Conservatism of a Different Type

We were in church ... an adult class ... and they were sharing prayer requests. Someone asked for prayer for a newlywed couple on their honeymoon ... safe travels. "No," someone said, "they already had that honeymoon ... before they were married." With a laugh. And I thought, "How did we arrive at this 'sex outside of marriage is suitable and admirable' position?" Just an example. I find it all over the place ... self-identified Bible-believing Christians ... even discussing biblical texts and principles ... explaining why modern society has demonstrated that the text can't mean what it says because modern society has improved on it. People who grew up with biblical morals are embracing worldly morals without batting an eye. And I don't understand.

I get that some of them are misinformed. They don't know, for instance, that "God created Man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them" (Gen 1:27), rendering the entire "transgender" concept impossible. They maybe haven't noted that the repeated text, "Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh" (Gen 2:24; Matt 19:5; Eph 5:31), specifies "man" and "wife," precluding "husband and husband" or "wife and wife" ... defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman. Maybe they aren't diligent enough to see all the texts about God placing husbands over wives (e.g., Gen 2:18; 1 Cor 11:3; Eph 5:22-33) and choose to ignore them, not because they're vague, but because modern society says otherwise. The mere notion that wives should submit to their husbands (Eph 5:22) and husbands must sacrifice self for their wives (Eph 5:25) is abhorrent to so many Christians simply because culture (and self-centeredness) opposes it. Of course, maybe some fall into a different category entirely (Matt 7:21-23). But if Jesus said God's word was truth (John 17:17), wouldn't it be encumbent on every true believer to discard personal views that oppose Scripture and adopt biblical views at all times? Even if they oppose modern society?

If you look at the positions of the "liberals" in the '60s, you'll find that they're often the current positions of the conservatives today. "Conservativism" is an attempt to promote and preserve ("conserve") traditional institutions, customs, and values. The problem is that as things change, the "traditional" changes, so "conservative" changes. In a sense, then, "conservatives" necessarily follow behind "liberals," trying to maintain prior values that were discarded ... while discarding earlier ones. That's understandable in politics or culture, but when the values that are discarded are biblical, it's a serious problem. And when people who classify themselves as "Christians" choose to knowingly discard biblical values, that's a real problem.