Just a few resources concerning the initiative below:
Trade In Hope: Fighting Child Sex Slavery In America
Wichita Eagle: Youth Aid Program Has To Turn Away Applicants
Wichita Eagle: Men Charged With Rape, Human Trafficking
Wichita Eagle: Child Sex Crimes Span Sedgwick County
Polaris Project
Friday, May 20, 2011
Sex, Youth, Homelessness, & The City Of Wichita
This is not a happy post. Nor is it a fun post. By the time you read this there will probably not even be a hint of a smile left on your face, and I fully intend to leave anyone who reads this post with a convicted and saddened heart. Why will your heart be saddened? Why would I aim for such a thing? Because I also fully intend to force anyone who reads this to come face to face with reality. So if you would rather turn away and continue to live in a comfortable and happy fantasy world where you can continue to deceive yourself into believing that the world, the country, and the very city that you live in isn’t that bad off and that you are by nature a good person and have fulfilled your obligations to the community by donating a little bit of money here and there during the holidays, then leave now. Go back to perusing facebook. Go back to watching T.V. Go back to your video games and parties. This post is not for the faint of heart. It is only for those who can handle the truth.
This story begins right here in our very city: Wichita, Kansas. Smack dab in the middle of the Bible Belt. Right in the midst of middle class America. A city packed full of right-wing, church-going, Christian conservatives. And yet somehow, a city where approximately 600 people also reside every year, void of the basic necessities of food and shelter. Don’t believe me? Just take a midnight stroll down by the river and see for yourself. Last night some friends and I walked right past a group of five people gathered under a bridge, four asleep on the ground covered with blankets, another standing in the corner by himself, gazing at us as we walked past, expecting nothing else from us than to do just that. And the saddest part…is that we did just that. As I walked past I thought about how I’d like to help them. I thought about how I wish I had had cash on me to give to them. I thought about how I should at least stop to talk to them and see if they needed anything. I thought about how I could at least go buy some food for them. And yet I continued walking, because for me to have done any of these things would have required sacrifice. I would have had to distract myself from the fun that I was having with the sadness of reality, and let’s face it…reality just isn’t very enjoyable. Could I have stopped what I was doing to acknowledge them? Could I have learned their names and heard their stories? Could I have gone back to my car, driven to a fast food place, and bought them food? Absolutely. But I did not. And I know that I am not alone in my failure to act, because their very presence on the street last night was evidence of an apathetic city who has daily done just the same.
And yet do you know what the real travesty here is? It is not just the fact that these people are on the streets, but more so the fact that we fellow human beings have rid ourselves of our responsibility to care for them. We cry out for the poor and victimized in our politics, yet the only time we rouse our hands and feet to action is when we head to a voting station and cast our ballot for the newest representative who has promised “change.” Then, of course, when the politician we voted for still fails to make the poor richer (or more realistically so, has failed to make us richer) and still fails to keep the homeless out of our sight and out of our minds as we do indeed clearly wish them to be, we simply cry out against these “lying” politicians and demand new policies that are sure to take care of the problem. After all, surely the solution lies with the government. Surely the best way to care for the poor is to bicker back and forth in Congress, in our city councils, on Fox News and CNN, on Facebook and Twitter and in our blogs and newspaper forums about the failures and successes of the government to care for the poor. Surely this bickering will magically build a roof above their heads, put food in their mouths, and put money in their pockets. Surely.
Dear friends, I welcome you to reality. A world where in order for the poor to have money in their pockets, we must first take money out of ours. A world where in order for the hungry to be fed, we must first physically supply them with food. A world where in order for the homeless to have shelter, we must give them a secure place to comfortably rest their heads. A world where in order for the downcast to rise from the ashes, they must first be given hope. You may not particularly like this reality, but it is in fact what is true. And no matter what belief you hold about the poor and your responsibility to them, no matter what excuses you are currently forming in your head to rid yourself from such responsibilities, I’m telling you here and now that reality is not going to magically adapt itself to fit the stereotypes, excuses, and lies that are currently filling your head to justify your lack of action.
“I don’t have the money” you say? Then I ask you, do you not have the ability to sell any of the possessions you currently have? Do you not have the ability to give food from your pantry or clothes from your closet? Do you not have the ability to sacrifice the money you would have spent on Starbucks, designer clothes, the latest movies, expensive restaurants, and fancy vacations for their sake? Can you truly not sacrifice any of your luxuries for their necessities? If you truly don’t have the money, then do you at least have the time? Do you have the time to volunteer in your community? Do you have the time to work in a soup kitchen, to mentor a child at the Wichita Children’s Home, to deliver sandwiches to a man on the streets? Can you sacrifice an hour spent watching your favorite TV show or 6 straight hours spent playing video games for the sake of another human being? Do you have the time to get to know those who suffer? Do you have the willpower to recognize their value and worth? Do you care to love them at all?
Would it help if I told you that it is not just grown men and women on our streets struggling to survive, but children, teens, and young adults too? Would it spur you to action if I told you that at seventeen years of age, teens who were already initially put into the foster care system due to abandonment and abuse are forced out of the foster care system and are again made vulnerable to the very same things that landed them there? Would it hurt your heart to know that these teens are unable to seek refuge in any local homeless shelters due to a required minimum entry age of 21? On average the Wichita Children’s Home itself only has two to three available beds for these youth, forcing hundreds of youth each year to literally fend for themselves on the streets, leaving many of them exposed to none other than the horrific trade of human trafficking. Truly, these runaways and outcasts are deceived by social piranhas intent on destroying them, who dehumanize them and treat them as commodities. Take this to heart:
“Professionals serving on the Anti-Sexual Exploitation Roundtable for Community Action suggest that 300-400 Wichita youth are at-risk of sexual exploitation each year. To demonstrate this, of 250 youth interviewed at the Wichita Children’s Home between 2007 and 2008, sixty-seven percent reported they had been sexually assaulted or raped; forty-six percent had been asked to strip, go on a date or provide sexual favors in exchange for food, shelter, money or drugs; and forty percent reported that they had “agreed” or had been forced or manipulated to exchange sexual favors for food, shelter, money or drugs. Thus, once pursued, 100 of the 250 young people interviewed were forced, frauded, or coerced into sexual exploitation. This is only including the youth we know about, the children who survived and were lucky enough to make it into safe shelter.” (Quote taken from here.)
We are in the top five of originating cities in the U.S. for sexual exploitation, meaning that traffickers come here, seek out the vulnerable youth in our city, and take them elsewhere to sexually exploit them. This business is often more profitable than even the drug trade, for with drugs, you can only sell the product once. With young children and teens, however, you can sell them for sex again and again and again, acquiring hundreds of thousands of dollars a year per child. And in the process, you can break their spirit and devalue them so much that they will no longer even have the desire to fight back. They indeed become your slave. This is what is taking place in our city. This is what is happening to our---or at least someone’s---sons and daughters, nieces and nephews, grandchildren, students, friends, and neighbors. This is heartbreaking, and we must not merely sit back, read about it, and think “That’s too bad. I’m sure someone will help.” No. We must take the initiative and act. I am asking each and every one of you to offer either your money, your time, or your very home to reach out to these youth. Offer your church, school, or business as a donation or fundraising site. Volunteer at the Wichita Children’s home, offering yourself as a mentor, tutor, babysitter, or just a general helping hand. Offer your creativity and vision to the cause through your own efforts or by joining those like Jennifer White here.
And here…here is where I am on the verge of making a suggestion that many will not enjoy, because I am about to ask much of you. I am about to ask much of the church particularly. It is a concept that many will deem ridiculous and unsafe, but as I say this I ask you to remember that the very God whom we serve has Himself loved us ridiculously and unsafely. Here is what I must ask of you: to take these children, teens, and young adults into your very homes, offering them food, clothing, shelter, safety, security, love and affection. If there are those on the streets without even the basic need of shelter, why do we so easily assume it to be the obligation of a temporary and capacity-limited homeless shelter or orphanage to care for them? Why are we not offering them our own homes? It is understandable if some genuinely do not have room for them, and it is maybe even understandable for those who are concerned for the safety of their children, but what about the safety of these children? And for those of us with even just one empty room, how is it that we have deemed the junk that fills that room to be more worthy of shelter than a man, woman, or child living on the streets? This very matter is the difference between the postmodern church of today and the early church of the New Testament. The early church didn’t just give the poor, the orphaned, or the widowed a toothbrush, toothpaste, and a sandwich and wish them good luck on the streets. They literally took them into their homes. They didn’t just provide the basic necessities of food, clothing, and shelter, but the basic necessities of love, security, and family as well. They expressed to those who were deemed the “undeserving” of society the undeserved sacrificial love which Christ Himself has expressed to us. Unlike us, they actually took the Word of God seriously, for it says:
Deut. 15:7. If there is a poor man among you, one of your brothers, in any of the towns of the land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand to your poor brother; but you shall freely open your hand to him, and generously lend him sufficient for his need in whatever he lacks.
1 John 3:17. But whoever has the world's goods, and beholds his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?
Acts 2:44. All those who had believed were together, and had all things in common; and they began to sell their property and possessions, and share them with all, as anyone might have need.
Mt. 25:31-46. "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. And all the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on His left. Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.' Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite you in, or naked, and clothe You? And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' And the King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.' Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.' Then they themselves will also answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?' Then He will answer them, saying, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.' And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
I know I am asking much, but I believe it is the duty of the church to take in these young ones, at least for a little while. I know it is risky, I know it will be difficult and messy, and I know that many of us deem ourselves unfit for such a task. Yet I also believe that God uses the weak to shame the strong, and I believe that we the church are able because we serve a God who is able. Let us be the heart and hands and feet of Jesus to those who are in need in our communities. Let us do what He has done for us, not so that He will approve of us---for He already does---but so that the love of Christ will become evident to a world that does not know Him. Let us do this so that others will come to know this incredible God whom we deem worthy to serve even to the extent of sacrificing our very comfortable lives in order to do so. If you are able, I ask you to prayerfully consider either entering the foster care system, particularly making your home available to those aged between 13 and 17 years of age or at least providing your home for some sort of emergency contact list as the need for shelter for these young people arises. If you are interested in helping in any way at all, please do not hesitate to contact me. I understand that many of you are not able to extravagantly give, but even just a little bit of your time or money makes a difference. And I recognize that many of you reading this are probably already involved in some sort of ministry or volunteer work, and I do not dare to ask you to add even more to an already burdensome load. I at least ask anyone reading this to pray for the homeless, orphaned, abandoned, and abused of this city. It is the very least any of us can do.
This story begins right here in our very city: Wichita, Kansas. Smack dab in the middle of the Bible Belt. Right in the midst of middle class America. A city packed full of right-wing, church-going, Christian conservatives. And yet somehow, a city where approximately 600 people also reside every year, void of the basic necessities of food and shelter. Don’t believe me? Just take a midnight stroll down by the river and see for yourself. Last night some friends and I walked right past a group of five people gathered under a bridge, four asleep on the ground covered with blankets, another standing in the corner by himself, gazing at us as we walked past, expecting nothing else from us than to do just that. And the saddest part…is that we did just that. As I walked past I thought about how I’d like to help them. I thought about how I wish I had had cash on me to give to them. I thought about how I should at least stop to talk to them and see if they needed anything. I thought about how I could at least go buy some food for them. And yet I continued walking, because for me to have done any of these things would have required sacrifice. I would have had to distract myself from the fun that I was having with the sadness of reality, and let’s face it…reality just isn’t very enjoyable. Could I have stopped what I was doing to acknowledge them? Could I have learned their names and heard their stories? Could I have gone back to my car, driven to a fast food place, and bought them food? Absolutely. But I did not. And I know that I am not alone in my failure to act, because their very presence on the street last night was evidence of an apathetic city who has daily done just the same.
And yet do you know what the real travesty here is? It is not just the fact that these people are on the streets, but more so the fact that we fellow human beings have rid ourselves of our responsibility to care for them. We cry out for the poor and victimized in our politics, yet the only time we rouse our hands and feet to action is when we head to a voting station and cast our ballot for the newest representative who has promised “change.” Then, of course, when the politician we voted for still fails to make the poor richer (or more realistically so, has failed to make us richer) and still fails to keep the homeless out of our sight and out of our minds as we do indeed clearly wish them to be, we simply cry out against these “lying” politicians and demand new policies that are sure to take care of the problem. After all, surely the solution lies with the government. Surely the best way to care for the poor is to bicker back and forth in Congress, in our city councils, on Fox News and CNN, on Facebook and Twitter and in our blogs and newspaper forums about the failures and successes of the government to care for the poor. Surely this bickering will magically build a roof above their heads, put food in their mouths, and put money in their pockets. Surely.
Dear friends, I welcome you to reality. A world where in order for the poor to have money in their pockets, we must first take money out of ours. A world where in order for the hungry to be fed, we must first physically supply them with food. A world where in order for the homeless to have shelter, we must give them a secure place to comfortably rest their heads. A world where in order for the downcast to rise from the ashes, they must first be given hope. You may not particularly like this reality, but it is in fact what is true. And no matter what belief you hold about the poor and your responsibility to them, no matter what excuses you are currently forming in your head to rid yourself from such responsibilities, I’m telling you here and now that reality is not going to magically adapt itself to fit the stereotypes, excuses, and lies that are currently filling your head to justify your lack of action.
“I don’t have the money” you say? Then I ask you, do you not have the ability to sell any of the possessions you currently have? Do you not have the ability to give food from your pantry or clothes from your closet? Do you not have the ability to sacrifice the money you would have spent on Starbucks, designer clothes, the latest movies, expensive restaurants, and fancy vacations for their sake? Can you truly not sacrifice any of your luxuries for their necessities? If you truly don’t have the money, then do you at least have the time? Do you have the time to volunteer in your community? Do you have the time to work in a soup kitchen, to mentor a child at the Wichita Children’s Home, to deliver sandwiches to a man on the streets? Can you sacrifice an hour spent watching your favorite TV show or 6 straight hours spent playing video games for the sake of another human being? Do you have the time to get to know those who suffer? Do you have the willpower to recognize their value and worth? Do you care to love them at all?
Would it help if I told you that it is not just grown men and women on our streets struggling to survive, but children, teens, and young adults too? Would it spur you to action if I told you that at seventeen years of age, teens who were already initially put into the foster care system due to abandonment and abuse are forced out of the foster care system and are again made vulnerable to the very same things that landed them there? Would it hurt your heart to know that these teens are unable to seek refuge in any local homeless shelters due to a required minimum entry age of 21? On average the Wichita Children’s Home itself only has two to three available beds for these youth, forcing hundreds of youth each year to literally fend for themselves on the streets, leaving many of them exposed to none other than the horrific trade of human trafficking. Truly, these runaways and outcasts are deceived by social piranhas intent on destroying them, who dehumanize them and treat them as commodities. Take this to heart:
“Professionals serving on the Anti-Sexual Exploitation Roundtable for Community Action suggest that 300-400 Wichita youth are at-risk of sexual exploitation each year. To demonstrate this, of 250 youth interviewed at the Wichita Children’s Home between 2007 and 2008, sixty-seven percent reported they had been sexually assaulted or raped; forty-six percent had been asked to strip, go on a date or provide sexual favors in exchange for food, shelter, money or drugs; and forty percent reported that they had “agreed” or had been forced or manipulated to exchange sexual favors for food, shelter, money or drugs. Thus, once pursued, 100 of the 250 young people interviewed were forced, frauded, or coerced into sexual exploitation. This is only including the youth we know about, the children who survived and were lucky enough to make it into safe shelter.” (Quote taken from here.)
We are in the top five of originating cities in the U.S. for sexual exploitation, meaning that traffickers come here, seek out the vulnerable youth in our city, and take them elsewhere to sexually exploit them. This business is often more profitable than even the drug trade, for with drugs, you can only sell the product once. With young children and teens, however, you can sell them for sex again and again and again, acquiring hundreds of thousands of dollars a year per child. And in the process, you can break their spirit and devalue them so much that they will no longer even have the desire to fight back. They indeed become your slave. This is what is taking place in our city. This is what is happening to our---or at least someone’s---sons and daughters, nieces and nephews, grandchildren, students, friends, and neighbors. This is heartbreaking, and we must not merely sit back, read about it, and think “That’s too bad. I’m sure someone will help.” No. We must take the initiative and act. I am asking each and every one of you to offer either your money, your time, or your very home to reach out to these youth. Offer your church, school, or business as a donation or fundraising site. Volunteer at the Wichita Children’s home, offering yourself as a mentor, tutor, babysitter, or just a general helping hand. Offer your creativity and vision to the cause through your own efforts or by joining those like Jennifer White here.
And here…here is where I am on the verge of making a suggestion that many will not enjoy, because I am about to ask much of you. I am about to ask much of the church particularly. It is a concept that many will deem ridiculous and unsafe, but as I say this I ask you to remember that the very God whom we serve has Himself loved us ridiculously and unsafely. Here is what I must ask of you: to take these children, teens, and young adults into your very homes, offering them food, clothing, shelter, safety, security, love and affection. If there are those on the streets without even the basic need of shelter, why do we so easily assume it to be the obligation of a temporary and capacity-limited homeless shelter or orphanage to care for them? Why are we not offering them our own homes? It is understandable if some genuinely do not have room for them, and it is maybe even understandable for those who are concerned for the safety of their children, but what about the safety of these children? And for those of us with even just one empty room, how is it that we have deemed the junk that fills that room to be more worthy of shelter than a man, woman, or child living on the streets? This very matter is the difference between the postmodern church of today and the early church of the New Testament. The early church didn’t just give the poor, the orphaned, or the widowed a toothbrush, toothpaste, and a sandwich and wish them good luck on the streets. They literally took them into their homes. They didn’t just provide the basic necessities of food, clothing, and shelter, but the basic necessities of love, security, and family as well. They expressed to those who were deemed the “undeserving” of society the undeserved sacrificial love which Christ Himself has expressed to us. Unlike us, they actually took the Word of God seriously, for it says:
Deut. 15:7. If there is a poor man among you, one of your brothers, in any of the towns of the land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand to your poor brother; but you shall freely open your hand to him, and generously lend him sufficient for his need in whatever he lacks.
1 John 3:17. But whoever has the world's goods, and beholds his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?
Acts 2:44. All those who had believed were together, and had all things in common; and they began to sell their property and possessions, and share them with all, as anyone might have need.
Mt. 25:31-46. "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. And all the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on His left. Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.' Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite you in, or naked, and clothe You? And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' And the King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.' Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.' Then they themselves will also answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?' Then He will answer them, saying, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.' And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
I know I am asking much, but I believe it is the duty of the church to take in these young ones, at least for a little while. I know it is risky, I know it will be difficult and messy, and I know that many of us deem ourselves unfit for such a task. Yet I also believe that God uses the weak to shame the strong, and I believe that we the church are able because we serve a God who is able. Let us be the heart and hands and feet of Jesus to those who are in need in our communities. Let us do what He has done for us, not so that He will approve of us---for He already does---but so that the love of Christ will become evident to a world that does not know Him. Let us do this so that others will come to know this incredible God whom we deem worthy to serve even to the extent of sacrificing our very comfortable lives in order to do so. If you are able, I ask you to prayerfully consider either entering the foster care system, particularly making your home available to those aged between 13 and 17 years of age or at least providing your home for some sort of emergency contact list as the need for shelter for these young people arises. If you are interested in helping in any way at all, please do not hesitate to contact me. I understand that many of you are not able to extravagantly give, but even just a little bit of your time or money makes a difference. And I recognize that many of you reading this are probably already involved in some sort of ministry or volunteer work, and I do not dare to ask you to add even more to an already burdensome load. I at least ask anyone reading this to pray for the homeless, orphaned, abandoned, and abused of this city. It is the very least any of us can do.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Me, Myself, & I: A Tale Of Utter Selfishness
Lately I’ve been really trying to understand our culture: Trying to understand why our society has become so corrupted, why people do the things they do, how their beliefs tie in to it, what it is exactly that our culture believes to be true, and so on. After finally beginning to have gained some semblance of an understanding, Romans 1 has never made as much sense as it does now. Please, read. And see if you don’t recognize some similarities between the Romans 1 culture and American culture as it is today.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 20For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. 21For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.
24Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. 25For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
26For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, 27and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.
28And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, 29being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, 30slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; 32and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.
So, tell me, as you read these verses, what were your thoughts? Did they by any chance go along the lines of this angry rant? : “This is EXACTLY what has happened because of evolutionary theory being taught in our schools, because of the homosexuals fighting for marriage, because of abortion and laws that are being proposed to take God out of the public realm. EXACTLY. When will those Atheists and Agnostics and liberals and homosexuals and drunkards and feminists and sexually promiscuous young people finally realize that what they’re doing is wrong?” I hope that is not what you were thinking, but if you are reading this as a Christian it is very likely that you were. It’s funny, because I used to think that way too. And now let me point out the flaw in that kind of thinking, a flaw that I have very much so come to recognize that I myself hold.
Notice first that the culture Paul is describing here is a culture that initially knew God. They KNEW Him. They recognized His existence, they knew His character, they even personally knew Him. Paul is not describing Atheists or Agnostics or Muslims or Buddhists, He is not describing a culture full of people who do not know God. He is describing the very people of God. Those who knew Him personally and yet still turned their backs on Him. And how did they turn their backs on Him? Just as man always has, as portrayed in Genesis 3. By exchanging God’s truth for a lie one lie at a time. By living independently of God, by functioning solely out of the shame that comes from not knowing Him, by avoiding God Himself and living only to prove to Him that they can save themselves. This first happens by twisting the truth. By taking the very Word of God as we ourselves interpret it and claiming our interpretation to be THE truth. By twisting the purpose of our lives from knowing God to simply pleasing Him. By turning something even as beautiful as the Gospel into yet another rule to follow in order to prove your worthiness to God. “See God. Do you see all that I do? Do you see my faith? I witness to my neighbors, I go to church three times a week, I go to Bible Study and read Christian books. I raise my hands in worship, I pray in public, I am faithful to my spouse, I preach from the pulpit, I teach Sunday School and work with kids at VBS. I am not even remotely like the people of this culture. Look how good I am compared to them, God. Look at all the good that I’ve done.”
And yet as Tim Keller pointed out in a sermon I recently listened to, Religious people and Nonreligious people are essentially the same in that they are all avoiding God. The only difference is that Religious people don’t even realize they’re doing it. Whether you are religious or not, whether you are deemed good or bad by the standards of your peers or society, I guarantee you this: That we are all by nature entirely and completely selfish. Even Darwin and Nietzche recognized this. For when we love, we love only so that we will be loved in return. When we seek peace, it is only so that we will not have to experience the consequences of conflict. When we give, it is only so that we will be given unto. Whether it be a thank you, a gift in return, a high regard, or self-satisfaction, our motives are entirely selfish. This selfishness is the very result of a people who know God deciding that they’d really just like to know Him less, and eventually not at all.
We Christians are not immune to this selfishness and we are not immune to our culture. We did not suddenly become better than everyone else the moment we said the sinner’s prayer. We have not proven ourselves better by living “godly” lives. We do not deserve what God has given us by professing faith. We are still utterly and desperately in need of God’s mercy. I am coming to realize more and more that the only reason I myself am able to ever selflessly love at all---which believe me, is a rare occasion---is because of Christ in me. It is because of the Holy Spirit which God has given to me, who prays for me and keeps me in constant communion with God, even when I myself am not seeking Him. Apart from Him, I truly do no real good.
It is our very pride, the very belief that we are deemed good by what we do that has led our culture astray. We are acting no differently than any other religion in that we are forcing our morality onto others, expecting people who don’t know God to act as if they do, and we are rarely ever showing them through our own words and actions who this great God that we serve really is. We do not show them because we barely know Him ourselves. We are fighting a worthless fight to even attempt to spread the Gospel through the law, because it can not be accomplished through the law. Why are we fighting so hard to keep “In God We Trust” on the penny? Does God Himself dwell in the penny? Will our children come to know Him through the penny? And why must we push so hard to keep “under God” in the pledge of allegiance? Forcing anyone to make a statement of faith which they don’t believe is only to ask them to live a lie. We are not changing the hearts of anyone, we are only changing their actions. Even the battle for public prayer in schools is bordering on ridiculous, because it is not as if we are stopping anyone from communicating with God. Can prayer not be prayed silently? Can students not gather among themselves to pray? This country is not a Christian country, but it was indeed founded on Christian principles: the very principles that all men are created equal, are given the right to free speech and are given a freedom of religion. God Himself has given us this very freedom…in which we can either know Him through Christ and follow Him or turn from Him and ultimately pay the consequences that come from not knowing Him.
Do you know why our culture is going down the drain? Because we ourselves have become influenced by our culture. It is a materialist culture, in which to see is to believe. In which we can only know what is true if it is validated by our very sight. We can not see God, therefore He must not exist. We can not see the battle raging on between angels and demons, between God and Satan, between ourselves and Satan, therefore such supernatural beings must not exist. The battle must not exist. We have never seen a miracle, therefore they must not exist. We have never known a prophet nor seen a prophecy fulfilled, therefore prophecy must be outdated. We’ve never personally had a vision or God-given dream, so the testimony of those who have is rendered irrelevant. We can not see heaven, therefore we must live as though there isn’t one, as though this earth is the only home we will ever know. The spoken word…the written word. Surely such a means can not be reliable. Only that which can be seen or measured can. We are a culture who sees with their eyes rather than through them. We determine the value of a person based on the way they look and act and give no heed to the value that God Himself places upon them. We ignore the fact that God has declared His love for ALL of mankind, and have claimed His love only to be for us. We assume that our culture does so much wrong because they have rejected the Gospel, but in reality many have neither heard nor seen the Gospel lived out by its followers. We no longer see by our faith, nor do we walk by our faith. We are but blindly crawling about with our noses turned up, nobly striving to live a godly life without God in it.
If we really want to see a change in this country, then perhaps we should begin with the advice of Ghandi: “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” Let us begin not with a vote, not with a prayer meeting, but by admitting we can do nothing of our own accord and humbly praying “Lord, have mercy on ME, a sinner. Lord, save ME from MYSELF.” The change must begin in our own hearts, not in the hearts of everyone else…though we would all certainly love to believe so.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 20For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. 21For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.
24Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. 25For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
26For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, 27and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.
28And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, 29being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, 30slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; 32and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.
So, tell me, as you read these verses, what were your thoughts? Did they by any chance go along the lines of this angry rant? : “This is EXACTLY what has happened because of evolutionary theory being taught in our schools, because of the homosexuals fighting for marriage, because of abortion and laws that are being proposed to take God out of the public realm. EXACTLY. When will those Atheists and Agnostics and liberals and homosexuals and drunkards and feminists and sexually promiscuous young people finally realize that what they’re doing is wrong?” I hope that is not what you were thinking, but if you are reading this as a Christian it is very likely that you were. It’s funny, because I used to think that way too. And now let me point out the flaw in that kind of thinking, a flaw that I have very much so come to recognize that I myself hold.
Notice first that the culture Paul is describing here is a culture that initially knew God. They KNEW Him. They recognized His existence, they knew His character, they even personally knew Him. Paul is not describing Atheists or Agnostics or Muslims or Buddhists, He is not describing a culture full of people who do not know God. He is describing the very people of God. Those who knew Him personally and yet still turned their backs on Him. And how did they turn their backs on Him? Just as man always has, as portrayed in Genesis 3. By exchanging God’s truth for a lie one lie at a time. By living independently of God, by functioning solely out of the shame that comes from not knowing Him, by avoiding God Himself and living only to prove to Him that they can save themselves. This first happens by twisting the truth. By taking the very Word of God as we ourselves interpret it and claiming our interpretation to be THE truth. By twisting the purpose of our lives from knowing God to simply pleasing Him. By turning something even as beautiful as the Gospel into yet another rule to follow in order to prove your worthiness to God. “See God. Do you see all that I do? Do you see my faith? I witness to my neighbors, I go to church three times a week, I go to Bible Study and read Christian books. I raise my hands in worship, I pray in public, I am faithful to my spouse, I preach from the pulpit, I teach Sunday School and work with kids at VBS. I am not even remotely like the people of this culture. Look how good I am compared to them, God. Look at all the good that I’ve done.”
And yet as Tim Keller pointed out in a sermon I recently listened to, Religious people and Nonreligious people are essentially the same in that they are all avoiding God. The only difference is that Religious people don’t even realize they’re doing it. Whether you are religious or not, whether you are deemed good or bad by the standards of your peers or society, I guarantee you this: That we are all by nature entirely and completely selfish. Even Darwin and Nietzche recognized this. For when we love, we love only so that we will be loved in return. When we seek peace, it is only so that we will not have to experience the consequences of conflict. When we give, it is only so that we will be given unto. Whether it be a thank you, a gift in return, a high regard, or self-satisfaction, our motives are entirely selfish. This selfishness is the very result of a people who know God deciding that they’d really just like to know Him less, and eventually not at all.
We Christians are not immune to this selfishness and we are not immune to our culture. We did not suddenly become better than everyone else the moment we said the sinner’s prayer. We have not proven ourselves better by living “godly” lives. We do not deserve what God has given us by professing faith. We are still utterly and desperately in need of God’s mercy. I am coming to realize more and more that the only reason I myself am able to ever selflessly love at all---which believe me, is a rare occasion---is because of Christ in me. It is because of the Holy Spirit which God has given to me, who prays for me and keeps me in constant communion with God, even when I myself am not seeking Him. Apart from Him, I truly do no real good.
It is our very pride, the very belief that we are deemed good by what we do that has led our culture astray. We are acting no differently than any other religion in that we are forcing our morality onto others, expecting people who don’t know God to act as if they do, and we are rarely ever showing them through our own words and actions who this great God that we serve really is. We do not show them because we barely know Him ourselves. We are fighting a worthless fight to even attempt to spread the Gospel through the law, because it can not be accomplished through the law. Why are we fighting so hard to keep “In God We Trust” on the penny? Does God Himself dwell in the penny? Will our children come to know Him through the penny? And why must we push so hard to keep “under God” in the pledge of allegiance? Forcing anyone to make a statement of faith which they don’t believe is only to ask them to live a lie. We are not changing the hearts of anyone, we are only changing their actions. Even the battle for public prayer in schools is bordering on ridiculous, because it is not as if we are stopping anyone from communicating with God. Can prayer not be prayed silently? Can students not gather among themselves to pray? This country is not a Christian country, but it was indeed founded on Christian principles: the very principles that all men are created equal, are given the right to free speech and are given a freedom of religion. God Himself has given us this very freedom…in which we can either know Him through Christ and follow Him or turn from Him and ultimately pay the consequences that come from not knowing Him.
Do you know why our culture is going down the drain? Because we ourselves have become influenced by our culture. It is a materialist culture, in which to see is to believe. In which we can only know what is true if it is validated by our very sight. We can not see God, therefore He must not exist. We can not see the battle raging on between angels and demons, between God and Satan, between ourselves and Satan, therefore such supernatural beings must not exist. The battle must not exist. We have never seen a miracle, therefore they must not exist. We have never known a prophet nor seen a prophecy fulfilled, therefore prophecy must be outdated. We’ve never personally had a vision or God-given dream, so the testimony of those who have is rendered irrelevant. We can not see heaven, therefore we must live as though there isn’t one, as though this earth is the only home we will ever know. The spoken word…the written word. Surely such a means can not be reliable. Only that which can be seen or measured can. We are a culture who sees with their eyes rather than through them. We determine the value of a person based on the way they look and act and give no heed to the value that God Himself places upon them. We ignore the fact that God has declared His love for ALL of mankind, and have claimed His love only to be for us. We assume that our culture does so much wrong because they have rejected the Gospel, but in reality many have neither heard nor seen the Gospel lived out by its followers. We no longer see by our faith, nor do we walk by our faith. We are but blindly crawling about with our noses turned up, nobly striving to live a godly life without God in it.
If we really want to see a change in this country, then perhaps we should begin with the advice of Ghandi: “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” Let us begin not with a vote, not with a prayer meeting, but by admitting we can do nothing of our own accord and humbly praying “Lord, have mercy on ME, a sinner. Lord, save ME from MYSELF.” The change must begin in our own hearts, not in the hearts of everyone else…though we would all certainly love to believe so.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
