the straight line

Monday I began an intense 2 week course. This week we've been discussing philosophy and worldviews. I mentioned this in my last blog. It's been difficult realizing how much I have bought into. I say I'm a Biblicist, but some of my thoughts and actions don't line up. I think my main problem has been ignorance. I chose not to study philosophy and know what it was that I believed so I was open and vulnerable to other lines of thinking. I know I'm not the only one. So much of my generation has been tainted. We no longer know what it is we believe. Some of my peers prefer to live in continued ignorance thinking it to be the most blissful route. That's false thinking. Know what you believe and be ready to give a reason for the hope that lives within you.

I'm so far from being an expert much less someone who could carry on a full philosophical conversation. It's a process, but you have to start somewhere. I am guilty of buying into this philosophy of relativism—what's true for you may not be true for me and so forth. Everything is relative. Don't judge lest you be intolerant. Let everyone live their life in the way they see fit. It's a life of no absolutes, but it's so far from the truth. There is an absolute God and absolute truth. There is an absolute right and wrong. Sin is sin. It doesn't matter what the context is, it's sin. I've become numb. I've lost my discernment. I've allowed “political correctness” to warp me into becoming a good and tolerant Christian. But I wasn't called to be tolerant or politically correct. As Christians we are called to be salt and light. Without light there is darkness.

I'm not saying that we should be judgmental, critical Christians. We should be a reflection of Him and His truth. Something I learned this week was C.S. Lewis's “crooked stick standard.” The straight line is the standard. The Word of God is our straight line. There is no way that we can know a line is crooked unless we have a straight line to compare it with. No way to know what is evil without knowing what is good. When you live a life that is a reflection of God than others will see. You won't need to be critical or judgmental. You're life should be based on the Word of God the standard, everything else is crooked in comparison.

"But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:" --I Peter 3:15 [KJV]