Monday, 07 July 2008
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Society or Our Sinful Nature?
from mrs lily
I have noticed a lot in discussions at my church and on a lot of people’s blogs about the way we supposedly have been subjected mass culture in every part of our lives, from the way we dress to the way we do church.There is no question that media and our surroundings advertise to us every day, and we are constantly being fed images and ideas that we don’t necessarily want there. We are influenced by the world around us in a very real way.
However, I honestly don’t think we can’t blame our culture for everything. I am an avid believer that “there is nothing new under the sun,” “what has been will be again, and what has been done will be done again.” (Ecclesiastes 1:9) Although it is hard for us to believe, people have been “discovering” the same sins and yes even fallen into religious hypocrisies for centuries, and the very things we see and hear today have been happening since the beginning of time…I think being surrounded by the media the way we are today just makes it seem so much worse, because we see it all the time.
Sometimes I think we do this because we just want to be able to point a finger anywhere but at ourselves, instead of acknowledge the fact that we are weak humanity and have a sinful nature that we need to be saved from and that we need to die to constantly.
Do you feel like society's actually getting worse, or that it's just as bad and that the media's just making it more obvious? Do you find yourself blaming society for your sinful habits?
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Comments (13)
I agree with the "There's nothing new under the sun."
I don't blame society, but I give credit where credit is due. It's societies fault that I was introduce to certain habits, but it is not societies fault that I have the weakness to pursue them.
I think it's possible that the level of wrong in a society can increase or decrease (in amount). But I don't believe that any of these actual actions are new. Just twisted into new ways of doing said thing.
I would like to be able to blame society, and while I do believe we are far more inundated visually than ever before, Romans tells me clearly that it really is my flesh.
I do believe though that as a Christian we have 3 enemies
Our flesh
The world
The devil
And really at the end of the day, our flesh plays a very large part in how successful the other 2 are in seducing us.
x
A comment really in regards to 'nothing new under the sun' - don't you think that modern medicine/science, in some ways, provides new hypocrises?
I do believe that the world is getting more creative and the enemy is comming up with new tricks but as you said, there is nothing "new" under the sun. I do not think that society is responsible for how we behave as Christians. We know right from wrong. It is written. Not only is it written but we have the Holy Spirit to lead us and guide us. If we don't, we can always go back to the alter until we get it.
When I was younger I blamed society, the devil, anything I could come up with but now now that I'm an adult and put childish things away I know those excuses won't suffice with God.
www.waterplantgrowth.com
@sarahsD@xanga - you are SO right. This is why we must walk in the spirit so that we don't fufil the lusts of the flesh.
I think it's a little bit of both. I think that society has lowered some standards (especially those about sexual activity) but it has always been there to some extent.
Sometimes I start to blame society, but then I realize that I am capable of making those decisions all by myself.
I believe that society is getting worse, but I place a lot of blame on parents not setting a strong foundation for their children. More children are left to be raised by a relative or day care than actually having one parent stay home. More and more children are also being raised inside of single parent homes. More parents are relying on people and media other than themselves to raise their children, and that in turn gives children an easier time rebelling or going through life making bad choices. If parents aren't around to teach them moral values not just by word of mouth but by example, then of course that little voice of right and wrong isn't going to be present when kids and teens are making choices whether or not to have sex, drink, smoke, etc.
Society isn't getting worse. Morally speaking we haven't changed a whole lot since the dawn of our species. We all love to play the blame game (whether its genetics, God, etc) but in actuality the reason is right in front of the mirror.
I think society is the same; we just have MORE amounts of it because we have 6 1/2 billion more people... that and the mass communication makes everything available.
Your argument seems to be vague. Yes regarding sin, selfishness, and human behavior there is nothing new under the sun.
However our society is the direct result of the people in it. Though I do agree that some people try to cop out and say: 'Well that's just the way life is.' But way too many co-called Christians seem to be too accepting and comfortable with our society today, and use that as as excuse to not try to do more to be like Christ and obedient to His Word.
Culture and society can expose you to all sorts of bad things but one doesn't necessarily need it in order to be bad. For instance, children do not have to be taught how to lie or take things without asking, they have to be taught NOT to. When it comes down to it you are ultimately responsible for yourself and what you choose to do. Although, there is a lot of stuff in TV, movies, and especially in the Public Schools which I wouldn't want my kids exposed too, if I had any.
It is legitimate to point out that the church has adopted the worldview of culture rather than being salt and light.One merely needs to look at the stats of Christians and divorce, cohabitation , and pluralistic viewpoints to realize that the church has adapted to culture.
Yet,we are still responsible for our own actions.