Do we actually believe what we say we believe?

This is something I’ve pondered for some time. As we see in real time Christians falling for false gospels and progressive forms of Christian ideas, while being conformed to this world, I would argue that, collectively, we don’t. Maybe we do on Sundays, but we leave it behind when we walk out the church doors. By Sunday afternoon, we’ve already shed our church clothes along with the sermon.

As we compartmentalize our Christianity, we end up living in ways that do not glorify God or truly love our neighbors. When I first returned to church in my adult life on a consistent basis, I totally compartmentalized. Worship Jesus by song and pray for revival of faith? Sure, on Sundays. Go with the flow of the world the rest of the week? That sounds easy. Sign me up.

But then, I got more serious about my faith. I actually started reading and studying my Bible, listening to sermons besides those preached on Sunday, reading books about applying a biblical worldview, and came to realize that discipleship is a responsibility.

I’ve also come to learn that the people with a worldview opposed to Christianity are very serious about what they believe. One could even call it religious conviction – they believe it so much they inject it into every facet of their lives, as well as into others. You could call this worldview a number of things, but for the purposes of what I want to write, I’ll refer to it as the spirit of the age (the secular attitudes, values, and aims of people in a particular time period), which takes its beliefs from overlapping worldviews.  

The spirit of the age currently leans heavily on values of subjective truth (“my truth”), choice regardless of consequence, self-identity reigning supreme, oppressor vs oppressed mentality, among others.

In contrast, Christianity has values of objective truth (God is truth), God’s commandments guiding our choices, our identity is in Christ, and equality in that we are all sinners in need of the Savior.

Putting aside which worldview leads to the most good for society (we’ll get to this), I want to return to the spirit of the age and its convictions about what it believes.    

Pick a day and you can find a news story about the spirit of the age forging ahead with a “truth” it believes all people should accept, celebrate, and participate in. People with this worldview are not shy about their beliefs.

Sorry to get graphic, but the spirit of the age has led to grown adults believing it is acceptable and good to not only introduce children to sexual fetishes but to also participate in them; just call it art and it’s okay in their worldview.

It has people inventing genders, pronouns, and language, and then forcing others to use it; this is kindness in their worldview.

It has adults teaching and coercing children to think they can be something other than the sex they were born as, and then using medicine and hormones to permanently alter their bodies; this is lifesaving in their worldview.

It has medical institutions removing the healthy body parts of adults and children alike; this is compassionate care in their worldview. To be clear, they are really cutting off healthy breasts and inverting pensises, leaving scars and man-made body parts in their place – this is not a Frankenstein dystopia, this is really happening.

The spirit of the age leads societies to believe that you have the right to sexual pleasure of any kind without consequence or shame, the right to victim status if you claim it, the right to have children regardless of your biological limitations, the right to kill those same children if they’re unwanted and still small enough, and the right to force these beliefs and lifestyles into the public square.

People of this worldview actually believe what they claim to believe, and as such, they have gained power in almost every major institution in our society: K-12 education, academia, government, judicial system, science, medicine, psychology and psychiatry, media, social media, sports, advertising, and even the church.

Progressives take the spirit of the age with them everywhere – to work, to play, to bed, to school, to church, to vote. They do not compartmentalize. And this is why they’re winning. For them, there is no separation of church and state. Their beliefs are being enshrined into law, with disastrous consequences.

For those with a Christian worldview, we are often told to leave our beliefs at home when we enter society, that we can’t push our religion onto others. Well, religion is being pushed into every facet of our culture; the only question is, which religion? Nothing is neutral.

Christians, don’t let the spirit of the age fool you into believing that your beliefs are the only ones that can’t be voiced, taught, preached, and voted for. This is a fallacy. We might be called hateful, bigots, “phobes” of all kinds, and extremists, but I contend this – one worldview leads to God and true equality, and the other leads to chaos and death. So which is actually extreme?

If we believe what we say we do, we will live how God commands, not how the world does, without apology, boldly, knowing this: “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31) 

The spirit of the age will try, but we know God is sovereign. Let’s live as though we believe this.

“Be alert, stand firm in the faith, be courageous, be strong.”

1 Corinthians 16:13