You and Me Against the World?

An early church leader in the city of Alexandria by the name of Athanasius took a fierce stand against a heretical teaching--Arianism--which was becoming extremely popular among the churchmen of his day. It is said that on his grave marker were the Latin words Athanasius contra mundum. Translation: "Athanasius against the world."

I was challenged by a recent sermon at my church to consider my own ability to stand against the world when what the world has agreed is okay, is actually wrong.

I've often seen myself as a loner and a maverick...not one to follow blindly after the crowd either in matters of fashion, or ideology, or morality. My own family members would sometimes consider me a bit "flaky" when my creative bent asserted itself in ways that marched to a novel drumbeat.

The spooky thing is that I so often catch myself conforming to the pattern seemingly laid out for me by the surrounding culture, or even by whatever local ad hoc group of peers might be handy. It is often very easy to let others do the thinking for me and just automatically--and unthinkingly--fit in with what the crowd chooses to do.

Even for an odd duck like me, who has a strong non-conformist streak, the gravitational pull of the herd mentality exerts itself all the time. And the disconcerting thing is, that magnetic force isn't generally tugging me toward something good, true, or otherwise worthwhile. It's usually just the opposite.

What the authors of the Bible often refer to as "the world"--as opposed to the kingdom of God--is the combined anti-God characters and proclivities of the people and cultures and institutions surrounding us that would just as soon forget or ignore or deny God's existence. "The world" in that sense, is the mindset that happily leaves God out of all equations. Kind of like...

...(in biology class) "The universe and everything in it began with a humongous explosion, after which all the stuff you see around you came to be via an astonishing process of random mutations."

...(in philosophy class) "Truth is defined by the consensus of what the most people believe at any present moment, as influenced by the people wielding the most political power. There are no absolutes when it comes to morality...that is, no absolutes except the fact that there are no absolutes."

...(in a lot of churches) "Jesus was a great teacher but he might not have really said everything or done everything that his followers reported that he did. The whole idea of his death being an atonement that satisfied some angry supreme being, is no longer necessary in our enlightened society, and his resurrection from the dead is simply a helpful metaphor about self-renewal."

...(in sex-education class) "If both people enjoy it, go ahead, it's okay. Any unwanted consequences can be dealt with either with surgery, medicine or psychotherapy."

...(in entertainment and the arts) "Standards of beauty and propriety are only determined by the appetites of consumers. Fantasies about sex, violence and escapism have no bearing on real life behaviors."

There is a definite pattern that connects all these areas of human life. The choice to leave God out of the picture allows me to play make-believe and to devise a substitute "god" for my own universe. And when push comes to shove, there ends up being no more attractive candidate for the job...than myself! I can then be the sole arbiter of what is true, good and beautiful, with no pesky God to plague me with a bunch of rules and restrictions on my freedom and autonomy.

I think it was Immanuel Kant (the father of modern philosophy) who bemoaned the fact that without God, morality would have no meaning; therefore, even if God doesn't exist, we must live and act as it He does. It turns out that this was wishful thinking. When philosophers opened the floodgates to God's non-existence to the world, most people were more than happy to embrace the idea with both arms.

If this is the way the world is pulling you and me, with all the glitz, glamour and gadgetry at its command assisting it in its tug of war, what hope do we puny individuals have to fight against the force of its gravity? Sadly, I have enough sinful impulses left inside me, even as a Christian, to make the allure of the world's message highly attractive.

This is where Paul's words to the Roman believers come in so handy and practical and profound: "Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God...Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God" (Romans 12:1-2).

It is so comforting to know that with every tug we exert against the downward pull of the world, we have a supernatural and infinite Strength...the Holy Spirit speaking through His holy Word...right there pulling alongside us. God never expects us to win this contest on our own!

Our visitor from Switzerland, Bertrand, said something very profound today in Sunday School: "Fallen man would rather be a god in a human-created world, than be a created being in a God-created world." This encapsulates the mindset of the anti-God world around us.

Which end of the rope are you pulling on in this cosmic tug of war?