“Thou, O Lord, remainest for ever; thy throne from generation to generation.” -Lamentations 5:19
Cartoons these days!! I can remember when cartoons were actually funny instead of gross and wierd. Remember Bugs Bunny outsmarting everyone? Remember Donald Duck always fighting with Chip and Dale? Recently I saw a show about a cow and a chicken and the cow was shooting milk out of its utters like a gatlin gun. What’s going on? Actually, If I’m honest I’ll admit that Wile E. Cyote was pretty violent toward the Road Runner also, but I miss the good ole days (and I’m only 29)!!!
It’s hard to watch generational changes and shifts. Young people today struggle with new problems. Those who do take a stand for Christ suffer far greater persecution than in times past. Temptations are more prevalent with most of the things that were once viewed as “vices” now being seen as part of the normal adolescent experience. This truth should trouble us greatly. But one thing I know… The God of my Grandfather is the God of my (future) grandchildren.
God is always. He has always been, He will always be. So no matter how our culture may shift, the same, immutable, uncompromising God will be here for our teenagers and toddlers that was here for us. It is possible for young people to be godly in the midst of today’s culture. Sadly, we’ve bought Satan’s lie that it’s “just too hard” to live the Christian life “today.” Well wasn’t it hard for Moses in the midst of pagan Egypt? But he chose “rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.” Remember when you thought you’d just “enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season” or “sow your wild oats?” Hmm, maybe your generation didn’t really have it that much better after all.
Let all of us old fogies covenant to pray for the up-and-comers today. They face the fire every day. They’re walking through a spiritual minefield but prayer invites the involvement of the God of every generation. He will see them through. He always has His people, in every generation. He calls them out and sends them forth. Let’s pray right now…
Have you heard a teenager say, “But all my friends are doing it?” Our usual reply is a sharp rebuttal such as, “If all your friends jumped off the Empire State Building, would you do it too?” The darker side of my humor enjoys the cartoon depicted by Gary Larsen in which an enormous pile of bodies is mounting next to a building where a person is poised on the edge, ready to leap. The caption reads, “If everybody jumped off the Empire State Building, after a while it wouldn’t hurt so bad.”
The message of the church to young people today is so often, “Don’t go with the flow, dare to be different!” We realize the serious mistake of giving wholesale assent to whatever popular opinion dictates. We stand on issues such as abortion, homosexual rights, and gambling no matter what the majority rules. All of this is very biblical considering the mountain of Scripture that speaks to us about the doctrine of personal separation from the world.
What happens, however, when we call people to forsake their following of popular secular opinion merely to exchange it for a blind following of ecclesiastical opinion. More simply stated, is it wise to declare null and void any possible argument against what mainstream Christian culture establishes to be so?
We live in an age of media giants who use marketing to shape popular opinion far more than even our most powerful educational institutions. The Christian subculture, unfortunately, follows this trend, even if unintentionally.
John MacArthur has often commented that one of the most neglected Christian virtues today is that of discernment, and he is absolutely correct. To question is to be disagreeable, and to be disagreeable with Christian pop-culture is paramount to being heretical and downright odd! Perhaps we should realize that if many heroes of the past had not presented their questions, we may not have many of the great confessions and creeds that helped to preserve a biblical faith against the work of cultists.
Personally, I’m rather concerned with the swelling tide of Calvinism that is sweeping Baptist seminaries and churches. I’m upset about the number of Bible translations produced each decade under the guise of giving modern readers a more pragmatic rendering of the old, old story (note: Since each publisher seems to want to have their own translation, or two or three, we might go so far as to question the motives behind this translation pandemonium). I’m alarmed at how quickly certain philosophies of ministry take root which seek to strip the Bible of any specific guidance in any area other than theology proper. Heaven forbid we question whether a Christian music artist should be an exact replica of a drug-ridden punk rocker, whether Christian teenagers should really be getting fashion advice from porn-producers such as Abercrombie & Fitch, or whether the Nude Reviled Substandard Perversion is okay as long as it’s understandable!
I say, let’s be discerning! Let’s “try the spirits, whether they be of God…” (1 John 4:1) Let’s “withdraw [our]selves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received from us…” (2 Thessalonians 3:6) Let’s “stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.” (2 Thessalonians 2:15)
We need to return to discernment, to thinking, and to a willingness to express and debate these and other issues rather than blindly accepting whatever is handed down from the day’s most popular Christian resource providers. Let me think on my own two feet and if I don’t show up at the next “Christian rock” concert waving a neon green copy of the newest translation and covered in pseudo-Christian/gothic tattoos, you’ll know I have good personal reasons!
