I’ve been musing a lot lately on this, and wanted to get my thoughts out, and maybe even get some feedback on them as well. I wonder if most Christians don’t see how insidious this tendency is, even as they lam-blast liberals and others as ungodly. What am I talking about? Here is how the thinking develops, as I see it:
- God is good.
- Therefore His design for me is good.
- Therefore my desires and dreams are good.
- Therefore they cannot be sinful.
- Therefore there is no sin, all is relative.
Just where did the deception creep into this line of thinking? Be careful before you answer.
Meanwhile, let me expand on point three. It should look like this:
3a. My dreams and desires seem to match biblical Truth.
3b. Therefore my desires and dreams are good.
3c. How do I weigh dreams and desires when they don’t seem to match biblical Truth, like in my friends?
3c1. Biblical Truth is sometimes hard to understand, and there are different opinions. Cultures change too.
3c2. Opinions are just personal, just feelings.
32ci. Good feelings are true.
3c2i. The opinions of many who agree with biblical Truth are not spoken in love.
3c3. Dreams and desires are also just personal, just feelings.
3c4. Therefore dreams, desires, and opinions are all subjective, but at least I understand mine.
3d. Therefore my subjective impressions are just as valid as what the Bible says, probably better, since my impressions are good feelings.
3e. Therefore all dreams and desires are good.
3e1. But what if they are not?
3e2. Let’s quick think up some exception clauses, like:
3e2i. – if it doesn’t hurt anyone
3e2ii. – if it doesn’t break the current law (which we can change)
4. Therefore since my desires are not sinful, others’ desires can’t be either.
5. Therefore there is no sin, all is relative.
This attitude leads, more than likely in the next generation, to:
5b. All is relative, because we are all gods. At least I am, so I have to give others the benefit of the doubt.
This leads in the next generation, to:
5c. God, gods, who needs them? I’m good enough.
6. God is evil. I am good.
7. Therefore, let’s kill God.
8. Then when that doesn’t work, let’s kill those who follow that kind of God.
Where did we turn off the road? The first point should have read:
- God is good, and holy.
Then, believe it or not, we could keep going:
2. Therefore His design for me is good.
3. Therefore His dreams and desires for me are good, when I can say, “Not my will, but Thine be done.” Only this attitude paves the way for:
4. Therefore my desires and dreams are good.
The key to the union of my desires, my created design, and God’s will is possible only through death to self, and the acceptance of the fact that the perfect man Jesus even was willing to do the same thing for me, though he did not need to for his own sake. He died, so that in coming alive again, I can be united to God in all things and live the life I was created to live to the fullest.
Lest you think I am preaching to the lost, or even to the Christian left, I am talking to the Christian right, so that it might perchance see how these tendencies are already there, or else they would not give birth to the fight against biblical norms we see in Western culture now. The problem happens when we fail to see the unholiness in ourselves that distinguishes us from God. Then we fail to see it in others. No one has the right to say a word about the unholiness of others without a fundamental humility about the extent of it within himself.
- If God is holy, then I am not, and I better be willing to change.
- Are my opinions good because they feel right or because they represent the character of God? Test: what biblical Truths don’t feel good to me? Hint – think about subjects like divorce, remarriage, women, church discipline.
- Until I am willing to put holiness above feelings, my feelings can’t match God’s holiness. The tension Jesus felt in Gethsemane couldn’t be resolved until God’s will won. Then peace came.
- The opposite of peace is rebellion.
That’s my hard word for the day. Your thoughts?
orphan dreams 