How Do I Live as a Christian in This World: 10 Areas We Might Not Normally Think About

The desire of my heart is to live as a true Christian, in a world that is broken.  How do I do that?  How do I live it out during my daily life? Let's look briefly at ten areas of our lives that we might not have thought about before.  

Group Dynamics / Social Climbing - In our friend group, in the group that surrounds us at work, we may be tempted to try to climb, to try to jockey for position. That's the way of the world. Show how important you are. Quietly wage a war against someone who is a threat to you. Talk about her behind her back, gather people against her. Use carefully worded remarks, offhand, to slowly pick at your rival in the group.  These are the ways of the world. They are not the way of Christians. So you should do the opposite of these things you see others doing.  

If someone targets you for a campaign of quiet warfare, refuse to engage, simply keep being your best. Pray for them. If someone gets a promotion before you, don't get angry, just keep being a man or woman of integrity. If you see a weak spot and know you could use it against that person to drive them down and yourself up in the group, refuse to use it. See it, and refuse to use that. That is revolutionary. You will feel better about yourself, and in the long term, maybe not the short, but in the long term others will respect you more for your lifestyle. 

I used to downright hate the social climbing and alpha male stuff in groups, and by disengaging with it, and simply being myself and my best in Christ, God would often work it out in a unique way. 

Extra Tip: Stubbornly treat those who consider you an enemy with kindness and respect, it will confuse them. 

The Slippery Slope of Flirtation - This isn't just for married couples, but also for singles. Singles, hear me on this, you will have many flirtations that are a danger to your future. Before the right godly woman or man comes along, you may run into 15-20 of the wrong ones. Don't let your emotions control you in romance. Even if they're very beautiful/handsome, keep your guard up. Look deeper, to their character, and their faith walk. God will give you flags to watch for. 

Married couples, avoid at all costs the slippery slope of flirtation. I think we often act as if, well, I don't even realize what I'm doing. But if we're really being honest, we do. We may slip into it naturally. But we are humans made in God's image, so we are capable in Christ, of catching ourselves and refraining from the flirtations we might otherwise indulge in. It's life and death we toy with, with flirting. A few words, a few choice remarks, and destruction is near. 

We all know the story. A married woman has a man who begins flirting with her at work. She resists it at first. But slowly she begins to play into it. And as she begins to flirt back, the ball is now rolling downhill. We all know, it can roll very fast and pick up speed very quickly. This is why many will be in a happy marriage, but they like how the flirtation makes them feel. So they allow it. Just a bit. And slowly that door cracks open wider and wider. 

And pretty soon they are in divorce court, and wondering, how could I have let this happen?

Be very staunch. Shut down the flirtation immediately. Or just walk away. And don't allow it. 

I had a friend whose wife had a coworker, another woman mind you, who kept flirting with her. My friend didn't like it, but she kept telling him they were best friends. Big mistake. That should not be a friendship you're in. At the same time my friend and his wife were having some problems in their marriage. 

This friend of his wife kept whispering in her ear, "I'd never treat you that way. I understand you." And pretty soon she wore her down, and she left her husband for this woman. 

If you can keep the door closed on any flirtation, you can protect your marriage. If you allow the door to crack open, it can open very wide, very fast, and end in disaster. Head it off immediately, don't toy with it, even though the attention feels good in the moment, be wise, shut and lock that deadly door. 

Extra Tip: Avoid intense eye contact, it's a form of flirtation that's powerful but hard to pin down (easy to make excuses about).

Financial Stability - Something that I faced when I became a Christian was financial chaos. I had taken out too many loans. I had many bills in collections. I owed people money that I had never payed back. I had stolen money from people I needed to make amends to. So I got to work. I used free services like Credit Karma to find out about the bills in collections. I began making monthly payments on them, small amounts, $25 here and $100 when I could. I made a plan. I paid people back, with interest. I made amends to those I'd harmed financially. 

I had a credit card with $10,000 in debt on it. And I asked God for help. He sent an older church member to me and he sat me down and taught me about tithing. He said if you don't put God first in your finances you're never going to have enough. He challenged me to start tithing 10% of my income, and then slowly give more as I'm able. 

It seemed so counter-intuitive, I'm in debt! And you want me to give more? Yet I could sense the Holy Spirit speaking to me in the situation. So I said, alright, I'm going to try it. I'm going to start tithing.  

In two years the entire $10,000 was paid off. Not much had changed in my income or lifestyle, but God was at the head, and he guided me to pay it all off. Put God first in this area, and watch what he does.

The sense of satisfaction in financial integrity is amazing. Shoot for that, make it a goal, and get to work. 

Extra Tip: Budgeting can be extremely helpful as well. There are free services out there that can help with this, connect with them. I met with Thrivent finance early on, they were helpful to me!

Read Great Books - One of the greatest things about the protestant reformation and the birth of America was that Christians used knowledge from different disciplines to develop their personal lives, their families, their government and their economy. 

Be one of those Christians who reads lots of books. But be cautious that the great knowledge out there doesn't puff you up. It can lead to pride. So stay humble as you read. As the Apostle Paul said, knowledge puffs up. 

Read the great Christian classics, the Pilgrim's Progress, The Practice of the Presence of God, The Cross of Jesus Christ, Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ, Humility, The Pursuit of God, Mere Christianity, My Utmost for His Highest, Orthodoxy, Live Not By Lies, I Don't Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist, and on and on the list goes. 

I know that after twelve grueling years of public education, learning from many teachers who hated to teach and hated their subject, I had learned to hate learning. I despised it. I had to fight through a lot of hurt and brokenness and anger to rediscover the love of learning. But when I found it again, I took off running. I hope you can find it too, if you were one left in the ruins like me. 

Process your Christian faith into how you see the World - This has been one of the greatest adventures I've been on since becoming a Christian. After becoming a Christian I realized I had been brainwashed in the modern world system into thinking many things about the world that aren't true.  

I had believed the universe was just a howling dark void that came from nothing and was going nowhere. I had believed the human race was here for no apparent reason. I had believed human beings had little value. I had believed after death came nothing. 

The adventure has been trying to slowly break out of the modernist mindset and into a truly Christian view of the world, which is simply seeing reality as it truly is. 

When I see a human being, I don't see some guy anymore, I see someone made in the image of God, who has great value. When I see a beautiful tree, I don't see a plant, I see something God invented and intended. When I see DNA I see the programming language God used to design living beings. When I see galaxies and nebula on the James Webb space telescope I don't see random phenomenon but inventions of the brilliance of God's mind. When I look at a city, I don't see just a random gathering of people, but a structure of hundreds of disciplines, from plumbing to electricity, to woodwork and architecture all inspired by God and intended by God for man to develop and live in.

Begin to try to do this, when you live your life, stop yourself, and think to yourself, I know what I used to think this was, but what does God and the Bible say about it? What does it really mean? Then slowly, you'll break free from the brainwashing of the modernity. And as you do, you'll see the world more clearly as it truly is, and you'll be able to more effectively live out your Christian faith.

All the greats, C.S. Lewis, John Wesley, D.L. Moody understood that they had to break out of the old mindset of the flesh and begin to see the world through the lenses of the Spirit. 

Several pastors met with D.L. Moody once and asked him what was the secret to his success in ministry. He took pointed to the people around them near the town square and said what do you see? And the men each gave their various insights about the people they saw. And D.L. Moody said, I see dozens of people made in God's image who face an eternity in hell without the forgiveness found in Jesus Christ. I'm paraphrasing the story, but you see the point. D.L. Moody was effective because he had trained himself to see beyond this world, to the eternal implications of everything around him. 

I don't agree with Mark Driscoll on everything, but this is something he's good at. He went to a football game once and said, "Dang, I've joined a cult!" He could see the worship of the event. He could see it was triggering something of an idolatry in some of the people present. He didn't just see a football game, he looked differently, and saw a spiritual implication. We can train ourselves to do something similar. We ask questions, reinterpret reality, and begin to see Earth, the USA, our cities, our friends, our families, and our lives through biblical lenses. 

Extra Tip: Read C.S. Lewis for help with this, he seemed to effortlessly see things others missed in regard to what reality really is. 

Value Ceremony and Tradition - I remember in my teens and twenties I looked with general disdain at events like anniversaries, weddings, family reunions, even Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, all of that stuff I thought generally had little point for me as a person. 

Why does the wedding matter? What really matters is the marriage after the wedding.  Why does Christmas matter? We just eat and open presents, the actual story behind it doesn't matter. Why should the family reunion happen? It's just old people dancing the polka. 

Even after becoming a Christian I don't know that I fully understand why it matters. But, I eventually realized that it really does matter. I was reading The Great Good Thing by Andrew Klavan, and he mentioned how he had thought his wedding didn't really matter. That it was just an old tradition. But later he realized he was completely wrong, the wedding expresses the thing, it solidifies the thing, and it makes the thing real. 

The cynical kid in me couldn't see the value in remembering. But that's the purpose in all these events, is to remember. Because we as humans so easily forget. We drift into our daily patterns. We rest on our past accomplishments. 

The holidays, the family get togethers, the special events, the weddings, the anniversaries are all infusing meaning into our lives. They are reminding us what really matters. They are reminding us that marriage should be celebrated. They are reminding us thankfulness matters. They are reminding us the birth of Jesus changed everything. They are reminding us that the resurrection of Jesus brings us eternal life.  Traditions are vital. They are important. And the Bible is full of stones of remembrance, yearly festivals, events, meetings and calls to remember what God had done in the past. It's vital. 

Extra Tip: We lose something huge when we miss church, or view online only, we need the human gathering, it does something that can't be replicated on the internet by watching a sermon on YouTube.

The Eye Gate - cursing sprees? sexualized content? Imagery that provokes you toward lust or pride or greed? Be cautious what you put in front of your eyes. I used to be obsessed with zombie movies. Today I don't watch zombie movies at all. I love sci fi but a lot of sci fi movies end up being plain demonic. Check the rating on the movie. If something in your spirit disturbs you about what you're watching, turn it off. Switch to something else. Let God guide what you put in front of your eyes, when in doubt, pray it out. Ask God. He will help you. 

Extra Tip: Avoid making excuses on this one, we want to watch something, so we make excuses and rationalize it. Simply make the hard call to shut it off. Split the disc. Move on. 

Develop Spirit-centered Witnessing Radar - Something God has developed within me is a sense of radar in witnessing. Learn to listen for the leading of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit will nudge you to speak to someone, or call someone, or pray for someone. 

We can develop a pattern of listening for God and following the leading of the Spirit. We won't always get it right, but we can slowly develop a pattern of simply knowing when God is calling us to speak to someone or pray or act on someone's behalf. 

Extra Tip: Don't lean too much on emotions in witnessing. God can use emotion, but if allow our emotions to be the sole guide, we'll get burned. Be prayerful, contemplative, and listen quietly. Don't get obsessive. 

Drink Deeply of the Evidence for God's Existence - As a guy I tend to be skeptical. I tend to think someone is probably trying to scam me or take my money, because in American capitalism, that's usually the case. If they invite me over, it's just as likely they want to be friends as they want to inculcate me into their pyramid scheme get rich quick scam, essential oil sale service, or Tupperware party (it's happened to me before). 

I'm skeptical. I need to see the evidence. If someone tells me a product is good, I go look it up. I read the reviews. I don't just accept what I'm being told. 

That's why I think it's so important to be well read on Christian apologetics. I want to see the evidence for God's existence in science, history, archaeology, and I want to know about the Bible's ancient manuscripts. 

It helps me in two ways. First, it helps me internally, if I start to get led astray by the world system telling me there is no god, I simply remind myself, "Where did the universe come from?" God made it, obviously. Look at all the complexity in nature, immutable laws, DNA in our cells, and I quickly remember, yeah, it's obvious that God made all this. If I don't have that information in my head, I could start to be led astray and think that there is no god. The enemy is always trying to lead us away from the Lord. Apologetics has kept me strapped in tight with all the facts surrounding the life of Jesus, science, history, and the impact of the church on the world. 

The second reason it's helpful is so I can witness to someone who has questions. If someone tells me that the Bible isn't reliable and has been rewritten, I can explain to them why that's not true. I can point to the dead sea scrolls. I can talk about the manuscripts that date back to within 50 years of the life of Christ. I can talk about the persecutions the early church endured before the canon was established. I can witness better with apologetics in my back pocket.

Extra Tip: You can read great books like The Reason for God by Keller or The Language of God by Collins, but if you struggle reading, just subscribe to some of the YouTube channels of people like Frank Turek, Os Guinness, Ken Ham, Greg Koukl, William Lane Craig, and listen to their videos/podcasts. You'll absorb the information as you listen to it repeatedly. 

Little Things In Life - there are a million little things we do throughout the day, laundry, dishes, paperwork, yard work, running errands around town, ordering stuff online, and we should try to remember to do it for the glory of God. Even just speak that out loud. Nothing is secular, all is spiritual. Do it for God, do it to God's glory. 

Extra Tip: Even the most basic tasks in life can be done to God's glory. Sharpening your pencil? Do it to the Glory of God! 

The Spiritual Journey of Aaron Rodgers

Two thousand nine, week eight, Green Bay Packers vs. Minnesota Vikings, and there was a fire burning in the hearts of millions of Packer fans as Brett Favre, girded in purple and white strode onto Lambeau field. The unthinkable had happened. 

I loved Brett Favre. I had watched him since I was eight years old, turning a team from total failure to incredible victory. He was our hero. No one played the position like Favre did. Yet he had turned against us. 

Now we had a new hero. His name? Aaron Rodgers. I wanted that game so badly. I wanted to win. But Favre and the Vikings overcame us. Yet from that day on we had a new hero. Aaron Rodgers. We believed in him. And he would not disappoint. 

Over the years Rodgers has fought in Green Bay for another title after the incredible 2010 season, but in recent years under Matt Lafleur the Packers have come up short, with the 2022 season ending in an 8-9 record, missing the playoffs by a single game. 

As Aaron Rodgers considers what to do next in his career, I've asked myself this question: Who is Aaron Rodgers really? 

I think to understand someone at their roots, at their base level, we have to understand where they are spiritually, philosophically. Aaron Rodgers was raised in California. A huge 49ers fan. But did you know Aaron Rodgers was also a young man raised with faith? It's true. And as he entered the NFL that Christian faith remained an important part of his life. 

In fact Aaron Rodgers himself shared with a friend of mine, Major Bob Mueller, of The Salvation Army, how his mom had taken him growing up to volunteer at The Salvation Army.

Major Bob Mueller was the officer at The Salvation Army in the Green Bay area, and Aaron had reached out and set up an event that is now held annually, where Packer players sign autographs and the fans pay for them, with the proceeds going to support those in need. 

Major Bob asked Aaron when they met, "Why are you doing this Aaron?" And Aaron said growing up his mom had taken him to volunteer at The Salvation Army in his hometown. So he wanted to give back.

For many years in his life Aaron Rodgers considered himself a Christian, a follower of Jesus, one who trusted the Bible, the word of God, and saw hope in an eternal life beyond the grave.

However, over time, his faith dwindled and increasingly questions and skepticism replaced it. This isn't particular uncommon. We all face those challenges in our spiritual journey. 

Like the traveler in the Pilgrim's Progress, we all eventually make our way through "vanity fair" where the various offerings of the world system are dangled before the weary travelers. 

Think of Brett Favre, not a man of faith for many years, a college star from down south, but, something changed for Brett after his retirement. God wove the strands of his story together, from his humble start in Atlanta, to Green Bay, to victories, concussions, opioid addiction, the death of his father, the bitter battles with retirement and the Packer organization, but finally, he hit a bottom of sorts, and he gave his life to Jesus Christ.

At his induction into the Hall of Fame he wore a gold jacket, yet spiritually he also wore the righteousness of the Messiah when he said, "Thank you Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior." 

Many of us Christians were amazed and excited by this declaration by Brett Favre. Given his friendship with Aaron Rodgers, perhaps Brett could help disciple Aaron in the future.

In any case after Brett's declaration at the Hall of Fame, many of us wondered where Rodgers was at with his faith. 

Aaron Rodgers came out discussing his views about Christianity in 2020 on Danica Patrick's podcast, saying that he couldn't believe in a God who would send people to hell, among other statements critical of the Christian faith. 

Aaron later shared that he had given up his Christian faith, crediting his relationship with Rob Bell, the progressive minister. Bell apparently sent Rodgers numerous books to try to guide Rodgers away from a literal interpretation of the Bible, and to suggest that there is no hell, among other more progressive perspectives on Christianity. 

Growing up in Wausau, Wisconsin, about two hours from Green Bay, I had been raised in the Catholic faith, but in my teens I had begun to reject the faith, and by my early twenties, I was an atheist/agnostic. I did not believe the religion of my ancestors was of any value. I had bought into the mainstream narrative that science, modern medicine, and technology had essentially made religion irrelevant. 

So I began to live out the worldview of relativism, post-modernism, if there is no God, if there is no origin for humanity aside from the primordial soup, then I could live however I wanted. I was free to use drugs, chase the ladies, party it up, and essentially do whatever I wanted.

But after seven years of this lifestyle I found myself increasingly desperate for answers to the big questions. As you experience the emptiness of life without meaning, and as you begin to acquire addictions and negative attitudes, life becomes increasingly unbearable. As suffering and troubles increase, trauma increases, and then fear increases, and these fuels add to the fire of the big questions: Who am I? Why am I here?

Before it had been a fun question, now it was a desperate need to know. Soon, I think in that stage, we find ourselves wrestling with two extremes, life or death. I don't want to live anymore because life is unbearable. I can't stand it anymore. But, do I really want the unvarnished truth? Because it isn't pretty.

At rock bottom, total destruction of ego, I was left with two options, death, or life. Rock bottom has a way of refining the mind-battle to it's purest form: life or death. 

So it came into my mind to cry out to that ancient name, beyond ancient doors, the name that our modern society has covered in signs and placards that read: "bigotry, racism, sexism, white mans religion, child sex crimes, intolerance, hateful, judgmental" on and on and on the lists goes. The name censored in public school, criticized in college, smeared in the media, mocked by societal elites, redefined by academics, and rejected by society at large. And yet, there it was, that name, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, still there beyond all the slander, all the philosophical double-speak, all the charges of hate and intolerance; still, firm, steady, unmoving.  

I called out to that name. I didn't need all the answers. But I did need the chief answer giver. I needed to give it another chance. I needed to see if when I picked up that phone of faith in Christ, I'd find someone on the other end of the line, unlike any other world religion I had tried, and sure enough, I was shocked to find out, truly shocked to find out, that the God of my forefathers was actually real. There was a voice on the other end of the phone. Still, quiet, yet clear, and steady.

There was still a lot I didn't like in the gospels, in the Bible. A lot I didn't understand, a lot of harsh truth, a lot of stuff that called me out directly, a lot of sharp truths about morality, justice, and accountability, and yes, even about heaven and hell, and God's justice and judgment. 

But I realized something pretty basic. It's baked into all modern philosophy: that I must adhere to my own understanding. I must trust myself above anyone else. But what if that assumption is wrong? What if it's just as likely that I can be wrong about something like heaven and hell? What if I don't see the big picture? What if I do need to trust that God sees the accountability and justice of heaven and hell from an angle that I can't perceive in my finite nature?  Could I do that unthinkable thing and trust God in something that I found deeply disturbing? I dared to reject the modern notion that reality breaks down fundamentally to my own personal preferences, and decided that I would allow a voice above me to speak into my life, the voice of God, as revealed in His word. Even a voice to tell me I was wrong. 

That's not an easy salad to devour. But the pay out afterward was extremely high: Receiving the Kingdom of God as my inheritance in the next life. To reign with Him. To receive a new eternal purpose. High stakes require high payouts in either direction, a paradise beyond imagining or a prison beyond our worst nightmares. Nothing else would be high enough stakes for this gritty, majestic drama that unfolds on planet Earth. 

I still wrestle with it from time to time. But that's OK. Jacob wrestled with God. Israel means he who wrestles with God. Maybe we need to wrestle with God, as long as in the end perhaps we realize, we can bend the knee to Him, because without Him, life has no meaning. 

So the spiritual journey of Aaron Rodgers continues to this day. He's a young guy. He's only a year older than I am. He's now dabbling in things like ayahuasca, why? Because he's searching for the truth. He wants to know what life is really about. I can't judge him for that. I dabbled in such experiences for years, I was searching. 

Often in our spiritual journey we turn to something called "walk-about." I did for years. Just walking about the city, late at night, walking here and there, listening to ambient techno, looking up at the stars, wondering: What is life really about? That may be his next step as he nears retirement. Walk-about, thinking deeply, thinking on the big questions. 

Aaron Rodgers also recently found himself under attack from the culture for not receiving the injection. In the height of the cultural pressures, which were extreme, Aaron basically said no, I'm not yielding to the cultural pressure. That takes a lot of guts to do. But I think even now in 2023, many of us look back and think to ourselves, wow, we went overboard. We followed whatever the television news told us to think, but then randomly at some point in 2022, the CDC, the media, and the White House declared it was over, and all the masks came off, and many of us I'm sure were left holding the face rag thinking: Did I just fall for a hysteria that didn't match the reality on the ground?

Many in our society may be wondering: How did I let myself get so hysterical as to harass people like Aaron Rodgers to the point of cultural cancellation? "Thou art one of the haters" it seemed was the cry for anyone who dare dissent from the prevailing orthodoxy. Then suddenly all the rags came off, and we're supposed to pretend like nothing happened? Astonishing. 

In any case, that took guts and character for Aaron Rodgers to do. If Aaron applies that same ruthless courage and hunger for the truth to his spiritual journey he will find the truth. I believe that. 

But let me offer this olive branch, you sat down with Rob Bell and read many of his recommended books, but now I would say, hear the other side of the story. Sit down with Christian evangelical leaders, and ask those big questions. Read some of the best books on Christian faith from a biblical perspective, and see if there is something there, something beyond all the propaganda and cultural bias, that might be a path worth walking once again. 

I recommend: "The Truth Project" by Del Tackett (DVD Series)
The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer, The Language of God by Francis Collins, The Case for a Creator by Lee Strobel, and The Message Bible by Eugene Peterson. I'd mail them to Aaron, but I'm poor, so I'll include links to purchase them, for anyone interested.

In 2009 Rodgers and the Packers would fall to Favre and the Vikings. But, in 2010, in a magic year for the Packers, Favre would return to Lambeau for the last time, and Rodgers would lead the Packers to victory.

Rodgers once said after a game against the Seattle Seahawks, a team with many players of faith, that he didn't think God cares about football. It's a reasonable statement I think, does God really care about the tiny issues of a single football game? But maybe God does. Maybe God does care about the game of football. Maybe not the small details, but perhaps the bigger stories, of victory and defeat, of failure, of persevering in defeat, of clawing your way out of the pit and finding victory from the ashes of defeat.

The story had come full circle in 2010, Rodgers came into his own, and gained victory for us at last. He fought through a terrible controversy, and came out victorious, but only through crushing defeat, and constant difficulties and trials and retrials and injuries, criticism, outright hatred, dedicated devotion to his profession, and many hard fought battles. At last, through dogged perseverance and character over many years, he gained the victory. 

That is also how life works. Life brings us to the brink of chaos, and then somehow, someway, we find a new faith, a new hope, a new way, in Christ. In that, we find life, or... we don't. That's the gift of God in all this, choice. We can have it, or we can not have it. Wild, exciting, astonishing, terrifying, mystifying, that's God's universe isn't it?

Thank you to Aaron Rodgers for being such an amazing quarterback for the Green Bay Packers all these years. A personal hero of mine. I pray Aaron Rodgers returns to the faith of his forefathers. And thanks Aaron, for supporting The Salvation Army, the organization I minister for. 

The Lord wants you back Aaron Rodgers, he personally asked me to write this, and he gave me this scripture for you, as evidence of His love for you: 

 "What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?" -Romans 8:31

Aaron Rodgers giving God all the Glory

Taking the Red Pill to escape Satan's Matrix: Coming to the End of Yourself

“The Matrix is a system, Neo. That system is our enemy. But when you're inside, you look around, what do you see? Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system and that makes them our enemy. You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it.

I imagine that right now, you're feeling a bit like Alice. Hmm? Tumbling down the rabbit hole?

Let me tell you why you're here. You're here because you know something. What you know you can't explain, but you feel it. You've felt it your entire life, that there's something wrong with the world. You don't know what it is, but it's there, like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad. It is this feeling that has brought you to me. Do you know what I'm talking about?

The Matrix. Do you want to know what it is?

The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work... when you go to church... when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.

You are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else you were born into bondage. Into a prison that you cannot taste or see or touch. A prison for your mind.

This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill - the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill - you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes.” -Excerpts from the Matrix (1999)

Are you ready for the truth? Growing up in this world there was always a splinter in my mind. I was taught a particular way of life. I didn’t see anything beyond it. Life was a happy accident. Get rich. Have a family. Pay your taxes. Watch your television. Live a normal life. Focus on the physical. Watch the news. Live for yourself. Do what you want. And just be happy.

I embraced that life, and lived it. Yet deep down inside, there was a splinter in my mind, driving me mad. It was very quiet at first, easily ignored. Over the years it grew louder and louder, until I realized something was missing. I was seeing through a web of lies built around me my whole life. And I began to see the truth. A terrible truth, far beyond anything you could imagine. That there was something terribly wrong with the world. Most people can see that one. But deeper and further in, I realized, there is something terribly and fundamentally wrong with me. I do bad things. And I need something more. Nothing in this world satisfies me. And I was empty inside. I was broken. As much as I pretended I just needed more self esteem and more happy pills and more personal peace and affluence, I soon realized, I was the problem, and I needed to be fundamentally changed within. I realized I was sin.

That is the horrible thing, none of us want to admit, none of us want to realize, most don’t go beyond, I see something wrong in the world, but some few will go further and realize, I see something wrong in me. I need something new. I need something outside myself, to make me right. That is where God comes in. We realize, we’re departed and disconnected from the infinite creator of the universe. And that is something we fight our whole lives. We’d almost rather die than face it. We run, we rebel, we flee, but then a lucky few one day realize, I can’t run anymore. I will return to God. And everything changes.

It reminds me a man 2000 years ago named Simon. He was a fisherman. Probably many a day and night sailing the sea, wondering at the skyline and the rain and the sun overhead, wondering if there was something more. And he began to fail at his trade. He couldn’t seem to make ends meet. And one day he had fished all night and had caught nothing. He’s at the end of his rope. He’s hopeless. He’s miserable. And he’s realizing, I just can’t make life work anymore. And at that moment, God intersected his story. And said to him, cast out, one more time, and Simon said, alright, I will. So he did. And he caught so many fish the nets couldn’t barely hold the catch. Simon would later become a new man. He became Peter. A leader of the body of Christ.

Often times, we have to come to the end of ourselves, and hit a rock bottom, to be ready for what’s ahead. We come to the end of our efforts, just like Peter did, fishing all night, and caught nothing. And at that moment when we realize, I’m not enough, I can’t do it, I’m lost, I’m miserable, I’m the problem, God comes to us, at the moment when we are teachable, and he reveals himself to us.

Time and again in my Christian life, these realizations and teachable moments return. We come to the end of ourselves as Christians a great deal don’t we? Time and again in our walk with Christ, we hit the worst case scenario, and we can’t go on, and can’t continue, and then Christ comes to us, at that teachable moments, and changes us within.

There are many hard truths in the Christian faith. That’s why I used as the opening, the revelation of the matrix to Neo. When Neo finds out what the truth really is, it’s horrible beyond words. He finds out the human race is enslaved in a hopelessly desperate situation.

Waking up to know Jesus Christ, and the reality of sin and the fall, we find ourselves in a similarly desperate scenario. It’s rather scary actually. If anyone human dies without Jesus as their savior, they are sent to hell, forever. No second chances. No way of escape. Fires consume them forever. It’s a dangerous situation. And we find ourselves sinners, in the hands of a God who will judge with righteous judgment.

Which brings us to our parable today, the parable of drawing in the nets. Last week we talked about signs of the end times, this week, our parable is about the judgment at the end of the world. The judgment seat of Christ.

Our reflection question for today is, “Am I prepared for the final judgment day of Christ? Would I be found faithful on that day?”

But first lets take a look at our context. We’re in Matthew 13, which contains several different parables. Closely related to our parable today is the parable at the beginning of Matthew 13, which is about the wheat and the tares. But then later on in the chapter, we see this context, two parables we’ve already discussed.

From Matthew 13:44-46: “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.” –Matthew 13:44-46

If you remember these parables tell us about the commitment we should make it response to finding the gospel of Jesus Christ, our response should be completely radical, giving up everything in our lives to follow Jesus instead. It’s like treasure in a field, or fine pearls, and we give up everything to embrace a new way, the way of Christ.

Then we see our parable today, which says this, from Matthew 13:47-52:

“Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets but threw the bad away. This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

The kingdom of God, is gathering all sorts of people from everywhere, every tribe, every nation, every age, class, and group, and gathering them to Christ the savior. Yet there are two kinds of people inside God’s kingdom, there are the true disciples and the false followers. There are the sheep, who follow obediently, and the goats who resist and go their own ways. These look very similar to each other.

And our instinct as Christians is to want to try to sort out the good fish and the bad fish. Here Lord, let me help you sort them out. We’ll figure out which ones are the bad fish now, today, and we’re get rid of them. But Jesus tells us in other parables not to do that, in the parable at the beginning of Matthew 13, the servants tell the master that an enemy has sown weeds in the fields of wheat. And his servants ask the master, should we try to uproot the weeds? And the master says no because you’ll accidentally uproot some of the good wheat as well.

Similarly, in the parable of the drawing in of the nets, we’re told that the nets of God’s kingdom are gathering all sorts of people, obedient Christians and disobedient Christians. True converts and false converts. Holy followers of Jesus and worldly half in half out followers. And we shouldn’t try to remove the bad fish now.

Instead, we should wait until the coming of Jesus Christ. Wait until the judgment day. And Jesus will sort them out on that day. And we’re told what will happen to the disobedient ones, the bad fish, they will be cast in a fiery furnace where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Immediately after sharing this parable, Jesus turns to them and says, “Have you understood all these things?” Jesus asked.

“Yes,” they replied.

He said to them, “Therefore every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.” –Matthew 13:47-52

What does Jesus our savior mean by this? He could be summing up all the parables he just told. He’s saying, anyone who has been a faithful jew, will get credit in the kingdom of heaven not only for what they do after receiving the gospel, but also what they did before receiving the gospel. Very interesting. What does that have to do with the parable he just told though? You’ll have to research that on your own. I’m not certain.

After telling these parables, then at the end of Matthew 13, Jesus went to his home town. Take a look, just to understand the context.

It says, “When Jesus had finished these parables, he moved on from there. Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed. “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?” they asked. “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? Aren’t all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” And they took offense at him.

But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town and in his own home.”

58 And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.” –Matthew 13:53-57’

I don’t know that this event is inexorably connected with the parables he just told. But it does remind us that unbelief is a danger to our relationship with Christ. In his hometown they had seen Jesus grow up. So they doubted him. And they took offense at him. Let’s make sure we don’t take offense at Jesus. Just because of the difficult situation we find ourselves in as Christians in a fallen world, don’t take offense at Christ, for what we and our ancestors did through sin and destruction.

In conclusion today, this parable reminds us of the kingdom of God, and how it works, it removes the cover from our eyes, and we see the truth, that God will separate within the kingdom of God, the righteous and the wicked. And heaven and hell stand before us.

How can we put these teachings into practice today? Seven Applications...

1. See the world around you as it truly is: A fallen planet awaiting judgment from God
2. See the dangers of sin, lust, selfishness, and worldliness and live soberly, giving careful thought to your ways
3. See the incredible hope, mercy, and grace found in the gospel of Jesus Christ, realize your sins are forgiven and rejoice
4. Recognize the insane level of danger lost people are in and pray fervently for them and share the gospel with people around you
5.  Have the courage to see the difficult truths in life. Have the attitude of simply wanting to know the naked truth of all things
6.  Live righteously, rejecting sin of every kind
7.  When you come to the end of yourself, realize that’s where God brings us to allow us to reach new levels of maturity in Christ

Be courageous brothers and sisters. We live in difficult times. Yet we also live in infinite joy and hope, because our sins have been washed away by Jesus blood. He’s taken us from being the problem, to being heralds of the solution. He’s taken us from being broken, miserable, defeated filthy sinners, to glorious born again cleansed renewed majestic carriers of the living word of God, the gospel, heirs, and saints of the new kingdom of God, citizens of the New Jerusalem, princes and princesses, royalty, awaiting reward and victory in paradise in the next life, beyond the veil of tears and death in this life. Realize your identity in Christ, and rejoice, because you have found the solution, just like how Morpheus freed Neo from the matrix of lies, of the fallen world of Satan, so we’ve been freed from kingdom of Satan, the slavery to consumerism and selfishness and pride and sin, and we’ve been woken up in Christ to the difficult truth that we need a savior. And now we have a savior. And our challenging mission now is to help lost broken sinful humanity receive Christ as their savior before it’s too late, before the nets are pulled in and the wicked and the righteous are separated at the judgment seat of Christ. Live that out brothers and sisters. Live differently. Amen.

The New Fluid Orthodoxy: The New Religion emerging from the Vacuum of Relativism

In the book of Daniel we’re reminded that the power and spread of information would increase across the face of the Earth (Daniel 12:4 NIV). Today we find ourselves in the vast spread of information, ideas, concepts, opinions, philosophies, conspiracies, propaganda, and everything in between. 

One might hope with the spread of so much information across the globe through the printing press, the radio, the television, and the internet, that Christ might become central in all things. But this is not the case. The evil heart of man spreads many lies and falsities in the world, by the millions and billions of clicks and views. 

The fragmentation of worldview in western society grew from the seeds of Darwin’s Origin of Species, which gave birth to worldviews like naturalism, nihilism, humanism, and post-modernism, and out of these ideologies, many new and disparate ideologies have developed, mixed and remixing themselves among many cultures and people groups, to the point that one might expect to find 9 billion individuals across the planet all under their own fig trees, with their own self-made religion, entirely unique from one another. So one might expect nearly infinite possibilities when examining the endless spread of philosophies, ideas, and concepts of various worldviews, cults, sects, interest groups, and fan clubs across the United States and indeed across the world. Expansive it is, but endless it is not. And we shall attempt to evaluate some of the key perspectives at work today.

The landscape of modern culture is one of constant change and adjustment in regard to worldview, fueled by dozens of different factors, from news stories to pop culture to church communities to blog posts online to friends to the public education system to government policies and political movements, every single person seems to examine the landscape of thought and ideas from various angles, and each seem to approach the many options as if they were gathered around a buffet, picking and choosing which items they feel best suits them, adding to an ever growing eclectic mishmash of different ideas and philosophies pulled from all sorts of different places, from college textbooks to graffiti scrolled on subway walls to Facebook posts and gossip with friends and family. As information spread ever increases and screen times increases with it, more and more ideas seem to flow into the public consciousness, and more and more sects and subsects and cults and groups and clubs and religions and philosophies all seem to burst forth like odd shrubs and flowers from each flower box, every flower box unique to each individual, based on what they’ve selected, or based on what propaganda has been placed in their path, for them to consume. In all this gathering of thoughts and ideas into billions of new remixed views and counterviews, we as Christians stand in grave danger and also with great opportunity, either to be lost in the endless noise, or to speak up clearly of a timeless objective absolute truth which offers a way out of the hall of mirrors that is picking and choosing based on feeling, instead to lead the confused masses to a living God who is infinite, offering difficult truth, yet pure loving mercy beyond anything they can imagine.

Remixed culture quickly went from being something expressed individually to something increasingly built into every form and function of society in the west. We now find ourselves surrounded and swimming in the effects and reinforced values of remixed culture. But how do these effects play themselves out? And what general worldviews make up remixed culture?

Remixed culture in the west is largely based around personal preference, consumerist indulgence, self-gratification, religious fluidity, multiple truths/philosophies, multiple pathways to God, and intuitional religion (religion based on personal experience). So we will examine some of these subsets within consumerist spiritualist culture, but we will also see how increasingly, there are shared perspectives, where reality is determined by a sort of communal consensus. Many of these worldviews have begun to glob together into a larger overarching consensus-built narrative on reality, life, and the universe.

I would like to outline eleven of the key worldviews of the millennial remixed mindset of modern society, and then examine a twelfth worldview that seems to be the destination that each of the others is proceeding toward. These worldviews are scientism, moral therapeutic deism, sexual maximalism, wellness movement, progressive Christianity, political activism, hobby culture, religious cults, universalism, internet/outrage culture, new age movement, and the new (fluid) doctrinism.

First, we consider the worldview of scientism. Scientism is the opinion that science and the scientific method are the best or only objective means by which people should determine normative and epistemological values. Scientism flows very naturally from naturalism and appears as a common religious expression in the world today. Young people regard scientists as the new ministers of the modern age, trusting only those things that have studies to back them up, and only ideas and concepts stated by those carrying many degrees and doctorates. The saints of this religious expression include personalities like Noam Chomsky, Richard Dawkins, Bill Nye, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Sam Harris, and others. According to Pew Research, in 2020 approximately 40% of the population of the USA had a great deal of trust in (medical) scientists, but that number dropped by 2022 to 29% showing a steep erosion of trust in that particular field of the sciences. But in regard to general trust in the scientific community, in 2018 44% of Americans had a great deal of trust in scientists overall. All this tells us that scientists in labcoats have a great deal of influence in our society.

In consumerist millennial culture, where truth is relative, and personal preference is king, one finds much uncertainty. For a certain subset of remixed culture, they seek refuge in the warm embrace of the certainties of the scientific method, research, development, technology, and the pronouncements of cultural elites. It’s encouraging to consider the possibility of ministry to this group because at least on the surface it would appear they may be willing to listen to reason and evidence in regard to God’s existence, manuscripts of the Bible, and the historical Jesus.

Second, we consider moral therapeutic deism. Moral therapeutic deism is a form of watered down and sanitized Christianity that removes the various concepts within biblical Christianity that offend or disturb modern sensibilities. It finds a reasonable place in the hearts of some of modern remixed culture who are looking for the certainties of biblical Christianity without the harsher pronouncements of the scriptures on sin, judgment, wrath, and hell. This worldview provides the certainty of heaven for all but the worst of history, the comfort of self and experience driven truth, and the rejection of all forms of judgment or condemnation. It’s at least somewhat promising to note that people are still willing to believe in God and heaven. But a milquetoast version must be corrected with the timeless truth of God’s scriptures. The road back is shorter for these groups at least, who are willing to believe in a personal God.

The wellness movement, an exceedingly common find in public education, medical healthcare, social sciences, and psychology, is an expression of humanism which seeks the maximal benefit for the individual through a wholistic approach to self-care. Self-care and self-flourishing are the ultimate in wellness culture. Wellness culture and consumerism are natural bedfellows, both valuing the individual above all, the value of products and services rendered by society to help the individual, and showcasing a self-directed guide to life, in which the internal instinct, the intuitive is the guide to all things. Wellness is to me a very stripped down and sanitized form of spiritualism from a naturalistic viewpoint, that only the physical really matters, while also recognizing at least an ancillary need for some sort of spirituality. At least in that way there is an open door to tolerance and even encouragement toward a Christian footing for spiritual truth.

Next, we consider progressive Christianity. In the 1950s and 1960s mainline Protestantism was the consensus viewpoint of much of the United States world (Burton, 2020, p. 52). But by the late 1960s and early 1970s mainline Protestantism had declined drastically, with evangelicalism subsequently growing rapidly to overshadow the movement. In the present-day remnants of mainline Protestantism, which dropped from a cultural majority, to as of 2017 only 10% of the American public, we find the new progressive Christianity. But what is progressive Christianity? According to ProgressiveChristianity.org (2012) the key tenants of the faith include viewing Jesus as a source of experiencing a sacred and unified oneness, Jesus as one of many ways to God, inclusive community that accepts all people, behavior as an expression of belief, questions as more important than absolutes, the importance of social justice, the importance of climate change activism, and the value of compassionate love. One can easily see that these beliefs fit with consumerist remixed culture in the world today.

When evaluating progressive Christianity I really see a sort of politicized Christianity married to liberalism and social justice ideology. Biblical truth comes in as secondary to the prevailing viewpoints of culture, Hollywood, social elites, and political powers. There is a great hunger in progressive Christianity for justice. That in itself is an open door to help these individuals embrace the true Jesus Christ of the Bible. But it also poses a greater challenge, because progressives tend to view evangelical Christianity as abusive to minorities, hateful to the LGBTQ community, judgmental toward differing perspectives, and teachers of a mean-spirited gospel. The challenge will be to help progressives to see the beauty of Jesus Christ, his deep love, but also his divine accountability and justice.

Next, we consider political activism. One of the increasingly important religions of remixed culture is political activism. Politics has always played an important role in the lives of Americans in the west. But more and more we see a political polarization that is more than simply political, it is religious in its expression. People have increasingly learned to hate their political rivals. They’ve learned to view perspective as moral and their opponents perspective as fundamentally wicked or evil. Political leaders opinions are taken and repeated. News media and social media magnify the conversation outward. People on both sides of the aisle view their leading personalities as arbiters of truth. If something is not seen on CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, PBS, the NY Times or the Washington Post, it simply can’t be trusted. Similarly, if something is not articulated by Fox News, the Wallstreet Journal, the Daily Wire, Newsmax, Breitbart News, the Blaze, the Daily Caller or other such sources, it simply can’t be trusted. The political becomes religious, in that the worldview of either the conservative narrative or the leftist narrative takes on preeminence in the mind. The world is viewed from the perspective first of the political ideology. I would suggest that these are probably the two fastest growing religions in the west today, leftism and conservatism. Once again, I believe this rise in political activism and even extremism poses both an opportunity and a danger. When people are excited about important topics of political concern, this can quickly translate into a worldview conversation and a conversation about the value of Jesus Christ. The danger can be in political activists taking the message of Jesus Christ and using it for their own ends. There is also a danger in either conservatism or leftist merging with Christianity, in which case you get a hybrid of both, which after being fully formed, is no longer biblical Christianity.

Increasingly hobby culture is becoming more than just a subset of one’s life, but much more so, it is becoming a place through which people find value and meaning. Increasingly we see people forming into hobby groups that have their own unique expressions of lore, history, meaning, truth, destiny, and purpose. People of like-minded interests gather in groups and “do life together” through their hobbies and interests. Some examples of hobby interest groups would be Harry Potter, Bike riding, Star Wars, Zumba, PC gamers, Medieval jousting, Motorcycling, Nerd culture, Sports groups, Wicca clubs, Technology interest groups, political interest groups, activism interest groups, herbal vitamins, foods and diet, farming and crop management, theological interest groups, heavy metal musicians, sexual activity groups, and hundreds of other expressions of hobby culture. Hobby culture is one thing when it is kept within the lenses of an interest in the context of other beliefs and philosophies, but hobby culture becomes religious/philosophical/worldview in nature when it begins to help the individual fundamentally define life, nature, humanity, future, past, and present. Often times when involved in church plants I have wondered, are we really reaching into all the necessary people groups? At one point I was part of a Christian death metal church plant called “The Edge” which attempted to reach death metal rockers in the city. Imagine all the expressions of Christian community that could come out of targeting hobby-based subcultures. Many have done this already, such as ministries like the Christian motorcyclists association, Geeks under Grace, The Christian Apologetics Alliance, Christian metal bands, and many others.

From the perspectives of free love and sexual liberation that developed in the 1960s and 1970s, comes what today could be called sexual maximalism or sexual ultimism. This is the concept that romantic and sexual expression is the ultimate and highest level of physical, emotional, and even spiritual expression available to humanity. From the ballads of bands like Death Cab for Cutie and Radiohead and dozens of other contemporary bands, we find romance and sexuality expressed as the ultimate for human experience. Sexuality is spiritual it is the highest level and purpose of life. Along with sexual maximalism one can see how sexual/gender identity have taken center stage for young people. Young people today often see their sexual preferences or gender identity as the basic fundamental reality of who they are. They are fundamentally a sexual being expressing themselves ultimately in sexual ways. Once can see how this ties back to evolutionary biology, naturalism and humanism. If the physical is the only real thing, then sexuality quickly becomes the ultimate high and expression of human flourishing. Many in the gender nonconforming hierarchy of today, and the LGBTQ community find their base identity in their sexual desires and beliefs. This is a fundamentally religious/spiritual view of sexuality as the ultimate human experience.

The opportunity for ministry to those who are sexually focused is in the bankruptcy of sex as the ultimate or identity for the individual. Ultimately sex and romance fails utterly as a basis for the meaning of life and true fulfillment. When those things fail to satisfy, we have to be there as Christians to point the lost to Jesus Christ who shows a way out of sexual addiction, and a firm foundation for identity. Where sexual identity failed as a foundation for meaning, Jesus Christ’s free gift of eternal life, and adoption to the family of God provides a clear basis for value, meaning, and truth.

Next we consider religious cults. In the midst of the confusion of the 1800s and 1900s in regard to truth and meaning, many cults sprang up, like Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Scientology, Witchcraft, Satanism, the Branch Davidians, and many others active in the USA today. These cults are characterized by a requirement of strict devotion to those who partake in the cult. They are characterized often by extreme or dangerous viewpoints. These cults really grew up out of the cultural confusion in regard to truth and meaning in the USA. Today though their memberships are a vast minority in the grand scheme of the country, still they pose an option to remixed cultural consumerism, as a refuge from the meaninglessness of relativism. Mormons currently make up approximately 6.5 million Americans, as of 2018 (World Atlas). According to the NY Times, there are approximately 1.3 million Jehovah’s Witnesses in the USA. Though a small percentage of the population, cults remain at least somewhat influential in the United States, and makes up a small but important part of remixed culture. There is an opportunity for ministry as always, to guide the hurting away from abusive cults and toward the liberty and hope found in Jesus Christ. The body of Christ can be a loving, gentle, healing influence to those who have been used and manipulated by cults.

Internet culture is a beast of it’s own unique nature, and for many over time it has become more than a preoccupation or obsession, but a worldview. One could point in particular to the outrage culture prevalent on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and in particular Twitter. Mobs of users rifle through the tweet histories of famous individuals, seeing if they can find any evidence that the person may be racist, sexist, xenophobic, homophobic, or hateful. And upon finding evidence, they post the information publicly, and a mob gathers to begin verbally attacking the individual. A new sort of group ethos forms around certain key issues, mainly related to racism, social justice, women’s rights, climate change, and various selective topics of public discussion. And those who disagree with the prevailing orthodoxy are attacked, denounced, and cancelled. Many times these individuals lose their jobs, and face ostracism from society. It seems, from the philosophical relativism of post-modernism, married to humanism, political activism, and social justice, a new orthodoxy has formed, in which a new set of communal values is set forward as that which must be believed and agreed upon without question. But more on this later, as internet/outrage culture is only one piece of this picture.

In any case, there is a great opportunity for Christian ministry on social media. In a atmosphere where no forgiveness is allowed and only justice without mercy is being delivered, Christians can bring forth the beauty of God’s grace. Grace offers total forgiveness in Christ Jesus for all our wrongs of the past. Suddenly, the outrage mob may be confronted with a powerful love that makes the hate in their hearts melt away.

Next, we consider universalism. Universalism brings in various different elements, from post-modern relativism to Greek philosophy, to eastern pantheism, to synergistic thinking, and all these form into a new religion in which all religions are equally true, and all roads from Buddhism to Judaism to Taoism to Christianity and Hinduism all lead to the same summit, to the same universal all-inclusive religion. This is exceedingly appealing for a remixed culture that views all perspectives as equally valid to the individual. But to scientism and humanism it may appear as simple madness which violates the law of non-contradiction. And given universalism’s lack of firm foundations and clear ethics, it may pass the way of liberal mainline Protestantism. In the hazy mix of various religions and ideas all being equally true, it can be difficult for Christians to find a footing on which to proclaim Jesus Christ as the exclusive and only way to God the Father. Universalism is so nebulous, it may be difficult to bring forth biblical truth, however, through prayer, and expressions of the unique power found in the Christian gospel, one can see through the vapid feel good philosophy of universalism to the timeless truth of the word of God.

Similar to universalism, yet also radically different, is the new age movement. The new age movement is I believe one of the furthest edges of the descent of man away from theism and out into the milieu of self. At last, humanity has gone all the way from Adam and Eve in the garden loving God, through the swamps of deism, naturalism, nihilism, and humanism, and now all the way back to the moment of the deception, when Satan said to them, “you will be as gods” (Gen 3:5 NIV). In the new age religion, humanity is deified. Humans become gods. Many thoughts from humanism and evolution are brought in, but with a hopeful tone, that humanity is evolving, becoming better and better, and humanity is developing new technologies, and new consciousness is taking place, and new paradigms are shifting, and a new age of prosperity and technology and space exploration and deification is coming. Humanity will soon evolve into the next phase of existence, where humans will have control over space and time and entire solar systems, and nothing will be impossible for humanity. These are the pronouncements of those of the new age persuasion. To quote one of the leading thinkers in the new age movement, Jean Houston: “It’s almost as if the species (humanity) were taking a quantum leap into a whole new way of being” (Sire, 2020, p. 160). Important thinkers of the new age movement include people like Deepak Chopra, Oprah Winfrey, Eckhart Tolle, Sylvia Celeste Browne, and others.

The new age movement is probably most dangerous in that appeals to the worst angels of human nature, the desire for self to be the center of all things, the desire to be like god, the desire for power, and so on. But it becomes doubly dangerous because it marries itself with evolutionary concepts, progressive ideology of societal development, and a very hopeful utopian view of the future.

At one time before I knew Jesus Christ and had become a follower of the Way, I practiced as a new ager for several years. I read many of the prominent books of the new age movement. I practiced things like walking meditation, transcendental meditation, clearing of the mind, even astral projection, and communing with spirits. The chink in the armor of the new age movement is that when all of the nice sounding ideas are stripped away, there is no power behind it. When I sit alone and attempt to manipulate the universe to my whim as if I were a god, nothing happens, because I am not a god. And so, as we Christians reach out to the new age community, we can help these people see that there is real power in Jesus Christ, there is really someone on the other end of the telephone when calling upon Jesus. In the past at least for me, there had always been nothing, or worse, dark entities on the other end.

Lastly, I would like to propose a concept I call the new fluid doctrinism, or the fluid orthodoxy. I believe every one of these remixed worldviews will inevitably lead to this concept. Every one of these concepts leaves a vacuum in the place of morality and meaning. And we each long and hunger for these things. As remixed culture has taken hold of society and reshaped it, we increasingly see a group consensus forming, in which the majority defines and redefines base concepts of culture and civilization.

So we find a new fluid doctrinism, in the place of nebulous concepts like universalism or the sorrow of nihilism, or the incoherence of scientism, filling the void is a new orthodoxy of beliefs. There was a vacuum for a time in the place of objective morality, and slowly over time we see in it’s place, a new structure of societal viewpoints. These viewpoints are increasingly formed by a group consensus of prevailing cultural elites, political commentators, media personalities, wealthy individuals and so on. Thus we see emerging on the public scene in the place of theism’s doctrines, a whole new set of doctrines. These are the fluid (ever-changing) doctrines of the new philosophy. Some of it’s views are as follows: LGBTQ is always good, climate change is the chief danger of the world, Christians are suspect and dangerous bigots, gender is a social construct, science is to be trusted and valued above all other disciplines, religion is always suspect, government is oppressive, yet government wielded by us will solve all problems, and all those who disagree with us must be destroyed. On and on the list goes of prevailing moral perspectives, of what one might call political correctness, but perhaps more so, worldview correctness, or religious correctness. In the place of relativism and relative beliefs and morals, a new doctrinal system is forming, that seeks to force itself on all others, and will tolerate no dissent. I believe that this new doctrinism married with various elements of the new age and universalism, may in the end be the vehicle through which the anti-Christ will ride into the world, to take total dominance over humanity.

As always, we as Christians find ourselves with dangers and opportunities in this new dynamic. First, is the danger that should this new worldview gain preeminence, Christians will find themselves increasingly marginalized, persecuted, and even physically in danger. Second, is the great opportunity in this. In such a totalitarian worldview that offers no ability to dissent or disagree, many will quickly become disillusioned with it, and we as Christians must be there to show them the way of love, mercy, grace, service, and self-sacrificing love in the biblical Christian worldview. That may yet be our calling, even to offer up our very lives for the love of Christ, in the next ten, twenty, thirty, or forty years. Lord, help us all.

References
The Core Values of Progressive Christianity. ProgressiveChristianity.org. (n.d.). Retrieved May 31, 2026, from https://progressivechristianity.org/the-core-values-of-progressive-christianity/

Burton, T. I. (2020). Strange rites: New religions for a godless world. Public Affairs, Hachette Book Group.

Funk, C., & Kennedy, B. (2020, August 27). Public confidence in scientists has remained stable for decades. Pew Research Center. Retrieved June 11, 2022, from https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/08/27/public-confidence-in-scientists-has-remained-stable-for-decades/

Geisler, N. L. (1983). Is man the measure?: An evaluation of contemporary humanism. Baker Book House.

Kennedy, B., Tyson, A., & Funk, C. (2022, February 15). Americans' trust in scientists, other groups declines. Pew Research Center Science & Society. Retrieved June 11, 2022, from https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2022/02/15/americans-trust-in-scientists-other-groups-declines/

Omondi, S. (2020, November 9). Mormon population by State. WorldAtlas. Retrieved June 11, 2022, from https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/mormon-population-by-state.html

Searcey, D. (2020, April 19). 'people would be so receptive right now, and we can't knock on doors.'. The New York Times. Retrieved June 11, 2022, from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/19/us/politics/coronavirus-jehovahs-witnesses.html

Sire, J. W. (2020). The universe next door: A basic worldview catalog (Sixth Edition). IVP Academic, an imprint of InterVarsity Press.

The Three Madmen: Humanism, Individualism, and Postmodernism

On a face examination one might assume when considering humanism, individualism and post-modernism that one is examining nearly the same thing, however there are unique distinctions between each of these philosophies. They are however in my view, at least flowers growing from the same tree, naturalism, bubbling up from the soil of a purposeless universe careening toward infinite darkness. We will examine the dynamics between these worldviews, how they have affected society in the west, and how these worldviews express themselves today.

Humanism appears to me to be an attempt to return to the certainties of modernism. It also takes some thought from existentialism, in attempting to claim the value of humanity as something found in self referencing. Humanism looks to science, art, and morality to define existence and the person. The individual is very important in humanism. Humanism when it first came about was an attempt to find certainty, morality, justice, flourishing, optimism, and hope without the need for a God. It had positive and negative effects on society. But humanism lacks a logical consistency for morality, truth, and justice. The goal was human flourishing through reason and science, but what flourishing could arise from a universe without meaning? Once God was ejected from the equation, nothing could fill that gap, which led to other worldviews. Next, we consider a worldview very similar to humanism, individualism.

Individualism is very common in western thought. Individualism is the idea that the individual has a right to personal liberty and justice in law. The person has free will and the right to make choices for themselves apart from oppressive groups. Individualism saw the person as the hope, as the one who could pull themselves up by their own bootstraps and achieve anything they put their mind to. Individualism valued hard work and freedom of thought. It reacted against communism and socialism and group-centered ideas even in religion by placing the sovereignty of the individual above any group, ideology, or religious perspective. One of the most well-known proponents would be Ayn Rand, though she molded many of the ideas of individualism with other philosophies like humanism which she called “objectivism.” Individualism, similar to humanism attempts to find human meaning, truth, justice, morality, flourishing, and future by referencing back toward the self, the individual, much like existentialism, but fails to find any logically consistent footing for meaning or value in a purposeless universe. Each of these two worldviews must borrow basic constructs from the theistic universe, like purpose, human value, objective morality, ontological hope, and a future worth living for beyond the grave. Next, we consider post-modernism.

Post-modernism despairs of any universal standard for justice (Sire, 2020, p. 219). It views truth as relative, there is no truth essentially, truth is just a construct of communities making use of language (Sire, 2020, p. 219). But when a post-modernist makes use of language, the goal is often deconstruction, to pull it apart and prove it to be without meaning (Sire, 2020, p. 219). Any metanarratives, or constructs of thoughts to define the meaning of life, history, and humanity are viewed as veiled power plays. Any metanarrative should generally be viewed as fundamentally oppressive. Morality is based on social utility, but the society is essentially free to define what a positive utility might be, and base it on just about anything (Sire, 2020, p. 217). One could say post-modernism is pragmatic in regard to morality and societal functioning, at least within the limited lense of what post-modernism allows. Post-modernist you might say is one of the most honest out workings of naturalism. If all is reduceable to the physical and biological, if there is no God, and no spiritual world, and if the universe is a giant accident, then post-modernism is probably the best description of that universe.

Once having examined all three of these worldviews, humanism, individualism and post-modernism, along with naturalism, nihilism, and existentialism, I must admit, I find myself believing I am dealing with a room of pathologicals in some asylum who are desperately attempting with breathless fury, and in endless writing of pages by the thousands, playing philosophical and ideological words game, desperately attempting to find some sort of meaning or purpose or morality in a fictional universe they’ve created and painted on the walls of the sanitarium, where there is no God. And as they sit around discussing the worldviews that flow from this delusional assumption of an accidental universe, they are driven increasingly mad as they realize the madness that must flow from this model of a purposeless universe. But for some reason, they must refuse the God hypothesis, so they sit around crafting new worldviews, and worldviews out of those worldviews that become increasingly desperate, miserable, empty, and pointless, until they reach post-modernism, or nihilism, and realize, this purposeless universe, does indeed leave us without purpose, and now we are doomed. And as they see the false worldviews they’ve created destroying society in their asylum, they refuse to the very end to consider the fact that perhaps if they would dare believe the universe does have meaning, found in a personal God, suddenly, all their problems of meaninglessness, amorality, and dark despair would be solved in a moment, because at last, they would see beyond the walls of their asylum to the universe as it actually is: directed by a loving God of justice.

So, how have these ideologies effected the development of society in the west? Well, I think Frederick Nietzsche said it well in his parable of the madman: (1882) 

“What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?” 

These ideologies of humanism, individualism, and post-modernism require us to deify man. Man must become the measure, the judge, the creator, the destroyer, and the perfecter of all things. Nothing short will do for these ideologies, to piece themselves together. These worldviews grew out of the enlightenment, though some preceded it in various ways, it was all codified in the enlightenment. They are all connected to the American revolution as well in various ways. They are connected deeply with Darwin’s Origin of Species. But at their roots they all draw from the statement made by the serpent in Genesis: “Did God really say…?” (Gen 3:1) and again “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Gen 3:4-5). The best way for Satan, the serpent, in his work in the world today, to lead man astray is to convince man that there is no god. And once found in that universe, man goes quite mad, just like Nietzsche’s madman, running from here to there, demanding to know how God had been killed. The simple answer was, God had not been killed, and he was indeed quite mad. But not crazy. No. He was not crazy. He was angry. He was angry with God. Angry with God for making him. Angry with God for withholding the fruit of the forbidden tree, and that anger had manifested in the way an angry child reacts to the dad he despises: You no longer exist. And I shall go do whatever I please. That is what is really going on here. And the effects on society over the ages have been unsurprisingly quite destructive.

So then, how does this bizarre conjugation of worldviews express itself in our society today? As far as humanism is concerned, you can see it play out in the entire course of a human’s life in the United States. The goal is personal peace and affluence. The goal is human flourishing, which is the goal of humanism. What makes up the track of an average human’s life? Play as a kid. Attend public education and learn the various disciplines of human life, science, English, math, and history. Develop relationships. Connect with family. After high school attend college or trade school, then marry and find a good job. Have children. Influence society with your values. Gain wealth and prestige. Show the world you matter. Eventually retire. Die surrounded by your children. What is missing? God is missing. Religious faith is missing. Morality is missing. Truth is missing. But this is the base mindset of most Americans in the country from what I can tell. Knowledge, Relationships, Wealth, Family, all equate to human flourishing, but they must become capitalized, they must become more than what they are. But they can’t ever be the base meaning of life. Yet in humanism that is how they are treated. Sadly, we live humanism every day and most of us don’t even realize it. Many in our churches though claiming belief in Christ, actually practically live out a humanism worldview.

Individualism’s present-day impact is also extremely far reaching, and hard to notice unless we’re looking directly at it. It’s similar with humanism as we saw, we don’t even realize we’re doing it, because we’ve been indoctrinated into it, it’s so endemic to society. Though we do have the base family structure in the United States, the country is wildly individualistic, and becoming more so over time. Even the family loyalties and structures found in the 70s, 80s, and 90s, really no longer exist in the present day. Every decision a person makes after leaving the home is based on individual preference from the products they purchase to the person they choose to date or marry. Within capitalism and democratic republics we see a lot of the benefits of individualism, free choice, small businesses, varieties to choose from, individual freedom and so on, but we also see the negatives in the loneliness of technological isolation, the disconnect and separation from family as persons move further and further apart, and the lack of unifying values that hold a society together.

Finally we see the effects of post-modernism show themselves in areas like art, philosophy, politics, gender, government, and lifestyle. If art is just personal preference, if it has no reference then why not just smear mud on a canvas and call it art? If everything is relative, and truth doesn’t exist, why not redefine society to fit our personal desires? Why not get married and divorced ten times if commitments don’t matter and we base things on how we feel in the moment? Why not attempt to destroy our political opponents if their perspective is based on an oppressive metanarrative? Why not add new genders, and more every day, why can’t a man become a woman and a woman become a man? Why can’t two men get married? Why can’t two women get married? Why can’t five women marry one man? Or five men marry one woman? Or in the future, why not allow a child to be in a sexual relationship with an adult if both parties consent? And we see the increasing immorality of the society, the crime, the hatred, the sexual immorality, the gambling, the drug use, the human trafficking, school shootings, and all these infinitely multiplying societal ills, but the question must again be asked: If man is the measure, all truth is relative, and personal preference the only moral guide, why not engage in all this and more? That is the impact that these ideologies have on modern society, and I’m certain we’ve only seen the beginning. The question may soon become: How long can a society survive when based on infinitely multiplying broken worldviews and ideologies? That is the question. And the only answer I can think of is: 

Only Jesus Christ of Nazareth re-introduced to a broken world, through the hands and feet of His church, can turn this ship around, and win a lost world to a glorious future hope, a future hope so mysterious, glorious, and wonderful that none can truly fathom it.

So, in conclusion, essentially, I would equate humanism, individualism, and post-modernism as three men in a mental hospital, desperately attempting to make sense of a world without God, a world and universe that does not exist. So, they go increasingly mad, destroying the mental hospital (our world) with their mad ideologies, each of them increasingly incoherent, cynical, and apocalyptically bankrupt. Jesus Christ is the helpful psychologist, pleading with these three men to embrace the simple truth that God is real. This truth drives them mad, so they climb into cardboard boxes in which they paint on the walls “nothing matters” and “empty void” as Jesus pleads with them from the other side of their boxes to receive his grace, love, and forgiveness, reaching his loving hand within their boxes, which they swat away with terror. Will they ever climb from their boxes and humbly receive Christ, and see the universe as it really is? Will they ever be free from beyond the mental hospital walls? Only time will tell. But, if they do indeed reject this help, after death, they may yet find the universe they were always looking for, where nothing matters, and there is no future… that place being hell.

References

Geisler, N. L. (1983). Is man the measure?: An evaluation of contemporary humanism. Baker Book House.

Kelley, D. (2010, June 14). What is objectivism?, the Atlas Society: Ayn Rand, objectivism, Atlas shrugged. The Atlas Society | Ayn Rand, Objectivism, Atlas Shrugged. Retrieved May 29, 2022, from https://www.atlassociety.org/post/what-is-objectivism

Sire, J. W. (2020). The universe next door: A basic worldview catalog (Sixth Edition). IVP Academic, an imprint of InterVarsity Press.