I agree with Chuck

Today's Breakpoint article from Chuck Colson laments the fact that the latest Gallup poll reveals that for the first time in history a majority of Americans do not find same sex relationships "morally objectionable." This has dramatically turned around (crossed the fifty per cent mark) since 2001.

Colson correctly identifies popular media as the factor which has formed public opinion here. I have (regrettably) watched more television in the past three years than I probably did in the previous thirty, and I am astonished at the flagrant agenda which tv dramas have in pointedly promoting moral acceptance of same sex relationships (and other acts formerly believed to be too immoral to reference in public).

Says Colson:

"The elite molders of opinion have done their job well. We live in a world where moral qualms about homosexuality are regarded as bigotry. Today it requires more courage, as well as strength, to swim against the cultural tide and express any reservation about homosexual relationships.

But swim we must. What is true has never been a question to be decided by polls or popular opinion. Truth isn't "democratic"-it's something that God has written into the very fabric of nature.

Of course, that idea is even less popular than our beliefs about same-sex relationships. We in the West have elevated autonomy, which literally means "self law" into our highest value. Now listen to me folks, this is going to be a wake-up call. The tide has turned against Christian in the culture because we haven't been doing our job in the church. Culture matters. Politics follows culture. That's why we've got to start making a better case."

I'm writing here to the church, so I don't want to hear any comments from those with no dog in this fight:

Snatch your children's minds from this culture! Raise them to think (and behave) counter-culturally. If your congregation is not providing reasonable alternatives to the popular culture, find one that is (or start a new one).

Do not sacrifice your child (and the future of the church) on this altar of Molech:

"We need to socialize our kids by letting them see all the same entertainment that the neighbor's children and their school friends are conversant about. We don't want them to feel left out. We want them to be popular." (translate: "cool").

If this is the way you raise your children, do not be surprised when they reject Biblical (minority) values. It's that simple.

On healthy skepticism

Tonight I watched the writers' commentary on the movie "Night at the Museum." I was curious to see what the writers had to say about the process of taking a very short children's book and turning it into a full length feature. I didn't learn much about their writing process, but their commentary did raise another thought.

At one point, the writers start a running gag about how antiquities, which are obviously of some value, get into American museums, or any museum outside the country of origin. I suppose we would like to think that there is some sort of gentlemanly deference among international scholars that says "Oh, you take it - more people will appreciate it there." But why should Egypt yield its treasures from the tombs, or Mexico their Mayan artifacts, or Peru their Incan remnants? The writers just bluntly said, "I expect we stole them." Then, poking fun at their own idea, they start joking about our sending lots of money from the sale of the museum tickets back to the conutries of origin for further exploration and research.

But I had never asked that very question before, and I think it's a good one. In classical Christian schools, we say that one of our goals to to train students to be good "crap detectors." The main point we make is that we should question assumptions.

By the way, other than this insight, I didn't find the writers' dialogue very intelligent, and I don't recommend wasting your time viewing it (I stopped it halfway through the commentary). And I became increasingly irritated about other museum "assumptions" that I had already questioned long ago. The scene with the cave men is a great example, since there is no objectively indisputable support for such a period in human history. See the first chapter of G.K. Chesterton's Everlasting Man for a good discussion of this.

But don't forget...(and it is so simple):

Ask questions.