So Now, Christians Are Dangerous?

Bernie Sanders calls for a “religious test” for politicians, to weed out Christians. The news media slams the Democratic Unionist Party (United Kingdom) for being “socially backwards” because they oppose same-sex marriage and abortion. CNN uses words like dangerous and danger to describe the DUP. A young Christian soccer player decides not to play on a national team because the jerseys promote LGBT freedoms.

It’s interesting that people who are all for “tolerance” are non-tolerant when someone’s ideas are different from theirs. One only has to think back in history. How about World War II? All of a sudden, one man said only Aryans were okay, so he killed all the rest: Jews, gypsies, and anyone he didn’t think fit into his scheme. Hitler wasn’t Aryan himself, but . . . .

Today, the “enemy” is “dangerous” Christian ideology. Christianity doesn’t approve of the sins they enjoy, so it must be “dangerous.” What am I referring to? I’m talking about morality.

After the Manchester, England bombing at the entrance to a stadium, we heard statements like, “We don’t want them to change our way of life” and “We want to get on with our lives.” I totally agree. But, the other day, I read an excerpt from Ariana Grande’s song, “Side to Side.” Besides extremely sexual, it includes “making deals with the devil” and vulgar language. I looked up her song lyrics and read another titled “Dangerous Woman.” Basically, it was a detailed description of the sexual act. And, these young teens and their families happily went out to hear a cute little songstress sing that?! Is this our “innocent way of life”? (Please understand, I am deeply shocked and sorry people lost their lives. I grieve with those who are wounded, and I cried and prayed for the families who lost loved ones. There was absolutely no reason for carnage there, and there’s no justification for killing people anywhere. None whatsoever.)

What I’m saying is that our “way of life” has gone through a huge morality shift.

I personally love going out at night. I remember walking around the old part of Oviedo, Spain with a family of friends late one evening. It was beautiful, with the ancient stone walls and archways lit up with floodlights. People were sitting and chatting at outdoor cafés. It was a great atmosphere, and I drank it in. Recently, we were in Segovia at night, in the central plaza. It was packed with children and families, and again, I totally enjoyed myself. I believe people should be able to walk around without fear and sit down and sip a cup of tea. I would defend the right of people to attend concerts, too.

It hasn’t been all that long ago, that the Ten Commandments served as the moral compass for everyone. No one questioned them. They provide the standard for Judeo-Christian values.

In short, the Ten Commandments say:

1. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image . . . Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them.
3. Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain.
4. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
5. Honour thy father and thy mother.
6. Thou shalt not kill.
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
8. Thou shalt not steal.
9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, . . . wife, . . . manservant, . . . maidservant, . . . ox, . . . ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's (from Exodus 20:3-17).

So, where has society gone off track? What happened? Why do we have issues with the simplest questions about morality?

Of course, there are several factors, the most important of which is the lack of Bible knowledge. I would guess that many of my readers can’t name all ten of the Ten Commandments—and most of you are Christians. Probably your children don’t know them either. Try an experiment: ask them!

The first thing we need to do is get back to the Bible. Teach ourselves—actually read and study the Bible and apply it in practical ways to our lives. We need to practice what we know, even if it’s only a little bit. What a different world we’d have if everyone obeyed the Ten Commandments! We must not neglect teaching the Bible to our children. I think there’s been a great generational disconnect between my parents’ generation and my adult children’s generation. I think it went wrong when the Baby Boomers (my age people) got so busy in living that we neglected to teach our children in the home. We forgot that values are taught and caught. So, a lot of kids didn’t get taught, and what they caught wasn’t a pretty picture. It didn’t please God. To get back to morality, we need to be good examples of biblical truths and also teach them to our kids.

Another problem is the concept of Relativity. It basically makes everything depend on the factors around it. The dictionary defines moral relativity as “the absence of standards of absolute and universal application.” As you can imagine, when you have no standard, you have no right or wrong. Everything is determined by the person himself and his circumstances.

Let’s pretend you decide that there’s no standard about murder. It’s the Sixth Commandment, but you no longer believe in standards, so you throw that one out (along with all the rest). It therefore becomes okay to murder under certain conditions. This began with abortion when the life of the mother was in danger—almost zero cases of that—but it rationalized abortion. Then, abortion was okay for children conceived in rape. Then, if the mother couldn’t take care of the baby, then for any reason, then at any time in the pregnancy, and then to partial birth abortions at full term. Do you see the progression? That’s not all! Without an absolute standard against murder, people like “Dr. Death,” Jack Kevorkian, made it possible for people to kill themselves by assisted suicide. In the Netherlands, it became okay for doctors to make decisions about older patients and “end their suffering” at will—euthanasia. There’s been a genocide of babies with Down’s Syndrome.

When I talk to people about being sinners, I often get the laughing response, “I haven’t killed anyone.” In most people’s minds, murder is still rated as the worst sin—yet it’s tolerated in many forms today. The moral standard has been thrown away.

It’s that same moral standard that kept societies across the world from living in anarchy. It’s the biblical standard that put the brakes on total hedonism.

Today’s society sincerely believes that a man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry (from Ecclesiastes 8:15).

Are Christians the bad guys?

Of course not!

There are several warnings in the Bible about the mixing up of right and wrong. Here’s one of them: Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! (Isaiah 5:20) It’s a sad state of affairs that there’s even a mix-up at all!

To the Christian, God says, But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ. For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing (1 Peter 3:15-17).

God help us!