I hope that after reading part I you took some time to consider the questions that were posed. If you engage this culture with these issues, you need to be ready with an answer.
I was talking with a friend recently about how the rhetoric and discourse along church lines have changed. After getting into church as a teenager, I began to note the conversation and points of view concerning issues. Some of the main ones involved:
1. Should you be baptized by immersion or sprinkling?
2. What are the basic differences between Catholics & Protestants?
3. When should we talk to our children about Santa Claus & the Easter Bunny?
4. Should women do everything in the church that men do?
5. Should churches celebrate Halloween?
I am sure there are others that could be listed, but hopefully you get the idea.
Today, things have almost gone ballistic. People are standing up telling the church what it is not going to do. References to God, prayer, and Christian displays are taken out of the public sector - lawsuits threatened at the drop of a hat. Life styles, behavior and conduct completely opposed to Bible are promoted and any debate or different point of view is squashed or belittled. We can only speculate the outcome of Islam and Sharia law in this country - but the issue will likely be intense.
Along with these blatant attacks against much of what used to be considered normal in behavior, lifestyle, and public discourse is the subtle removal of what was considered the standards of most individuals. For young people especially you see it in schools and television. You are naive if you blindly assume these two institutions are going to promote your values - especially if you stand for God, country and traditional social norms. Granted this may be too much of a generality but if you check this out you might get a wake up call.
One can just casually peruse the television programs that present family situations and note how they talk to each other and the values they promote. Even if you are watching what would be considered a family-friendly show, you should have your remote handy so you can at least mute the commercials. I can guarantee you do not want your children emulating what you see on many commercials for shows that are running.
Regardless of the area we look into, we see the constant challenge to what we believe and what we stand for.
In the first installment of this blog, I mentioned one important question and others that are relevant today. I have to answer these as well. In the next and likely final installment in this series, I will present how I would answer these questions.
Until Part III...
