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Conviction Trumps Conversation

This is a portion of something I shared with my teens a couple of weeks ago.

Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? ~Galatians 1:10

Let me tell you what I see going on. There are a lot of conversations that end with people responding “Oh, that’s cool.”

  • I know you like sports, but I think grown men being paid millions to throw or catch a ball is stupid. “Oh, that’s cool.”
  • I know what most people think, but I think Nickelback had some good music. “Oh, that’s cool.”
  • I am a grown man and I like watching My Little Ponies. “Oh, that’s cool.”
  • I was offended by something a pastor said to me, so I don’t go to church anymore. “Oh, that’s cool.”
  • I think we should all worship goats. “Oh, that’s cool.”
Okay, I could keep going. You could tell me things you've heard and we could do this all day. And in our societal attempt to not offend anyone, we might keep responding with “Oh, that’s cool.” But some things aren't cool. There are people out there who want us to be okay with abortion, pornography and a whole lot of other things. Go ahead and insert your favorite Bible verse here. 

There are things that should clearly fit in the category of non-negotiable for Christians but are somehow finding themselves in another column. That column would consist of things that we're now told our parents and grandparents were too naive, judgmental, uneducated, unenlightened (pick one) to understand. 

There are people who want us to accept that we will live like we want to live and they will live like they want to live and everybody should just be okay with that. There are no longer any absolutes that we should concern ourselves over. Simply live and let live, as long as your style of living does not interfere with my style of living. And certainly as long as your style does not induce any guilty feelings in my world.

We're simply supposed to be cool about it. But there are some things we shouldn't be 'cool' with, and we should be willing to say so.

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