Rev. David Holwick ZC
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
September 10, 1995
Romans 1:32
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I. Changes I have seen in 40 years.
A. Moral slide in America.
1) Magazine - "Is Adultery OK in the 90's?"
2) Drug use is back on the upswing.
B. Christians are the greatest enemy.
1) CBS documentary on Religious Right. (Merrimack, New Hamp.)
a) We are labeled as extremists and bigots.
b) Christians are intolerant of diversity.
C. Evidence of moral decline concerns many Americans, not just
Christians, and is an issue in politics right now.
II. Moral decline nothing new.
A. Paul's stunning denunciation of pagan sin.
1) Many of the sins sound pretty close to home.
2) Ironically, Rome was a very tolerant culture.
B. Is conclusion anticlimactic?
1) How can approval be worse than doing the sin?
2) Condoning sin shows a breakdown of values.
3) Scholar Bengal wrote two hundred years ago,
"He is a worse man, who destroys both himself and others,
than he who destroys himself alone."
C. When values leave, the floodgates open.
1) Note increase of crime in ex-communist countries
and after wars.
Even Russians are seeking religious morality now.
2) Even if we don't practice these sins, we may contribute
to downfall of America by not caring about them.
III. Basic decision: where do values come from?
A. Secular approach - values are what majority agrees on - or a
vocal minority!
1) They change between cultures and time periods.
2) No one value system is correct.
3) Since values are fluid, we cannot take definite stands.
This was well brought out in a "Calvin and Hobbes" cartoon earlier
this year.
Hobbes: How are you doing on your New Year's resolutions?
Calvin: I didn't make any.
See, in order to improve oneself, one must have some
idea of "good."
That implies certain values. But as we all know, values
are relative.
Every system of belief is equally valid and we need to
tolerate diversity.
Virtue isn't "better" than vice.
It's just different.
Hobbes: I don't know if I can tolerate that much tolerance.
Calvin: I refuse to be victimized by notions of virtuous behavior.
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B. Religious approach - values are established by God.
1) There are variations, but some principles hold true
forever.
2) God establishes values, we do not.
a) If a nation strays from God's values, it will soon fall.
b) The normal human tendency is to warp God's values.
IV. Four approaches to relating Christian values to our society.
(Reinhold Niebuhr)
A. Christ against culture.
1) Christians are different than the world.
a) We must separate ourselves, form a new culture.
b) The world cannot change, but we look forward to
heaven.
2) Protect our own little corner, forget everyone else.
a) Typical Christian response.
b) Due to our lack of confidence in our influence.
c) Silence can be a sin, because others think we agree with
them.
3) Held by Amish, Mennonites, Fundamentalists.
4) But goodness of God's creation seems to be denied.
B. Christ of culture.
1) Culture and religion are combined, not distinguishable.
a) Best of culture becomes a religious ideal.
2) Held by Liberalism.
3) But can lead to Utopianism, and makes religion meaningless.
C. Christ above culture.
1) The church "baptizes" culture and raises it.
a) Political takeover of culture by Church.
b) The "State Churches" of the Middle Ages had this approach.
2) Implication: we impose our values on others.
a) Religious political right has this tendency.
b) America becomes a Christian nation, for Christians only.
c) Extreme of "Reconstructionism."
d) Held in past by Episcopalians, Orthodox, some Catholic.
1> Religious right is accused of doing this, too.
3) But a tendency to baptize culture before spiritual rebirth.
D. Christ transforming culture.
1) God loves this world, which is why he became flesh.
a) He still wants us to claim this world for him.
b) Everything we do can be done for glory of God.
2) Held by Calvinism, Puritanism, classic Evangelicalism.
3) But can degenerate into secular activism - politics only.
V. The biggest battlegrounds for values today.
A. Government.
1) Feminist conference in China.
a) Some good - many women are abused and put-down.
b) But much is radical and anti-Christian. (Dobson)
1> Gender roles are due to society only.
2> Traditional male and female relationships are despised.
B. Schools.
1) One of hottest battlegrounds today.
2) Education cannot be value-neutral.
C. The media.
1) "Sex" in Lion King?
a) Try Calvin Klein's child-pornography ads.
2) There can be no doubt that what we watch influences us.
D. Churches.
1) May seem surprising to those brought up in this church,
but many churches reject the supernatural gospel.
2) One Baptist church in Ohio sponsored a Valentine dance
for same-sex couples only.
3) Liberalism may be strongest in the churches, not politics.
VI. Transform our culture, with humility.
A. Work within the system and make our voice heard.
1) Positive influence is better than confrontation.
2) More agree with us than you think.
3) Even those of different doctrines may be our allies.
[Liberal founder of People for the American Way]
Television producer Norman Lear was speaking at a convention
of the American Academy of Religion.
He said that he parts company with civil libertarians who are
"so fastidious" that they would purge any reference to God
or religion from the public schools.
Lear further pointed out that although the libertarians have
been successful in most legal battles, he is troubled by
the fact that many are blind to the spiritual emptiness
in our culture.
Lear credited the rank and file of the religious right for
helping focus a spotlight on the spiritual yearning of
our society.
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B. Christians have had huge blindspots - racism, fascism...
1) We also compromise more than we care to admit with culture.
a) Christian habits not much different than others.
2) We have to be moral to be a force for morality.
a) Be open to being challenged ourselves.
C. We cannot force change on others.
1) Baptists emphasize that faith is a personal choice.
a) Guns to the head don't work!
2) Morality is also very personal.
a) Laws can provide boundaries for behavior, but laws alone
are not the solution to moral decay.
b) Seek positive thrust, like Christian drug rehab, 60%.
3) Individual change is necessary.
a) Only the Spirit of God can give real life, not Law.
b) (appeal to salvation)
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