“Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20)
We live in a world of moral relativism. That simply means “a world that does not believe in absolute truths”. What’s the difference? Moral relativism believes that man alone can determine what is true and untrue. In other words, man can determine what is right or wrong.
As Ernest Hemingway said, “What is moral is what you feel good after; what is immoral is what you feel bad after”. But absolute truths – as taught by the Bible – believe that God, not man, is the lawmaker. As the Bible says, “Who commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness”. (1 John 3:4)
Most Christians don’t agree with the concept of political correctness. Expressions like “live and let live” and “to each his own” are not consistent with the truths espoused in the Bible. What all this means is that confrontation is inevitable. Unfortunately, it usually resorts in some pretty ugly name-calling. Here are a few I’ve read in the newspaper over the last couple of weeks.
1. The world often refers to us as religious. But we’re not religious – we’re Christians. The Apostle Paul made that distinction when he visited Athens in Acts 17. “Men of Athens. I perceive that in all things you are very religious; for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: To the Unknown God. Therefore, the one whom you worship without knowing, him I proclaim to you: God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands.”
2. Then there are some who call us self-righteous. They have yet to understand that while we see, and call, sin for what it is, most of us know that we must view it in the context of the sin in our own lives. That’s why Jesus said to those who were about to stone the adulterous woman, “He who is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone”. (John 8:7)
3. How often have we heard visitors to our church comment about the hypocrisy that they see? “Your church is full of hypocrites,” I once heard a friend of mine say. “Yes”, I replied. “We’re very much like the rest of the world. We have our share of sinners who have yet to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior.” Ironically, Jesus didn’t care very much for hypocrites either. When the very mention of their name came up, he quoted the Prophet Isaiah saying, “These people draw near to me with their mouth, and honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me, and in vain they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men”. (Matthew 15:8-9)
4. Finally, the latest word I’ve heard associated with Christians is homophobes. In other words, because we believe that homosexuality is a sin, it is assumed that we hate homosexuals. When you stop and think about it, we have no one to blame but ourselves. In our zeal to condemn the sin, some of us have stepped over the line and condemned the sinner, too. Our judgment needs to stop with the sin.
The world refers to us as religious, self-righteous, hypocrites, and homophobes. All of these terms prove how much we are misunderstood. We really shouldn’t be surprised. Jesus promised that the road to heaven would not be an easy one. “You will be hated by all for my name’s sake,” he told us. (Mark 13:13)
Take heart. In that same verse Jesus also promised: “But he who endures to the end shall be saved”. (Mark 13:13)
Share on Facebook