Morality has become relative in our time. It’s not that people were inherently more righteous a century ago, it’s just that people acted immorally against society’s social standards.
I mean, if you were having sex with your girlfriend, you knew it was wrong, and you certainly didn’t tell your mother. But nowadays it’s common for people to live together and have three children so they can decide if they are compatible.
This hyper-sexual culture affects all of society. It is perpetuated by our music. Forty years ago, many Rock and Roll songs had sexual lyrics, but for the most part, they were hidden in metaphors and analogies. Today the f-word is used in the title and the lyrics. Likewise, music videos are filled with every kind of pornographic act known to man. In fact, the more outrageous the act … the more edgy the song … the more perverted the singer; the more popular they are.
Porn Rules
Porn doesn’t just rule the music world; it rules the Internet! Like zombies, people let their brains be sucked out of their heads for 20 minutes of ecstasy!
In fact, children are having perversion shoved down their throats in school! Can you imagine your 10-year-old sitting in a classroom where they teach him/her that homosexuality is normal? And for the first time in history, it’s reinforced when they walk down the hallway and there are separate restrooms for the sexually confused. But wait, here is the real kicker: If you believe these things are wrong, you better shut up or you will be shouted down in the name of free speech!
That’s right, people—morality and nobility are redefined as bigotry by virtueless people who believe that living with righteous standards is religious oppression.
Sanctioned Sin
To make matters even more confusing, churches that were once charged with loving sinners have now embraced and sanctioned sin so that sinners feel included. God forbid that someone would feel uncomfortable in church! Of course, this is all done in the name of unity. After all, who are we to tell other people how to live? What?
People who don’t even believe in God, much less the Bible, use verses such as “Judge not lest you be judged” and “Jesus didn’t condemn sinners” to neutralize righteous living and moral teaching. But what bothers me the most is that Christian leaders are letting these unbelievers tell them how to interpret the Bible.
While compassion and empathy must remain paramount in our hearts, and love for everyone has to be the hallmark of who we are, it never should be at the expense of our character.
Think about this:
1. Jesus didn’t become a sinner to love sinners, nor did he sin so he could relate to sinners. He was tempted in every way, but He never sinned. Therefore temptation is not sin! In fact, temptation is not only common, but it’s normal.
Temptation is to our soul what exercise is to our bodies. Let me explain it like this: Lifting weights breaks down your muscles (thus the pain you feel), and then builds muscle by the muscle tissue healing stronger than it was before.
On the other hand, if you are bedridden for any length of time, your muscles atrophy with serious side effects. I learned this firsthand this past year when my mother was in the hospital. She had surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from her lung. Consequently, she was bedridden for about two months. My mom healed well from the surgery, but she had to go to rehab for 30 days just to learn how to walk again!
Now let me put this together for you. When you resist temptation (for instance, you have a desire to have sex with someone who isn’t your spouse) and you refuse to allow yourself to think or behave accordingly, your soul is doing some heavy lifting. Resisting temptation is like lifting weights. It is often painful at first, but your inner man is growing, becoming more noble and maturing in character.
On the other hand, when you give in to temptation, especially by believing that you are your desires, then you stop resisting them. You choose instead to avoid the pain of conviction by reducing your standards to embrace your temptation. Subsequently, you stop building character because character is only forged in the furnace of resisted temptations.
Soon you become like the obese guy who “throws off society’s shackles, and his doctor’s condemnation” to embrace his desire to eat as much as he wants, whenever he wants and be happy doing it. If you were in this situation, you might feel like people are condemning you, but the right answer isn’t to eat yourself to death! (I also understand that there are many other medical reasons why some people are obese. There is no judgment on my part; I am simply demonstrating what it is like to do something that is killing you without conviction).
2. Most often you stop resisting temptation by giving it a name of a friend instead of an enemy. For example, you call homosexuality being gay (happy). Then you make your temptation your identity because you reason, “If I desire it, then it must be who I am.” Therefore, I am no longer my biology, my DNA or physiology; instead, I am my feelings.
Yes, this makes perfect sense … NOT!
But what if pedophiles used the same reasoning. “I am only sexually attracted to children, therefore pedophilia must be normal!” (I understand that violating a child is nothing like two consenting adults having sex; I get that. But reasoning that your desire determines your identity is a bottomless moral cesspool.)
3. Jesus forgave the woman who got caught in adultery. When Jesus forgave the woman caught in adultery He said; “Does no one condemn you? Neither do I condemn you. Go your way and sin no more!” Did you get that? Jesus told the woman to never sin again! There are two things we can learn from this: first, telling someone they are sinning is not condemning or judging them. Knowing right from wrong is called wisdom, not bigotry. Secondly, Jesus told sinners to stop sinning.
4. Just because something is common doesn’t make it normal. For example, cancer is common, but it’s not normal! Therefore, the number of people who believe something doesn’t make it true.
5. Some people argue that everyone deserves mercy. I agree completely. But mercy means “You didn’t get what you deserved.” In others words, mercy demands that you did (or are doing) something wrong, otherwise it’s not called “mercy,” it’s called being nice to people. I would propose that you get mercy from God when you ask for it, which means you have to acknowledge that you did (or are doing), something wrong.
But if something is wrong and you call it right, then you wouldn’t ask for mercy because mercy is only given to people who believe they need it. For example, if you say adultery is right, then you can’t possibly ask for mercy because mercy is only for people who are wrong.
Courageous Morality
The truth is that the morals of any society are not determined by right and wrong; instead they are established by courageous people who brave the backlash of public opinion and forge new “norms.”
Cowards are always the first to surrender their souls, then comes the sympathetic and the politicians. Intellectuals tend to follow close behind. They exchange the reasonable for the ridiculous, and rationalize until facts become fables. This is the brain space where fetuses are not human beings (craziness), the complexities of the universe are explained through a mindless explosion and humans evolved from apes who still fill our jungles (interesting).
Take a Stand for Nobility
The question is, will you sit back until your soul atrophies, until your moral legs become feeble and until your children drown in the cesspool of the silence of your disapproval? Or will you break ranks with the crowd and take a stand for nobility?
History hangs in the balance of your decision. You already know where I stand. Tell me yours in the comments below. {eoa}
Kris Vallotton is the senior associate leader of Bethel Church in Redding, California, and co-founder of Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry (BSSM). Kris travels internationally training and equipping people to successfully fulfill their divine purpose. He’s a best-selling author, having written more than a dozen books and training manuals to help prepare believers for life in the kingdom. He has a diverse background in business, counseling, consulting, pastoring and teaching, which gives him unique leadership insights and perspectives. Kris has a passion to use his experience and his prophetic gift to assist world leaders in achieving their goals and accomplishing their mission.
For the original article, visit krisvallotton.com.
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