I am so glad that the nature of God and his existence does not depend on the ideological whims of His creation. Our self-guided culture has adopted this non-judgemental, "I'm OK, You're OK" mentality and like every other area of our lives (sexual orientation, morality etc.) it is also being applied to our relationships with the being everyone calls "the man upstairs."
If you do not adopt the mentality that "God is who you want to make him and no one has the right to judge your beliefs," then you are considered judgemental and biased. "God is who you want him or her to be!" shouts the world. "Whatever floats your boat." Who am I to criticize?!
If you don't believe that scripture is the divinely-inspired, inerrant Word of God, then there is no basis or manual on who God is or on how we should live. To each his own...man is his own god.
The problem with the judgement "I'm OK, You're OK" is that we're not OK. We're all sinful and have fallen short of God's glory and we all deserve death. The world does not want to admit that's the case, and has come up with it's own, feel-good mentality and scale of morally acceptable behavior by which to pass judgement on one another. No one wants to think they are bad enough that they deserve eternity in Hell.
When "Anything goes!" or "What works for you is good as long as it doesn't hurt anyone else" (fetuses excluded), and "DO YOUR THANG!" are the mottoes by which we judge life, then morality is thrown out the window. We still draw the line at some behaviors that are considered immoral, but for how long?
You can see the moral decline of our nation in every aspect of our culture; in the prevalence of adult novelty stores, the public promotion (Internet, radio, TV sitcoms) of pornography as a natural urge to fulfill, the lax censorship of cuss words in TV, and the relaxed criteria of movie ratings. Adult material is now found earlier and earlier in the TV programming schedule, available when children are awake and can still inadvertently come across it. You can now even listen to uncensored satellite radio (i.e. Sirius etc.).
Our culture has adopted the philosophy of Realism. It's as if Hollywood is saying, "This is what's happening in high schools and in the lives of teenagers, so let's address it in TV episodes." Sex sells! Gay relationships sell! (see the TV program: Degrassi High, the Next Generation) You can see the acceptance of homosexual behavior as each state individually makes the decision to allow gay marriage, and in the classrooms as same-sex couples are promoted as, "just another kind of family."
Tolerance is a subtle poison.
Rigel, I would say that you are right about the subtle nature of our society's twisted sense of tolerance. I would add that it is not only like a poison, being dangerous and deadly, but that it is like a disease in that it takes on a life of its own and spreads at an alarming pace.
ReplyDeleteHoward