. It was an absolute of the masses in our society.
Then what happened? Well, somewhere along the way, coaches and parents started scheduling games during dinner times. Why? Divorce was drastically increasing and families with single parent homes could no longer eat together due to longer work schedules and logistics. That sacred time of exchanging mutual love through conversation at the dinner table was over. Dad lived elsewhere. Mom was always working. Johnny had to either walk to the ball field or get a ride from the parent of a friend. My purpose here is not to get into the problems that ensued in our society as the above played out over the years. My purpose is to show you how that which played out above led to a deeper sense of Relativism and a rejection of morality in our society---thereby, bringing us where we are today as largely, a Desensitized country and even a Desensitized Evangelical Community.
When my kids were young (from around 1986-1998), the above description had evolved. Not only did a sense of Relativity increase, but a larger sense of Absolute Morality was on the decline. The two go hand in hand in this regard. The breakup of the traditional family unit and subsequent fallout (practicing baseball at 4:00 PM instead of 6:30 PM) were plainly now the norm in society. A Desensitization developed by way of a resignation that was unavoidable. The resignation was, "we don't eat as a family anymore and there's really nothing we can do about it and so we resign and resolve to make the best out of our new way of life, albeit, far from optimal." The Desensitization to what was once the moral norm (much less divorce and subsequent change) took place by default. But it not only Desensitizes one to the current situation, it also opens the door to accept further Relativity and Desensitization down the road. For example, when I was a kid, all the way up to when my children were about 10 years old, playing organized sports on a Sunday was unheard of. It was not only unheard of, but it was not an option. It was never even discussed as an option when I was a kid. But, as time went on and again, the breakup of the two-parent family increased, so did the willingness to shed off what was always the absolute moral thing to do (not play sports on Sundays). Why? Single-parent families were much busier. Their time was much more limited and so they were far more willing to adopt a Relativistic view of something that had been largely unheard of till this time---playing sports on Sunday. For my family, it was an easy decision. When we were told by the soccer coach that many of our practices and games would now be on Sunday mornings, we sat our kids down and said, "they are going to start playing games and practicing on Sunday mornings---we go to church on Sunday mornings and so you are not playing soccer anymore---period." Our boys understood, and surprisingly did not give us a hard time about it. However, because the majority of the parents said "yes" to soccer on Sunday mornings, it stuck, and now is the norm. People became Desensitized over many years to the fabric from which the moral tapestry was woven, even through the soccer field. The scissors came out and cut the tapestry at that place in the fabric whereby it ran through the moral design, that had been in place for so long. Why did parents accept the eradication of the moral norm, adopt the relativistic option, and subsequently, why will they become Desensitized to future changes in moral norms? Apathy. If enough people refuse to take a stand against Relativity, then Relativity will punch Moral Absolute's lights out. And when that happens, everyone becomes Desensitized to the light---the light is wounded---it's dim---it flickers in a fading fashion---struggling to shine---to no avail---and then it goes out completely. The worst part about this process is that once the light goes out, it cannot be lit again. We will never get rid of soccer games on Sunday mornings now. We will never reverse the high divorce rate. We will not ignite sensitivity to morality in the already-Desensitized people who wallow in apathy.
Jesus, Paul, and Peter, were not kidding when they warned that the world would become exceedingly wicked in the last days. There will be no long-lasting, sweeping, great Revival like some say. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the notion of a Revival the way we define it today, is not Biblical. It's not even historical. I can write an entire additional post just on the fact that most "Revivals" were small and short-lived. Many of them resulted in schisms and church splits---in hard feelings and discontent. Most of them were born out of emotion---which is why they didn't last long. Am I saying that no Revival has any validity? No! Am I saying that there aren't revivals taking place anywhere in the world? No, I'm not. What I am saying is that legitimate Revival is not the norm---and it never will be, because the Bible teaches that it won't be. What is the Biblical norm then Mike? The Biblical norm is that "hearts will wax cold" and hard---impostors will continue to come---people will continue to be led into Apostasy because they will surround themselves with false prophets that tell them what they want to hear instead of what they need to hear. That is what's Biblical (Mt. 24:24; Eph. 5:14-21; 2 Thes. 2:3-10; Tim. 4:3-4; etc...).
The 20th Century which can tout it's greatest accomplishment as the permeation and saturation of our society in Relativism, has given way to the 21st Century where Relativism has given birth to Desensitization. These two children of Autonomous Man, as the Creator of his own Utopian Destiny, has reared the ugly head of the moral decline that the writer's of Scripture have warned about so many times. So what should we do?
We should be more cognizant of the Devil and his Schemes (2 Cor. 2:11). In addition, we need to know what the Lord expects of us. We will learn what he expects by studying his Word. He expects us to keep apathy at bay---and to live by the Absolute Moral Truths he has established---and in so doing, guard ourselves and our children from Desensitization. We may not be able to reverse the damage that has been done globally, but we can reverse it in our own lives and in the lives of our children, if our societal and monetary position allows it. I promise you; it will not kill you in the United States of America to be in the minority because you chose what was right over what was wrong. You will not die in this Country---yet! But you may hasten a martyr's death on the morrow, by not making the right decisions today.
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