We live in a narcissistic age of self-obsession and extreme individualism. You can be who you want to be (or, in this age of reality-defying self-definition, “what” you want to be), go where you want to go and do what you want to do, or so we’re told. A man can be a woman, a woman can be a man, or a person can be neither simply by personal decree. You are free to define yourself anyway you please unless you want to self-identify as a different race. Apparently, that’s the one fixed and unalterable biological reality. Such is the zany world in which we live.
As Christians, we are rightly distressed by this degradation of personhood – this idolatrous corruption of humanity. It is an affront to the God in whose image we are made. While this societal descent into insanity seems to have come suddenly, the presuppositions that have made possible this collapse into absurdity have long been shaping our culture. As a late conservative radio host used to boast, “This country was founded on rugged individualism.” Deism and the rationalism of Enlightenment thought were just as prominent in the founding of the United States as the Judeo/Christian ethic.
While there is merit in the freedom of the individual to follow one’s own conscience, this individualism is a right only on the horizontal plane. In other words, while appropriate among men, there is no such right where God is concerned.
While there is merit in the freedom of the individual to follow one’s own conscience, this individualism is a right only on the horizontal plane. In other words, while appropriate among men, there is no such right where God is concerned. God is our Creator. It is He who made us and not we ourselves (Psalm 100:3). He is the One who sustains us, moment by moment, giving us life, breath, and everything else (Acts 17:25). In God’s providence, He has permitted humanity to rebel, but we have no right to that rebellion, and we certainly don’t have the right to reinvent ourselves. These sinful pursuits of idolatry are a cosmic crime against the One “in whom we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). A life of sin is not a legitimate choice, it is criminal behavior for which God will hold His creation accountable (2 Cor 5:10). Our only hope is to trust in the saving work of Christ.
Christians today often find themselves at a loss for how to speak the Truth to a society so deranged. We must always begin at the beginning. God holds the title deed to all of creation. As Psalm 24 declares, “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the world and all who live in it.” This is why one of the biblical words for sin is “trespass.” According to Scripture, we are mere stewards in God’s world. Sinful humanity breathes God’s air, eats His food and uses His resources as if they belong to them – as if these resources are theirs’s to do with as they please. As Romans 1 tells us, they are ungrateful, and refuse to acknowledge the God from whom these blessings flow. In this delusional, idolatrous climate, society is plunged ever deeper into the dark abyss of irrational and unnatural chaos. Our first response to the madness of this age is a simple set of propositions: There is a God, I am not Him, this is His world, and I am a contingent creature, defined by Him and completely dependent upon His benevolent mercy and grace.
Christians today often find themselves at a loss for how to speak the Truth to a society so deranged. We must always begin at the beginning. God holds the title deed to all of creation.
While Christians are appalled by the excesses of today’s idolatry, we should recognize that these same presuppositions of extreme individualism and self-centeredness can (and often have) influenced our thoughts. This is the cultural air we breathe. If we are oblivious to the world’s influence, it will subtly warp our understanding of Scripture, corrupt our interpretations, and distort how we understand the Christian life. We will consider the fallout from worldliness in next week’s post.
