My wife has an elderly lady she walks with at the mall in the mornings. They open every day at 6:00 AM and these two ladies use the opportunity of an empty and sheltered space to get some exercise and fellowship. Except for Christmas. The only day of the year that this mall does not open is Christmas.
We live in a society today that is opposed to "Merry Christmas" in its public interactions. They will say, "Happy Holidays," ignoring the fact that "holiday" means literally "holy day," but, hey, we understand that 1) very few people pay attention to words and 2) consistency isn't a virtue today. But if we're opposed to "Merry Christmas" -- if we're an increasingly "no religion" nation -- then why not open on Christmas Day? No, wait ... if what we do demonstrates what we actually believe, and we actually don't believe in Jesus or God or all that right-wing religious stuff, why are we even taking a holiday on a day still called "Christmas"? If it's all fake, shouldn't we straighten up and fly right and get back to work?
Christmas is just an example. Our current relativism -- "What's true for me may not be true for you" -- has some blatant problems that we're choosing to ignore. For instance, what's with "social justice warriors" among the atheists? On what is this "social justice" based? If "justice" is "that which aligns with what is right" and "right" is a simple, personal choice, what in the world is social justice? On what basis does this society that denies God have for determining "moral" for anyone else?
Social justice is another example of our societal schizophrenia. There are more examples, but that's where we live now. Religion is out, even though religion -- a Moral Lawgiver -- is the only feasible basis for objective good and evil. Still we have our moral outrage that we fling upon whoever happens to violate our own personal sense of right and wrong. "All white people are racist." Without even arguing the point, on what basis do you say that's wrong if there is no universal right and wrong? "It's wrong for the rich to be so rich." Why, if you have no fundamental moral code that has the authority to put demands on others? But we continue to operate as if there are absolutes while deniying the Absolute Himself.
In case you've missed my point, I am not saying racism is right, rich people should get richer, Christmas should not be celebrated, or social justice is not a thing. I'm saying that it's only in God that we find these positions with sufficient basis to say that "it's right or wrong for me and for you." So while our words belie any such fundamental truth, our internal workings affirm it with a vengeance. Which only goes to demonstrate the truth that we know. We know there is a God (Rom 1:19-20). We know that there is a right and a wrong that is outside of ourselves (Rom 2:15). And, clearly, we're blinded to it (2 Cor 4:3-4). Christmas proves it. Moral beliefs prove it. Yes, even "Social Justice Warriors" prove it. And that means we are in real need of the Savior.
2 comments:
The secular will borrow whatever they feel works for them and reject the rest, criticizing those who continue to adhere to it all. This is how they posture as moral while being, as you suggest, something else given the Author of morality.
It seems clear that without a transcendent, universal, objective standard of measuring morality, that we're left wit personal preference or morality decided by majority rule. If one denies the former, then one has no rational basis to judge anyone else's actions to be moral or immoral.
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