Challenging Times! Our crisis has become a crisis of truth.
“3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;” 2 Timothy 4:3
We live in challenging times! The twenty-first century has been marked by ideologies that are diametrically opposed to Christianity. Atheism, humanism, naturalism, materialism, hedonism, just to name a few. Our crisis has become a crisis of truth. We live in a world that denounces moral absolutes with a rejection of truth.
False and perverted teachings have filled every airwave and lecture hall aiming to influence the minds of believers and non-believers alike. (2 Cor. 11:13, 2 Peter 2:1)
We live in a world that is diseased with “itching ears towards the truth and cannot endure sound doctrine” (2 Tim 4:3)
J.P. Moreland, a Christian author, theologian and philosopher says in his book, Love Your God With All Your Mind, “As we approach the twenty-first century, it does not take a rocket scientist to recognize that our entire culture is in trouble. We are staring down the barrel of a loaded gun, and we can no longer afford to act like it’s loaded with blanks…. Our society has replaced heroes with celebrities, the quest for a well-informed character with the search for a flat stomach, substance and depth with image and personality……and the emergence of the most secular culture the world has ever seen. That secular culture is now simply playing out the implications of ideas that have come to be widely accepted in a social context in which the church is no longer a major participant in the war of ideas.”
Challenging Times! Is being generally good sufficient for getting into heaven?
Immorality has plagues our society in recent years. According to pollster George Barna, www.barna.org Statistics show that 75% of adults and 83% of teenagers said moral truth depends on the situation that you are in. An increasing number believes that the whole idea of sin is “outdated”’. A majority of those who believe in God think that being generally good is sufficient for getting into heaven.
The teachers of philosophy, history, science, and many others are almost obliged to take shots at Christianity since the biblical truths contradict what nowadays has to be taught in school. Just ask our teenagers who go to any public school and you will know the sad truth.
Challenging Times! Shall we take our children from public schools?
Shall we take our children from public schools to protect them from this influence? That doesn’t solve the problem because we can’t keep them out of this world forever. Instead, we need to equip them to be “always ready to give a defence to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in them, with meekness and fear” 1 Peter 3:15. We need to work with our children and encourage them to understand not only what they believe but more importantly why they believe it.
Challenging Times! “defending the faith” is needed
My beloved brothers and sisters, we must strive to give our children rational, intelligent, and relevant explanations of Christian truths so that they can answer the critics and the prejudiced who seek to undermine the teachings of our Lord Jesus. Our true enemy is not the person who stands in front of us. The real enemy comes to us with subtle poison that translates into secular ideologies (Eph. 6:12).
If there was ever a time that “defending the faith” is needed, it is NOW!
By: George Bassilios | Deacon at St Antonius Coptic Orthodox Church ~ San Francisco, California USA – #timelesstruth
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