1) Tolerance: the world wants tolerance and that is the mantra of your generation. But they are also speaking of a tolerance of evil. You do not have the privelege of tolerating evil. You must be patient with all men, but you must not back down or compromise on the Truth.
2) Thinking for yourselves: though the world declares the value of "free exchange" and free speech, there are certain limitations. You are a minority of people in your generation who hold to the reality of Truth. You will be chastised and mocked and perhaps shouted down for expressing your views of the Truth--but you must not falter.
3) Neutrality: the world will have you to be neutral, to ride the fence. The prevalent philosophy of the day is that Truth cannot be known, therefore it is up to the individual to decide his/her own truth. You must be willing to stand for the one True God and His Word--even unto death.
As I was listening to this message to the class of 2006, I understand how perception of these words could cast them in a negative light. I realize that there are too many who call themselves by the name of Christ, that use buzz words such as these to legitimize their hatred of certain groups of people.
In fact, the great difficulty or challenge of the gospel, is that we are to hold fast to Truth and Purity through Love. We must be patient and compassionate to those who do not believe. The message of Christ is not a game of gotchya. It's not about finding all of the folks out there who may be doing something sinful outwardly. We all have sinned and fall short of the Glory. The point of the gospel is that we can gain salvation because of His Truth. Because of our knowledge of that we must resist impurity and falsehoods, but we must do so for the sake of Love. We must do so for the sake of Glory.
I throw this out to see what comments may come from the few that read this blog... A conversation of True substance.
2 comments:
hmmm... well, I can't help but comment since you asked....
1) by "not backing down from the truth" do you mean politically mandating religious belifs and forcing morality on people? and 2) Don't you find it troubling that someone would tell people, particularly young people, that there is a limit to thinking for yourself. In my opinion, lack of free thought is what's wrong with most people on ALL sides of the coin - they hold fast to their ideological or religious or party lines (and im talking liberal and conservative) without actually taking the time to wrestle with and investigate BOTH SIDES of each issue until they reach their own conclusions. There should NEVER be a limit to thinking for one's self!!!
just my biased opinion, for what it's worth :)
It is certainly not implied that Truth be politically mandated. The author of Truth, Christ himself, even resisted that temptation.
and the message was that lack of freedom of speech is being imposed on them by the world, because of the limitations created by political correctness etc...
for clarity.
dt
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