Blog first published at End of the Matter Ministries.
I was discussing how harmful energy drinks can be with my kids. Both kids were around 20 years old and had started with coffee, and the next I knew, they had jumped to drinking double-shot Starbucks energy drinks. In researching the ingredients, I found that people (not my kids) will take the energy drink and mix it with alcohol. This is supposed to amplify the effect of both drinks. Ads push these drinks, and we tend to think there is nothing wrong with them or they wouldn't be in stores. . . right?
For those of you wondering, after discussing the health issues, my grown young 'uns have stopped drinking them regularly (sometimes they were drinking more than one or two a day!). They had thought the drinks were stronger coffee. Common sense can only go so far, and the culture around us influences us.
We must not think that our beliefs are something we can decide with common sense because we are raised in a culture mixing the cocktail. 1 Corinthians 3: 18-20 says, "Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, 'He catches the wise in their craftiness,' and again, 'The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.'”
We are to love our neighbors, but that does not involve approving of sin.
Culture changes over time. God does not change. The churches in the news are the ones we see letting culture define God. In current news, abortion, transgenderism, and homosexuality are seen as ok. According to the Bible, this is defined as a sin and an abomination. Many say this means that one who believes what the Bible says must not value women, hate gay people, or be a homophobe. Some hateful people use legalism to condemn others, but because the culture now accepts it doesn't change what the Bible says about these issues. We are to love our neighbors, but that does not involve approving sin.
Most sins are now considered uncontrollable urges, and people are labeled as sick. Our culture, based on evolution, does this to avoid responsibility for its actions and explain why the world has problems without sin. If someone has a disorder, they are not responsible for violence, being a drunkard, promiscuity, drugs, or anything wicked in God's eyes. There is no hope for healing or redemption in this false view.
Christ died for sin.
Christ died for sin. There is hope in what God has revealed to humanity in the Bible. Ephesians 4:22-24 says, "that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness."
Living in a more corrupted culture does not mean Christians are to approve and become like that culture. We are to renew our minds and become more Christ-like. Read God's word, find out what God says, and don't mix it with what the world says. This is difficult because we have been raised with our cultural blinders, and sometimes, we stop reading our Bibles and let others tell us what to think.
What does the Scripture you are reading actually say?
If you are on social media and have not prayed and read your Bible, that is the place to start. Make notes in your Bible: What does the Scripture you are reading say? How does it fit in with the Scripture before it? After it? Other Scripture? How can it be applied to your life now? Commentaries are helpful, but remember they are someone else's opinion who may be looking at the Scripture from their cocktail of beliefs.
I want to encourage you to pray for discernment and read your Bible. May God bless you.
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