A lot of people love to call Christians illiterate, uneducated, ignorant, and mentally challenged. They say we cannot think for ourselves so we let others think for us. They say since living in today's twenty-first century is complex that we resort to the Bible as a guide and blindly follow the teachings of Christ, who Himself, was filled with a Messiah complex and was a lunatic. The accusations go on-and-on and never seem to end. Depending on who a person reads, blindly thrown accusations are hurled without real thought and are usually based upon little fact and are themselves the regurgitated arguments of the atheists, evolutionists, liberal theologians, agnostics, and active homosexuals who will not accept the plain words of Scripture.
I rarely read a unique criticism. Most of the accusations and snarling that I have read have been adequately crushed but the ones who continue to hurl them are either unaware of this or despise their defeat. They themselves boost their ego by citing them in lashing stripes in the face of others who seem to be just as uninformed as they are. Personally, I am sick of reading these illiterate insults against Christ, Christians, and the Bible.
Nearly every time a news story or editorial is written that seeks to place Christianity in a good light it is attacked vehemently. Why attack? What is the purpose? What glory is gained? The thrill of finding that somewhere out there amongst the billions of the world you will find a person who agrees with you? Does this fact inflate your ego? That it may, but it does little to further your cause. To quote Solomon:
"This wisdom I have also seen under the sun, and it seemed great to me: There was a little city with few men in it; and a great king came against it, besieged it, and built great snares around it. Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that same poor man. Then I said: "Wisdom is better than strength. Nevertheless the poor man's wisdom is despised, And his words are not heard. Words of the wise, spoken quietly, should be heard Rather than the shout of a ruler of fools. Wisdom is better than weapons of war; But one sinner destroys much good." (Ecclesiastes 9:13-18)
In the passage, Solomon highlights that the poor man, who delivered the city by his wisdom, was despised, unheeded, and eventually forgotten. Despite the great wisdom, which brought the deliverance that all enjoyed, those who lived in sin apart from God ignored him and went their ways choosing instead to be the audience fools in subservience to the ruler of fools. In the end the wisdom of the poor man and all the good that became of it, was destroyed by the followers of the foolish.
"That which has been is what will be, That which is done is what will be done, And there is nothing new under the sun." (Ecclesiastes 1:9)
History is littered with societies that were once great but fell into the vices of sin that eventually destroyed them. What the world wants today is a king and a culture which gives way to the emotional relativism that is ever changing depending on the populist views of those who strive to live in self-gratification. In America, the prosperity that ruled the days after the Second World War gave way to a new generation of spoiled children that grew up no longer content with having their daily needs met, a gift left to them by the generations that preceded them. Rather than being content in the quiet pursuits of life they crossed a barrier that gave way to "Free Love" and "Freedom of Expression." And so they chanted, "God is Dead." And in the eyes of those who believed the hype that God was dead, so all of the moral absolutes, which for centuries restrained the society from excessive hedonism, must be done away with as well.
The next generation took breakdown of moral barriers handed to them to even greater levels. Not content with personal rebellion they pushed to extend this into the arena of the family. It would not be long before young men and women would defy the restraint of God's covenant of marriage between one man and one woman in favor of "living together" with all the matrimonial benefits of intimacy and the sharing of the burdens of life without being restrained by the despised "M" word--marriage. Free sex was now encapsulated under a single roof of lust with no boundaries. But as new pleasures often wear out and lose their thrill the next generation saw this sexual revolution, even still, too burdensome and not loose enough. No longer should sex be widely accepted as a man with a woman even if not married (fornication) but now it would abberate into to even wider circles of hedonism. Multiple partners, multiple sexes, and multiple ways to perform. Homosexuality was no longer taboo and those who stood for the "Old Values" were labeled as ignorant and mentally unstable people--the subjects of unfortunate "glitches to the brain."
And that brings us to today, November 5th, 2013. For two thousand years Christians have been standing for moral values not for any other reason than Holy Spirit conviction and compulsion. Just prior to Jesus ascending into heaven He told the disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the Promise of the Father, Acts 1:4, 8. This promise was none other than the Holy Spirit of God. The same Holy Spirit that ascended upon Christ at His baptism and the same He said would be sent to all belivers after His resurrection. As a matter of fact He stated in John 6:63 that the Spirit gives life and taught that He would be the enabler and driver behind all that true believers espouse.
It is this Holy Spirit that those who live in the flesh do not possess. What they are missing is a relationship to God. They are devoid and empty of any promptings of God and therefore find it a joy to rebel against most of what the Bible teaches. So yes I am tired of hearing all of the useless and futile, empty rantings against God and Christianity. I am tired because they do not and cannot comprehend why we live as we do. Spiritual things are only Spiritually understood. When and if they ever become cognizant of this then maybe they will seek how they too can have this life God offers and the wisdom that the Holy Spirit freely gives. Until then, we will continue to preach and to teach those who will listen. The rebelling and accusations will continue but God calls us to never give up. When David faced the giant Goliath, he knew the battle was already won because God was on his side. We also know that what is seen in society today is a stark reminder that rebellion against God is still very active. But those who live in the Spirit will continue to stand up for the Lord and His holiness in the hope they can pull some from the fire.
10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. 13 These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. 16 For "who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?" But we have the mind of Christ. 1 Corinthians 2:10-16 (NKJV)
God Bless
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