Post Modern Mindset (#5)
We’ve looked at giving an answer for the hope that lies within, the exclusivity of Jesus, the urgency and motivation for sharing this message and established that simply saying Jesus is Lord does not equate with knowing He is Lord, knowing Him or even realizing you’re a sinner. We are going to jump into a landmine of captain obvious statements that will give you a new mantra other than saying “I feel”. Let me explain briefly before I hop in. We developed earlier how truth seems very elusive and it is arrogant to know any absolute truth but we have unknowingly adopted responses that we consider humble alternatives to saying someone is wrong. “I feel” is one of the most used. If we can qualify our position with “I feel” or “I think” or “I wish” or even “I hope” somehow no one should be able to refute this because we all have rights and privileges revealed in our feelings, thoughts, wishes and even hopes. Who are you to question them? Hopefully the next few examples will make us better responders with what we actually know to be true.
Say a young white male average in height walks up to you and sparks a discussion. In this discussion he declares he is actually a 7 year old Chinese girl. What is your response (I’m sure you know where I’m going with this)? What do you know? Let’s get a little more reaction from what you know to be true. Say he declares he wants to go to the 1st grade as a result of his declaration of his age. Add to this he wants to go to the 1st grade in an all-girls academy. What if after all this he tells you he is 6’6”? If you your response is “I feel its ok if he thinks he’s 6 or 6’6” or if he thinks he’s a girl and he should be able to go to any school he wants to” your grasp of the truth is in question. If your response is “I just feel he has a right to his opinion as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else”. You are a Post Modern. His perspective is obviously flawed but should you care more about what he “feels” he is rather than what he is, you are as confused as he is and you are not an asset to his well-being. The point is we live in a time when a boys and girls aren’t so convinced what gender they are, it is actually thought to be arrogant (as we discussed earlier) to know anything with any dogmatic reality. This is actually one of the enemies games he has been playing for a while only to rear its head in another ugly direction. We are called as believers in Jesus Christ to “commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God” (2 Cor 4:2). Paul goes on to explain (as we will memorize):
“In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” (2 Cor 4:4 )
These seem like they should be extreme examples. Ten or twenty years ago you might have seen very few dress in drag and these is small sectors but you would rarely if ever know someone who wanted to change their gender. Now it’s called into question if they even have a gender…who knew : (. In Genesis God has declared He has made us male and female, this was never thought to be even a question of rhetoric, now it’s questioned like there is merit to the claim. Talk about confusion. This really goes back to one of the first verses we looked at about knowing the truth and being set free by it. If the enemy has convinced you that your feelings are equal with truth, or your hoping or wishing is equivalent with truth. You are just as confused as our discussion example. If I walk up to you and my coats on fire and you yell “your coats on fire” and I want to argue, please just put out the fire!!