Cultural Condemnation

A few months ago, a friend of mine was reminiscing about his childhood. We remembered all the foolishness we spent our time on, and how we had enjoyed those things. As the conversation continued we eventually got to the teen years. He stopped. His face became grave. Even though many of the things he had been up to at the time had been fun then, they carried weight into his life even now. We continued our talk on a much more somber note. "With all the evil out there," he stated emphatically, "parents are foolish if they think they can control what their kids are up to."

That thought has stayed with me since then. I don't have any kids, but I can only image what all they will have access to when I buy some iPod 87 S or whatever for my offspring. How do we lessen that evil impact?

Hmm... maybe we are asking the wrong question. Even though we can clearly see that we have more access to information than we did even a generation ago, does that mean we are then also more inclined to evil? No, access to evil does not make the person more sinful. It just makes it easier for his or her fallen nature to show itself. 

We fall for the classic human problem. We look on the outside and forget that it only is an indicator of what was already going on inside. God won't judge us by what we did, but by our motives and our heart. 

I Sam. 16:7b For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.

Jesus makes a similar comment in the Gospels as well. (Matt. 5:28) He tells us that murder is not a worse sin than unjust anger. Lust is adultery. Just because we don't dare to carry out our desires does not mean God cannot see them. He can and will judge us upon these criteria when we stand before Him. 

But back to the modern problem. We have such easy access to such vile fleshly content one is concerned about the influence that it has on our children and also on us. Just because we were born with an unGodly nature does not mean that we give in to it once we come to Christ. We are told to crucify our flesh daily. Part of this is indeed in denying our modern culture too much access into our lives.

For us, that means self-control. For our children (here I speak hypothetically) it means that we must try to first show them the righteous path that honors God, and also control what they are influenced by. The amount of time and concern we give to them will not only be noticed by them, but by all who come into contact with you.

Secondly, we must accept that they are also fallen humans. As much as it pains parents to admit, their child is indeed a fallen, sinful person. We will fall, so will our children. What we must do is show our children that falling is not unforgivable. We need to lead them to God and show them what faith can do. In trying to raise children, we humans often try to make them perfect. We cannot. Instead, we should lead them to the Perfect One. He alone can help them. But children will not readily follow what their parent's do not apply themselves. So to raise God fearing children, we need God fearing parents.

Conclusion

So what am I trying to say? Well, mainly this. The culture we live in may make visible sins more easily available to us than in the past. But that does not change the fact that we would have had the same motives and desires had we lived in Victorian England or Colonial America. God will not judge us more harshly for the culture around us. He will judges us for our own sins. We have all fallen. He will judge our Salvation by Christ's Sacrifice and our acceptance (or denial) of it. However, the Bible also talks about judgement for reward. (I Cor. 3:11-15, Mark 9:4, Luke 6:35, 2 John 1:8, Rev. 11:18) This will indeed be based on how we lived our lives and our hearts. Desired action is just as relevant before God as actions we have carried out. Let us not just clean the outside of our lives, but clean the inside. (Matt. 23:27) This can only be done with the constant help of the Holy Spirit. May God lead, and may we follow.