"They do not know, nor do they understand; they walk about in darkness." Psalm 82:5
"God Who commanded light to shine out of darkness... has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." 2 Corinthians 4:6
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From Blindness to Sight By Mary Ann Collins Portion of a photograph by Thomas Faunce |
6-11-10 |
I have have been thinking about today's changing world and our responses as Christians.
Today's culture and media keep nudging people to get other people to do things that the Bible says is wrong. (For example, killing unborn babies, when the Bible says "Thou shalt not kill.") They push a new set of values, and they can't stand to have anybody question their opinions or say that it is wrong.
They remind me of an alcoholic man who lived across the street from my family. He was always trying to get my parents to drink with him. When they politely declined, he would get angry at them. It's like he had to see them drink so that he wouldn't feel bad about doing it.
One time I had a conversation with a coworker about abortion. She had been raised in a Christian home, but been indoctrinated by the world. Nothing I said seemed to make any impact. She kept repeating politically correct statements. Then there was a silence. And she said quietly (as if to herself), "I wonder if God can forgive it." So in spite of all her politically correct talking, deep down inside she knew that it was terribly wrong.
Another time I was at an office party, and a coworker started telling me about a TV show she had seen about Europe's nude beaches. She said that Americans are so prudish, and we should have nude beaches here. I gave some reasons for thinking that would not be a good thing. But no matter what I said, nothing made a dent. She kept enthusiastically spouting what the people on TV had told her. Then I said, "OK. So we've got a beach full of naked men. Now, when you go to the beach, do you want to look at all that?" And she was quiet for a while. Then she hung her head and quietly said, "No."
Somehow it had never connected before. No matter what I had said, she just couldn't see what a nude beach would really mean in real life. Once she did see it, then no -- she definitely did not want it. But up to that point, she had been promoting it. It's as if what she saw and heard on TV went in her eyes and ears and came out her mouth without ever being processed by her brain.
Perhaps this helps explain why so many liberals like communism. What it really is just hasn't connected. They can't see it. They are full of slogans, and abstract ideals, and other people's enthusiasm. And their brain hasn't processed the reality of what communism really is.
We need to be careful not to judge people like that. If it wasn't for the grace of God, we would be blind, too. "There, but for the grace of God, go I."
When people are blind, making the lights brighter doesn't help them see any better. The facts just don't fit their worldview. So the best thing we can do is to ask God to open their eyes.
I know a woman whose eyes were opened in a dramatic way. She used to be a strip tease dancer in a bar, yet God sent her a faithful, loving husband. After that, her behavior was much better, but her underlying values hadn't changed. Then God opened her eyes to His truth. It happened over a period of several months.
God brought things to her remembrance. For example, she would hear a secular song, but one line in it was Biblical. And that one line would come back to her and keep playing in her mind. There would be a movie she saw long ago, and one fleeting scene had something Biblical in it, and that one scene would come back to mind. And she would remember one phrase out of a poem. It's like there was truth buried in a heap of garbage, and God lifted that one true thing out of the garbage and showed it to her. She didn't notice the garbage -- just the one true thing that was mixed in with it.
Then she had dreams about things that reminded her of the Bible. So she got a Bible and started reading it. The more she read the Bible, the more hungry she became for it.
She had been heavily indoctrinated in evolution, but when she read Genesis, her eyes were opened and she believed it. Her evolutionary beliefs just disappeared, like mist when the sun rises. She read the entire Bible and accepted it as God's true Word.
Then she decided to try going to church. And God was merciful; the church she tried taught the truth.
She is now a solid Christian who faithfully prays for the salvation of her husband and her children. Her husband isn't a Christian yet, but he wants her to go to church and bring their children. He supports her efforts to home school their children using a Christian curriculum. He's open.
After she became a Christian, she continued to condone abortion. But one day, God enabled her to see such destruction of life from His perspective. It was as if a veil had suddenly been removed from her eyes.
People who have had cataract surgery would understand. Everything looked cloudy and obscure before the surgery. They just couldn't see clearly through the old lens. Then the surgeon removed the cataract and put in a good lens. Now, all of a sudden, they see unobstructed reality.
We all know people who are deceived. Let's ask God to open their eyes to see His Truth. What He did for my friend, He can do for them.