How sad is it when a teen who stands for purity is laughed at and mocked by her peer group? That brave young lady is trying to stand by her convictions. Convictions that will end in her flourishing, Yet her standards are under attack.
Convictions are fixed and firm beliefs we hold to be true. But when they don’t align with a particular cultural narrative, they are attacked. When your “truth” is not allowed, it and you are vilified. Yet, the “opposers” are typically the loudest proponents of socially constructing “their truth.”Are you confused? If so, good. Because it makes no sense.
These days, holding firm to a belief often means you are judgmental, narrow minded, maybe even hateful or bigoted. For example, when someone stands by a conviction on social media, the claws come out, the name-calling and bullying ramp up. What results is friends who defriend, and family members who won’t get together anymore because they are too offended. We have moved away from tolerance.
How did we get to the point that a woman won’t sit next to a man on an airplane because he doesn’t share her convictions on climate control? The roots can be found in political correctness–the government’s solution to controlling our hearts and minds. Political correctness silences talk of convictions–unless they are the convictions of the politically correct. And who are they? How are they governed? What “truth” are they grounded in?
Just because you feel something to be true, doesn’t make it true. This is the danger today. Everything is now socially constructed. Truth is no longer to be discovered. Rather we are to create our own truth as evidenced by the popular saying, “My truth.” No judgments are to be made. Thus, there can be no moral progress or reform. Without truth, there can be no freedom.
Many professors on our college campuses teach young minds to socially construct truth and to vilify those who disagree with words deemed slanderous and offensive. This is all done in the name of “new” tolerance –a conviction that all beliefs, lifestyles and truths are equal (except yours, of course). Thus, I can no longer claim genuine conviction regarding my own beliefs without a fight!
C.S. Lewis saw this as dangerous. A tolerant man under the old definition, meant someone who’d respect you and treat you kindly even when he disagreed. But if tolerance today means all beliefs are equal and no one has truth, then religious people are labelled intolerant. This “new” tolerance leads to a lack of conviction. And who decides that your belief should no longer be tolerated? Who is in charge of this judgment? It is God or the standard of His Word?
We have a crisis of truth. Avoid the crisis. Don’t buy the lie that to believe in biblical truth makes you intolerant of others. Don’t believe this nonsense. All of this is an attempt to silence your faith and avoid the Spirit’s conviction based on beliefs. The goal is to allow everyone to do what is right is their own eyes which will lead to lawlessness and chaos. It was true during biblical times and is no different today.
Call sin, sin. Hold on to biblical truth. Stop bowing to elites who hold the microphone or have a platform. But speak the truth in love. And that is important. Because if you don’t love, you are not living in God’s truth. Jesus said, “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples” (John 13:35). Love is the mark of a true disciple. So, when you are ridiculed for standing in truth, respond in love. Pray for more love. Love your enemies as Jesus challenged us in the Sermon on the Mount. And stand for truth.
