If you watched the Republican National Convention last month and are now watching the Democrats as they meet in Chicago, you could be forgiven for thinking the parties are living in separate countries. According to Republicans, Kamala Harris and the Democrats would lead our nation to ruin at home and chaos abroad. According to Democrats, including Barack and Michelle Obama in their Democratic National Convention speeches last night, the opposite is the case. Both eviscerated Donald Trump while lauding Ms. Harris as someone who will fight for Americans.
Partisan politics are just one way that “reality” has become whatever we consider it to be. Here are more examples:
- The Church of England is dropping the word church in a quest for relevance. According to a new study, “modern-sounding” words such as community are now in favor.
- A major medical organization in the US has expressed skepticism about the long-term effects of sex-change procedures on minors. However, others continue to claim that they are safe and effective despite clear evidence to the contrary.
- The Arizona Supreme Court says a fetus can be referred to as an “unborn human being;” abortion advocates called the ruling “deeply disappointing.”
- Witchcraft has become a wellness fad.
- The word morals has been replaced by boundaries in our therapeutic society. According to one therapist, the latter “can be anything, include anything, and change depending on the person/situation/time. All that matters is that they feel good to you.”
Yesterday, we looked at ways our secularized culture commodifies people. Today, let’s consider ways it commodifies truth.
John Adams noted: “Facts are stubborn things, and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.” Nonetheless, Satan loves to tempt us to conflate opinion with reality for two reasons.
We Are Unprepared for Eternity
A luxury yacht sank off the coast of Sicily this week, killing leading figures in tech, banking, and law, along with members of their families. This is just one example of the fact that all humans, whatever our cultural status, are mortal. Ignoring this fact leaves us unprepared for death when it arrives, and eternity beckons.
This is one of Satan’s most subtle strategies in leading as many as possible away from heaven and into hell. If you don’t believe in either, you won’t seek to experience the former and thus will be consigned to the latter.
Nonetheless, George Clooney speaks for many when he says, “I don’t believe in heaven and hell,” as though his disbelief changes their reality. Imagine saying, “I don’t believe in Canada,” and assuming Canada, therefore, does not exist.
A cancer patient who denies they have the disease is only more likely to die from it as a result. Skeptics who deny that they need to be saved from hell will go there when they die (John 3:18). Perhaps today.
We Are Susceptible to Damaging Deception
Satan is “a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44) who comes to “steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10). The former is one way he accomplishes the latter.
Historian Jon Meacham observed,
While we remain a nation decisively shaped by religious faith, our politics, and our culture are, in the main, less influenced by movements and arguments of an explicitly Christian character than they were even five years ago.
Wall Street Journal columnist Lance Morrow describes some consequences of our opinion-based ideology. In what he calls an “inversion” of “previous biology, custom, and human nature”, he says,
Boys may be girls and girls may be boys, according to impulse or whim. Criminals are victims. Civilization is barbaric. The ambition of the progressive left has been to dismantle the previous America as being racist, oppressive, sexist, and excessively white. … The 21st century is an unusually dislocated time.
By contrast, “All the paths of the Lᴏʀᴅ are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies” (Psalm 25:10).
Do we need more “steadfast love and faithfulness” today?
What Was Jesus’ “Primary Concern”?
Bank tellers learn to detect counterfeit currency by spending time with the real thing. In the same way, spending time with Jesus in his Word enables us to know the truth that sets us free (John 8:31–32).
Our Savior modeled this principle in his personal life, beginning his mornings (Mark 1:35) and ending his evenings (Luke 6:12) with his Father. He prayed before he ate (Matthew 14:19), before decisions (Luke 6:12–13; Matthew 26:36), and in the midst of great suffering (Luke 23:46). The busier he became, the more he prayed (cf. Luke 5:15–16). And it was through this lifestyle of communion with his Father (Hebrews 5:7) that he was led and empowered to change the world.
Henri Nouwen noted:
“Jesus’ primary concern was to be obedient to his Father, to live constantly in his presence. Only then did it become clear to him what his task was in his relationships with people.”
What is your “primary concern” today?
*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.
Quote for the Day:
“The most vital question to ask about all who claim to be Christian is this: Have they a soul thirst for God?” —Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Photo Courtesy: ©GettyImages/Artem Peretiatko
Published Date: August 21, 2024
Jim Denison, PhD, is a cultural theologian and the founder and CEO of Denison Ministries. Denison Ministries includes DenisonForum.org, First15.org, ChristianParenting.org, and FoundationsWithJanet.org. Jim speaks biblically into significant cultural issues at Denison Forum. He is the chief author of The Daily Article and has written more than 30 books, including The Coming Tsunami, the Biblical Insight to Tough Questions series, and The Fifth Great Awakening.
The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of CrosswalkHeadlines.
For more from the Denison Forum, please visit www.denisonforum.org.
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