1 John 2:15-16, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.”
The literacy rate of more than half the population of the United States in 1994 was at the level of twelve-year olds, and most likely not much better today, and probably worse. Being focused on the world is a major reason for this scary reality.
Let me state up front that the areas we are going to discuss are not bad in and of themselves, but they have taken the Christian by storm and hampered any real relevance or growth.
When we look at our worldview we must first look at what worldly things are dominating our lives today and if they are in any way adding value to how we see life and our walks as believers. This will also give us an idea of what is not to pervade our lives and what we should be watching out for in how it affects our faith. As 1 John tells us, that if we love the things of the world then we sure are not loving Him, and His love is not in us.
Television has taken us from the age of reading and writing (exposition) to an age of being entertained constantly. T.V. has become most powerful and persuasive medium in our culture today, as it blends instant satisfaction with image. I believe the computer and video games are a near second. People tend to discuss their favorite shows, commercials, and what star is doing what and who is divorcing whom. As Os Guiness says, “The problem becomes not the mindlessness of T.V., but how it transforms our minds in to the life of the T.V. and entertainment.”
Television creates biases in how we look at the world. Understanding, responsibility and rationality are just three areas that television will corrupt your Christian worldview and start you down the secular worldview road. T.V. is devoid of context and gives a false reality of consequences, which are usually no consequences for our actions. It gives no time for reflection or debate of ideas as that is too slow and not entertaining enough. Lastly, truth is thrown out the window, as celebrity gives more credibility then real research and debate. Just watch a political debate or pay attention to all the turmoil in the news industry as the figure heads make up news and claim it as truth.
Think for moment to yourself and on average how many hours a day do you watch T.V.? What benefit did you gain from it?
By the time you were/are 20 you have seen 800,000 advertisements on the center piece all your furniture points too in your family room. What did they do before T.V.? Did they all point their furniture towards the radio? Of course what did they do before radio? I bet they had to look at each other and talk, and that is just crazy. This figure does not take into account all the billboards, computer pop-ups, radio, print or other forms of advertising we are flooded with on a daily basis.
This devalues individual thinking, discernment, which in turn keeps you from being an individual. We forget that advertising has no morals; they are amoral. They are only concerned with the bottom line, which means they have to get you to think how they want you to think. They need to you to buy what they put out there and believe they that you need it to live. Advertisers focus completely on the consumer, which makes me wonder why so much sex ads are out there if we are a Christian nation? Makes one wonder how much we are in love with the world and not our Creator. This creates a nation of people more interested in feeling then significance.
How many things do you own are from seeing an ad and thinking you had to have it? How much value has it added to your life? How does the Church fall prey to this?
Today one of the best selling items is anything that deals with our self-image. Whether it be the newest diet pill, meal or wonder drink, or it be the beer, car, house, or body spray that gets us the girl or guy. We are a nation fixated on ourselves. “Superficially is the curse of our age. The doctrine of instant satisfaction is a primary spiritual problem. The desperate need today is not for a greater number of intelligent people, or gifted people, but for deep people.” – Richard J. Foster
This has caused a preoccupation with trendiness and being up to par with the culture around us. Self-image has also undermined Christian Speech today:
8% of the audience pay attention to the speech
42% pay attention to the speakers appearance
50% to how the person speaks
Style has overcome the substance (Os Guiness, Fit Bodies, Fat Minds).
Our obsession with self-image has also caused emptiness in our culture. What do most people compensate with when they feel empty? Sex and violence. What does the majority of our television shows have in them? One, the other or both. Try to find one that has neither one on television today, or for that matter a lot of the older shows. Just because it was more covered in the “Happy Day” era does not make it better. This has created a “Christian Lite” scenario, as image is always in the background and it destroys all significance. It permeates in our church today. Everyone seems to know if the pastor’s tie did not match, but ask them to give the key points in the sermon and they would have a hard time. We also see it with the debate of what should be acceptable to wear in church. Isn’t there more to worry about in our faith then what we look like?
We must be super Christians if we are at the point that we have to fixate on clothing in church. We look good, but we have no real faith, nor do we have any foundation for what we believe. Hopefully that counts for something when we stand before God. Look God I may not have been strong in my faith, or done much evangelizing, or living what Your Word commands, but didn’t I look good? What do you mean there is no points for being attractive or trendy? This clothing debate is in my opinion nothing but a rebellion of sorts and a self-image issue. How about we get off ourselves and start focusing on the One we should be longing to know better.
There are other issues today that permeate and are destroying our faith by worldly fashion. Post-Modernism’s main tenets (relativism in particular), the Emerging Church (challenging all central aspects of the faith), the Word of Faith movement (making us little gods), and plain lack of longing to know our Savior, Jesus Christ.
If what I described above is you then it is time to make some changes and commit to a Christian worldview. What is a Christian worldview? Check next week’s blog to find out. I can give you one hint that there will not be too much of the above in it.
James 1:26-27, “If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world (emphasis mine).”
No comments:
Post a Comment