Sorry I didn't post this this morning but Blogger wouldn't let me in.
Alright, back into it.
Back to a previous statement. How can we be lights to the dark world when we appear dark? When we look like, act like, talk like and do the same things as the world, where is the light/dark contrast? I truly feel that if we are not different from the world, we will not be effective. And I’m not saying ‘different’ as that we are saved and the world is not. I am saying lifestyle differences. We should be noticeably different. Not necessarily Amish different. I have a problem with today’s music. It’s full of sex, drugs, violence, more sex and sex. I also have a problem with taking today’s music and putting new words to it and calling it ’Christian’. Job 14:4 says "Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one." I have a problem with Christians listening to this music…especially the secular music. It’s vulgar and angry. We put that into our bodies and spirits and expect it NOT to change us? Music can become like a drug. I’ve been there. I know. There was a time when I couldn’t wait to get into my car and go somewhere so I could turn up my music loud and listen to what my wife didn’t want me listening to in the house around the little ones. It was like an addiction. Praise God He has removed that stronghold from me. I am still plagued by the music I used to listen to though. If I hear a bit of an old song I used to listen to, all of the lyrics and beats and memories of that song come flooding back over me. I am not proud of that. I think it’s unfortunate. This stuff sticks in you. An example; some of my children play musical instruments. The songs they are working on, they are supposed to listen to several times a day on CD to learn tone, rhythm, speed and so on. One night at about 1:30 a.m. our almost two year old woke up to be fed and cuddled. She didn’t cry or call for ‘mama’ but she was humming one of the children’s musical pieces they were working on. She was humming it perfectly! Please don’t tell me that you listen to it ‘just for the beat’. The words stick in you just like the musical piece stuck with my daughter. If we are supposed to think on the "…true,…honest,…just,…pure,…lovely,…and things of good report;" (Philippians 3:12) today’s music doesn’t fall into those categories. And I started out listening to ‘Christian’ music. It was soon that it didn’t satisfy. It wasn’t long until my standards for ’good’ music was so low that I was listening to anything and everything. Ask my wife, she will tell you.
Apply the previous paragraph to movies and television, also. The television is so full of sex it’s humiliating. We make promiscuity to be okay. We have soft porn on in the daytime (not that the evenings or nights would make it alright) with soap operas. I used to watch those, too. The commercials on TV are terrible…you can’t even sell a soft drink or sandwich or vehicle or anything without using sex. "Well, I just watch sports." I’ve heard that before. And you just watch the beer commercials in between. The last sporting event I watched was the Stanley Cup Playoffs a couple of years ago. No more…never again. We had to turn the channel at commercial times because of the smut. Half naked cheerleaders on the football field. The Janet Jackson incident. It tares me up to think that ‘ministers’ or ‘shepherds’ were allowing youth to watch that. You may think that I’m a prude. Do an experiment for me. Shut your TV off and stop listening to trashy music and get rid of the smutty magazines like People for a couple weeks or a couple months. Than turn the TV back on. It will shock you what you watched before without even realizing the pollution. We have grown so calloused to the immoral that it doesn’t bother us any more. I’m not just talking fellow lay people. I’m talking ministers of the gospel, elders, deacons…all addicted to media and entertainment. I used to justify watching inappropriate things on TV saying that "at least my kids are in bed" or that "it’s not that bad at prime time for your kids to watch." What makes it not right for your kids to watch…is it the language or the sex or the violence? What makes it wrong for them to watch and not wrong for you to watch? I was hypocritical in saying those things. If you have ever said those things, you too are a hypocrite. Why do we think we can handle it any better than they can? Because we can filter through the bad? Would you filter out your septic water with a strainer and assume the water is okay to drink? And I’m telling you, the world is slipping things onto TV slowly and quietly. At first your surprised to hear a certain word or to see that much of a body. Than again, and again, and again until it’s no big deal. Than it’s earlier in the evening. Soon the things that were shocking and inappropriate five years ago are making it prime time. I’ve watched that happen over my short 30 year life-span.
Well, this post took a turn that I did not expect. I’m not sorry it did. These things have bothered me for a long time. Like I said, I know about these things. I’ve lived through it. Praise God for His mercy; it‘s in my past! If you deny any of the things you have read, you need to seek God in this matter. I am completely convinced that the trash of the world is good for nobody. If you deny it, that’s what it is…denial. How many alcoholics admit they have a problem. These issues are problems. They are strongholds. Giving these things up will not make you a perfect Christian. I am not a perfect Christian. I find it hard to believe that the Holy Spirit would dwell in a vessel full of the world’s dirt and filth, though. The Bible might have something to say about that. If you’re a Christian, get off of the fence. Get both feet on one side or the other. If you want the world, take it. If you want the Lord, forsake the world.
God Bless!
"…holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:" Heb. 12:14
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1 comment:
Hey Amy, good to hear from you. I actually do have some thoughts on that. Yes we do need to try to reach those in the clutches of the world. That doesn't mean we have to become like the world. I believe people are looking for someone who contrasts what the world has to offer. If we are so much like the world, people see us just like they are. If they were looking for someone who is like the world, they have a whole world to choose from. We need to be different from the world. True stable Christians actually attract the down-and-outers. That's what "in the world but not of the world" is all about. We can't completely seclude ourselves from every part of the world. We would never reach anyone like that. That would be easy for me to fall into. I believe I could become a hermit if I let myself. We need to challenge ourselves to step out of our bubbles and reach the hurting people. Anyways, thanks for reading. God Bless!!
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