Latest / 4-Freedom Podcast / 164. The Slippery Slope of Cultural Relativism

Transcript

164. The Slippery Slope of Cultural Relativism · 4-Freedom Podcast

0:10
I found my freedom in you. I found a toy I can't lose, and
0:20
thank God it's true. You wrapped your arms around me
0:24
and heaven broke through. From the moment she found me.
0:29
I found on my freedom. Welcome to the Four Freedom
0:34
podcast. This podcast exists to bring the
0:37
freedom of the gospel for everyday Christians with
0:40
everyday issues. Now here are your hosts, James
0:44
Safer and Brett. Mark, welcome back to the Full
0:49
Freedom podcast. It is a wonderful time to be
0:52
with you and always a blessing to be in front of Mike and be
0:55
able to talk. Brett, I'm always amazed that we
0:58
have people that TuneIn every week and listen to us.
1:01
We ramble sometimes and we're just a rambling man at times,
1:05
but it is great to to be back here and have you back with us.
1:09
You've had some, some health episodes over the last couple of
1:12
weeks and part of that's been solo episodes with me and so
1:17
have some guests on, but how are you doing?
1:19
How about give an update on on your health for the for the
1:22
family that's listening and let us know how things are going.
1:25
Things are going real good. I'm doing a lot better.
1:28
They got me on some, you know, I've had some real bad tension
1:30
headaches that have affected me, but they've got me on some
1:34
medication that has seemed to help with that.
1:37
So I'm, I'm getting better every day and so my headaches are
1:40
almost non existent now. And so things are doing good and
1:45
enjoying this weather out today doing some I'm on I'm on spring
1:49
break from from from seminary. And so I've been able to get out
1:55
on the roads and do some visiting and I've been ripping
1:59
around the past three days in the road, racking up the mile.
2:03
So things have been really good at church and it's been a been a
2:08
beautiful day out and so we're just glad to be here.
2:13
Yeah, man, Solars. Solars are great right now by
2:16
having the sun out. I have solar panels in my house.
2:18
And so we're we're loving the sunshine, the warm weather and
2:23
just being able to hang outside with the kids.
2:25
We got to play a little basketball out in the driveway
2:27
the other day and just had a good time with the kids.
2:30
We're in the middle of flag football season for us.
2:33
I'm a flag football coach, My wife's school and we had our
2:37
first game last week. We won.
2:38
So we're undefeated right now. We, I don't know how long that's
2:40
going to stay, but right now we are and just having a great time
2:44
with that. It's a small little like 2 1/2
2:46
month season. I think we'll play like seven or
2:49
eight games. And we are, Brett, we're in the
2:51
middle of March Madness or I know this doesn't have anything
2:54
to do with our podcast, but are you a bracket guy?
2:57
Do you do the March Madness NCAA bracket or no?
3:02
I used to but I don't anymore. But I used to do that.
3:05
Man, come on now, we I'm a bracket guy and so I feel out.
3:09
I try to do 2 to 3 every year. I did my three this year.
3:13
Normally I do like a random pick.
3:15
I do like, you know, a top seed pick and then I do my own
3:20
personal pick. And so I go through and I
3:23
evaluate every single one of them.
3:24
I pick them all the way through and the one that I did, the one
3:28
that I picked all the way through, I've got Arkansas and
3:33
Duke in the national championship.
3:38
Duke, Duke, You know when I did the bracket, Duke was was
3:42
getting top of their league. I'm a Carolina fan, as you can
3:44
see with my shirt on. We won last night.
3:47
But Duke, they have this the couple injuries tournament and
3:53
one of the players isn't coming back.
3:54
So has opened the door for some teams to come through there.
3:57
But I'm I'm pulling for care. I'm pulling for Carolina, always
4:00
will. But I really like the chances
4:03
that Arkansas's got this year. So I'm putting my bet on
4:06
Arkansas and we'll see what happens.
4:08
I'm actually picking Arkansas to win the the national
4:11
championship game this year from so we'll see what happens.
4:16
I'll tell you, for some of our listeners that used to go to
4:18
House Anderson, when I was going there, I was a telemarketer not
4:23
only for America Hall, but then I went also was a telemarketer
4:27
for True Green Chemlawn. And one of the things that we
4:30
did every year at True Green was we do the March Madness bracket
4:36
and we'd fill out our own brackets and pass it around and
4:39
the winner would get, you know, so many days off and everything.
4:43
And what I can remember about the time, of course, this was
4:46
years ago, is nobody ever wanted, everybody was against
4:50
Kentucky. Nobody wanted Kentucky to win,
4:53
but that's all I remember about it.
4:55
Yeah, that's great. I love it.
4:58
I love March Madness. It's really the only time I
5:00
watch basketball as my kids are playing.
5:03
I'm a football guy throwing through.
5:05
And so yeah, we, we are excited about that.
5:08
And my boys. My boys just started a
5:10
basketball team this past year and they're just absolutely in
5:13
love with it. My son used to be inside playing
5:16
Fortnite all for hours a day and now he's outside playing
5:20
basketball for hours, which I guess that's a good move.
5:23
It is, it is. Well, we we're excited about
5:26
that. Brett, Speaking of been outside,
5:29
but the weather's been great and it's great cigar weather.
5:32
And so if you would like or mind, we'd love for you to go to
5:36
our cigar page and check out what we've got going on over
5:38
there at the 441 cigars at the 1689 Company, Cigar Company.
5:43
Right now we are moments away from rolling out our suite
5:48
Connecticut. We have had some supply chain
5:50
issues dealing with Dominican Nicaraguans.
5:54
It's just supply chains are where it's at and trying to get
5:58
some of those in. So we finally started getting
5:59
some supplies in. These are premium quality cigars
6:02
and we've already been getting some great reviews on that.
6:05
Our Habano and Maderos are in and we're looking to roll out a
6:09
sweet Maduro as well. So we'll have a total of 4
6:12
cigars and our four Freedom cigar line.
6:15
And so we hope you will go and check out that, buy some
6:17
Father's Day gifts and graduation gifts and enjoy
6:21
giving those things out. We've got some great news, some
6:24
things that we're working on that we're going to be rolling
6:25
out in the end of the summertime with that.
6:28
And I think it'll be great for you.
6:30
But right now, we'd love for you to jump on there.
6:32
They're at a great price, great discounted rate.
6:36
You know, we're barely, barely doing anything on that.
6:39
And so we just want you guys to have a good quality cigar, great
6:42
conversation starter for that. And so we hope you go when you
6:46
try those out. Brett, what?
6:48
What else we got? We got something coming up this
6:50
summer. What's going on?
6:51
James, I forget about this summer, but when I was keyed up
6:55
to talk about was I got the need for something.
6:58
You know what I got the need for?
7:00
Need for speed, baby. No, I don't know.
7:03
I got the need for falafel. So what I need to do is I need
7:07
to go back to Israel and that's what you need to do.
7:10
And that's what our listeners need to do is get ready to come
7:14
journey to Israel with us for freedom in the Holy Land is what
7:18
we're calling it. It's going to be January 30th
7:21
through February 7th of 2026. And we're we're getting together
7:26
with the IL group tours and we are going back to Israel.
7:31
Our buddy Marcus took us over there and we got a taste for it
7:34
and we are got a trip set up for next year.
7:38
Our trip dates, of course, 30th through the 7th of 2026.
7:43
And if you go on the website and we'll put it in the show notes,
7:47
you can go to our Facebook page and get the password there to
7:51
our website and go to the website, check it out, see the
7:55
prices, see the payment schedule, see the itinerary.
7:58
What we're going to do, where we're going to go.
8:00
We're going to start at the top of the country, go all the way
8:03
down through the bottom. We're going to begin at the top
8:05
at Mount Hermon, go and see everything, and then we'll end
8:09
on the at the Dead Sea at the bottom.
8:11
And it's a once in a lifetime journey.
8:14
You're not going to be sorry that you spent the money that
8:17
you went. You might not ever have an
8:19
opportunity to go like this again.
8:21
The next four years, I promise you're going to be the safest 4
8:24
years to go to Israel with Trump in the White House.
8:27
You don't have to worry about everything when you'll never
8:31
read your Bible the same again. It's going to bring the black
8:36
and white pages to living color. You're actually going to see the
8:39
places that your Bible mentions. These places exist.
8:44
I think every Christian should go at least once in their life.
8:49
And we've got a trip ready to go for you.
8:53
And I tell you, our buddy Marcus, he was over there were
8:55
over there in Greece this past week and just enjoying it.
8:59
I enjoyed looking at their pictures.
9:01
And then old Marcus, he he got a flight over to Israel and he's
9:04
waiting on the next group. And James, me and you were
9:07
talking before we started recording that man.
9:10
That's just the life you just hanging out in Israel, you know,
9:14
just. He's hang out in Israel.
9:16
I mean, he's just big time, you know?
9:19
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
9:19
He's he, he, he's a high. Marcus Merritt is a High Roller
9:22
right there. That's right.
9:24
If you want to come to Israel with us, go check out our
9:27
website, check out our Facebook page, get the details and get on
9:31
our payment schedule. Put your deposit in because our
9:34
spots are going to go quick. Yeah, You know what I'm excited
9:37
about, Brett, is the you said falafel.
9:41
I only had one falafel and it was it, it wasn't the best for
9:45
me. I know some other guys had it in
9:46
a little restaurant, but I've never had a swarmer that was
9:49
better than when I was there. And I'm excited about going back
9:53
and getting some swarmer. Well, not at all.
9:55
Listen, I, I told my wife a real the other day and it was of this
10:00
guy that was at a hotel in Israel and he was showing the
10:04
breakfast buffet. James, you remember to have no
10:10
pork because it's Israel. Of course they don't have any
10:12
sausage or bacon. But to have no pork, but have
10:16
just just almost half a football field of buffet, maybe even
10:21
more, just down every wall, every kind of pastry you can
10:26
think of, every kind of fruit, food casserole, fishing.
10:32
Old fish and hot fish. I know it's just crazy.
10:36
It was unreal the breakfast buffets that they have in Israel
10:41
and man, it's just, it's a such a beautiful country and the
10:46
weather was was nice when we were over there and look, it's
10:49
just going to be a great trip and and anybody that wants to.
10:53
Go should go. Yeah, absolutely.
10:55
And then we've got in June, Brett, we'll be down in Dallas
10:59
at the Southern Baptist Convention and it's going to be
11:01
a great time. I'm actually going down just a
11:03
little bit early to spend some time with family down there.
11:06
And then you're coming down the, the, the week of the convention
11:10
that Sunday, Saturday, Sunday, I think that is June 7th, June 7th
11:17
and 8th around there. And if you're in that area and
11:20
with Daniel wins down there, some other guys are down there.
11:23
We'd love to get together, maybe one night, get some dinner and
11:26
hang out and be a great time. Freedom Meet up.
11:30
For freedom meet up and we'll have some some cigars with us
11:34
and we'll we'll share those and you guys can can join us.
11:38
We're renting a house, Brett. It's been a great time to be
11:40
together and hopefully you'll join us.
11:42
If you'll be in the area, shoot us a text or Adm and let us
11:45
know. You know, I think that every
11:47
time between now and then, when we see, but when we say the word
11:53
Dallas, we should play a little excerpt of Walker, Texas Ranger,
11:58
the eyes of a Ranger. I think we should do that.
12:02
Love it. Maybe we can do that in post
12:04
credit. I don't know about time to edit
12:06
that this time. But starting next week, when you
12:10
hear Dallas, then you don't hear Walker.
12:12
That's right. All right, Brett.
12:14
Well, let's jump into our episode today.
12:28
We cannot truly worship God while we stay silent on
12:32
injustice in all kinds of areas. And I know as a white pastor I
12:35
have blind spots, so I am part of the problem.
12:42
James. Paul elected to unhitch the
12:44
Christian faith. From their Jewish scriptures and
12:50
my friends. We must as well.
12:56
White people fear black men. That's not fair.
13:01
But it's true. Jesus repents of his racism and
13:06
extends healing to this woman's daughter.
13:09
I love this story because it's a reminder that Jesus is human.
13:12
He had prejudices and bias and when confronted with it, he was
13:15
willing to do his. Work.
13:20
Believe in the non binary God whose pronouns are plural.
13:25
I believe in Jesus Christ, their child who wore a fabulous tunic
13:31
and had two dads and saw everyone as a sibling child of
13:36
God. I believe in the rainbow spirit
13:40
who shatters our image of 1 white light and refracts it into
13:45
a rainbow of gorgeous diversity. I believe in the Church of
13:50
everyday Saints, as numerous creative and resilient as
13:55
patches on the 8th quilt, whose feet are grounded in mud and
14:01
whose eyes gaze at the stars and wonder.
14:05
I believe in the calling to each of us that love is love is love.
14:10
So beloved, let us love. I believe glorious God help my
14:17
unbelief. This woke self loathing.
14:29
And we will never let the woke left take it away.
14:32
It's because they're putting woke ideology.
14:35
To a woke. Mob that can't even tell you
14:37
what a woman is. In this season of the Four
14:47
Freedom Podcast, we want to bring to you some enlightening
14:50
topics that deal with the wokeness of the church.
14:53
We want to bring to light some issues that are often
14:56
overlooked, and we hope that it'll be a blessing to you in
15:00
your listening experience. Hey, hi.
15:06
Hi, everybody. OK.
15:30
Imagine you're standing at the edge of a vast Canyon.
15:34
On the other side is solid ground, Absolute truth, biblical
15:39
authority, God's unchanging standard.
15:43
Between you and that solid ground is a long, rickety
15:47
bridge, one that shifts with every step.
15:51
It's planks rotting, it's robes fraying.
15:56
That bridge is cultural relativism.
16:00
Now, cultural relativism doesn't seem all that dangerous at first
16:04
glance. It's dressed up in words like
16:07
tolerance, inclusion, and open mindedness.
16:12
It's the idea that each culture or even each individual gets to
16:17
divine define truth for themselves.
16:21
It tells us what's right for you may not be right for me.
16:26
It whispers that morality is fluid, that the Bible is a
16:30
product of its time, and that we should update our beliefs to fit
16:35
modern values. Now let's be honest.
16:39
Sounds appealing, doesn't it? I mean no confrontation, no
16:44
absolute right or wrong to stay peaceful.
16:47
Coexistence where everyone gets to live their own truth.
16:52
But here's the problem. If truth is always changing,
16:57
then nothing is ever truly right or wrong.
17:00
And if nothing is wrong, then why did Christ have to die for
17:05
sin? This mindset is creeping into
17:08
the church. We see it in pastors who avoid
17:12
controversial topics because they don't want to offend.
17:16
We see it in believers who reinterpret Scripture to fit
17:19
cultural trends. We see it in Christians who say
17:23
things like, well, I know what the Bible says, but I just feel
17:27
like God wouldn't judge someone for that.
17:31
Slowly but surely, that rickety bridge is replacing the solid
17:35
ground of God's Word. And let's talk about where that
17:40
leads. If morality is subjective, then
17:44
we have no foundation for justice.
17:47
If truth is up for debate but then sin loses its meaning.
17:53
If we adapt the gospel to fit culture, then we're no longer
17:56
preaching the gospel. We're preaching whatever people
18:00
want to hear. Paul warned us about this in
18:03
Second Timothy chapter 4, verses 3 and 4, when he said for the
18:09
time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching but
18:14
have itching ears. They will accumulate for
18:17
themselves teachers to suit their own passions.
18:21
That time isn't coming. It's already here.
18:26
And that's why today we're talking about cultural
18:29
relativism from a biblical worldview.
18:33
We're going to break down what it is, how it snuck into the
18:37
church, real life examples of its influence, and most
18:42
importantly, how we as believers can stand firm against it.
18:48
So if you've ever wondered why so many churches seem hesitant
18:52
to take a stand, if you felt pressure to compromise biblical
18:56
truth for the sake of being loving, or if you're struggling
19:01
to respond when people say who are you to judge, then stay with
19:06
us. Because this is a conversation
19:10
we can't afford to ignore. We are not here to sugarcoat
19:14
things, we are here to speak the truth.
19:19
So let's get into it. Welcome back to our Loteness in
19:29
the Church series, Brett. What a great cold open she just
19:33
gave. Man, I got chills just now as
19:35
you were reading it, man, this was I'm James and alongside me
19:39
as Brett. And then we're here to delve
19:41
into this critical topic of cultural relativism from a
19:44
biblical perspective. We're titling it, the slippery
19:48
slope of cultural relativism. Once you begin, it is hard to
19:53
turn around and get yourself back out of it.
19:55
And we're going to be talking about that from a biblical
19:57
perspective. We're going to explore the
20:00
definitions of it, it's emergence from inside the
20:02
church, some contemporary examples of what that looks like
20:06
and strategies on how to counteract it and how to respond
20:14
when we encounter it. Ma'am Brett, how are you doing,
20:18
man? Excited about the topic today?
20:20
Absolutely, man. If, if, if there was ever a time
20:24
when this subject needed to be talked about, it, it is, it's
20:27
now. Now is the time to talk about
20:30
it. Now is the time when the church
20:33
is losing ground and we have to fight tooth and nail.
20:37
Cultural relativism. It's it's increasing its
20:41
influences in every aspect of society and now it's beginning
20:46
to creep into the church. And that is something that we
20:49
definitely can't stand by and let happen.
20:53
Yeah, I remember when we had first moved back North Carolina
20:56
and we were attending a church there in Kannapolis, and the
20:59
youth pastor got up and our teaching and I was helping teach
21:02
some of the middle school boys, and we were just serving the
21:06
Lord and helping out. And he got up and he began
21:09
talking about how this relativism, he didn't use the
21:12
term cultural, but he just said relativism.
21:14
And he said a good way to explain this is if I walk
21:18
outside and I look up and I say, you know, the sky looks really,
21:21
really pink today, and it's blue, but I say it's pink.
21:25
Who are you to judge me or to say that it's a different color
21:28
than what I think? Because truth is only what I see
21:31
and hear in my own head. And he said, this is what
21:35
relativism is. There's no absolute truth, and
21:38
so as we begin to define this and give us some basic working
21:42
definition, essentially it's the idea that a culture can only be
21:46
understood and judged by its own standards, behaviors, norms and
21:51
values, not by anything outside. This perspective suggests that
21:57
moral standards are culturally based, biased, and based, and
22:02
they're therefore subject to an individual's choice of whatever
22:06
they see fit to be right or wrong.
22:08
That's right. You see, cultural relativism
22:11
posits that no culture's ethics are superior to another's,
22:16
implying that there are no universal moral truths.
22:20
The cons? This concept was introduced by
22:23
anthropologist Frank Boaz, who argued that all humans see the
22:29
world through the lens of their own culture and judge it
22:32
according to their own culturally acquired norms.
22:36
Yeah. You know, and Brett, one of the
22:38
things as we begin to approach this topic is a lot of times
22:42
we'll approach it by promoting understanding and tolerance.
22:46
You often hear that we must understand where they're coming
22:49
from. We must tolerate.
22:51
We must have a tolerance for this.
22:53
It's also a challenge. This also challenges the notion
22:57
of absolute truths, which is foundational to our biblical
23:00
worldview. Scripture affirms that God's
23:03
truth is unchanging, that it's not just some archaic thing.
23:08
And we'll often say that you'll hear people say, well, that's a,
23:11
like you said in the cold open, it's a book for it's time.
23:14
Well, the Bible says that Micah 36, that God says I, the Lord,
23:19
do not change. And so therefore he is the word
23:23
of the Lord as well and he does not change either.
23:26
And so if you're going to say it's for a time, it's for all
23:29
time, and the Word of God is for all time and for all peoples.
23:34
How many times have we seen the bumper sticker that says Coexist
23:39
made with all the different symbols of every religion?
23:44
And they're this these people that preach tolerance when when
23:48
it comes to Christianity, when it comes to the truth, they're
23:52
surprisingly intolerant. But, you know, moving on to its
23:57
infiltration into the church, cultural relativism began to
24:01
influence Christian communities as societal value shift,
24:05
particularly during the postmodern era.
24:08
That's what we're in and right says we're in.
24:10
A postmodern, post Christian era of the emphasis on subjective
24:15
truth and individual experience LED some churches to adapt their
24:19
teachings to align more closely with prevailing culture norms.
24:25
Yeah, yeah, Brett. This added to adaptation often
24:30
resulted in the dilution of the core biblical doctrines.
24:35
For instance, teachings on moral issues became and begin and
24:39
begin you a lot. I can't say that word ambiguous
24:42
to avoid offending contemporary sensibilities, leading to a
24:47
compromise of the gospel of the last thing we must do is
24:51
compromise the gospel and second Timothy 4 says it like this.
24:55
He says for the time is coming when people will not endure
24:58
sound teaching, but have 18 ears and will accumulate for
25:02
themselves teachers to suit their own passions and will turn
25:06
away from listening to truth. And I believe This is why we see
25:09
it so often, Brett, that good biblical sound based teaching
25:13
will begin to fray away from that because people are
25:17
ultimately seeking to hear and see the things that are going to
25:22
only appeal to them. I'm not against mega churches by
25:26
any means. I think that God has a desire
25:28
for churches to reach the masses.
25:30
But often times when the pastors began to to see their level of
25:35
influence, they began to compromise on areas that are
25:38
away from sin. We see this so often.
25:40
And we're going to talk through some cultural examples here in
25:42
just a minute. But you know one of those like
25:45
it's like a Joel Osteen, for instance, someone who not that I
25:49
know that he's ever stood for truth, but when he has the
25:52
opportunity to sit before Larry King Live, what does he do?
25:55
He he says that your only way to belief is your way to heaven and
25:59
he couldn't give a definition for sin.
26:01
And this is what begins to happen when you have a platform
26:04
is you begin to culturally relativize and fray away from
26:09
hard truths and hard doctrine. But just like you said on Larry
26:13
King Live, he he asked him in that interview, what do you
26:17
think about homosexuality? And Joel said, the only time
26:21
that I ever talk about this is in interviews when I'm asked
26:26
about it. That's because he doesn't preach
26:28
it from his pulpit. He doesn't preach the whole
26:30
council of God. He stays away from controversial
26:33
topics. This what this conversation
26:37
reminds me of James is, have you ever seen the he's got a TikTok
26:43
page and a Facebook page, but it's a guy called the Holy Note.
26:48
I love the holy note. We don't agree on 100%
26:51
everything, but I pretty agree with the guy on a bunch of
26:55
stuff. And some of the videos are just
26:57
like, so just cringe worthy, you know, just just really, really
27:03
bad stuff. But the shift that me and you
27:05
were talking about, it underscores the tension between
27:09
adhering to scriptural authority and accommodating cultural
27:13
changes. OK, This is a balance that many
27:16
churches continue to navigate today.
27:19
Yeah. And what we're going to jump
27:21
into now is some not necessarily calling out people, even though
27:24
there's a place for that. Today we're going to talk about
27:28
some modern examples of issues that begin to allow culture to
27:36
influence their stance on something versus the Bible.
27:39
And so we're going to consider a couple of those.
27:41
Today. One of the most prominent areas
27:44
would be your sexual ethics. This is where some churches have
27:47
revised their stance on issues like premarital sex and same sex
27:51
relationships and they allow them align them with the
27:55
societal acceptance and sometimes that at the expense of
28:00
the traditional Baptist or traditional biblical teaching.
28:03
And they'll begin to see what the world says.
28:06
And it's almost like bread. It's a good way to put it is
28:09
that they they lick their finger and they put their finger up in
28:12
the air and they see which way the winds blowing and that's
28:15
which way their cultural standings is going to be.
28:18
Whatever way the cultural winds are blowing, that's what the
28:21
church is going to affirm. And we're no longer going to
28:23
stand firm on biblical teaching where God says he made man and
28:27
woman two different sexes, two different genders.
28:30
And he says male and female, you will be them and you will cleave
28:34
to one another, male and female and you will leave your mother
28:37
and father and you will become one flesh because you have
28:40
joined this union of marriage together.
28:43
Do this clearly lays out what marriage.
28:45
He clearly lays out what sexes are.
28:48
He clearly lays that out in Scripture from the very
28:50
beginning of Scripture. And yet somehow in our modern
28:54
culture, we have decided that we're going to change that to
28:57
make it acceptable for the people that are around us.
29:01
Right. And I've got people that are
29:03
close to me, family members and whatnot that do go to
29:07
progressive churches and they redefine the Bible to say that
29:11
the only, you know, sexual sin is pedophilia.
29:16
But past that, everything else is now acceptable.
29:20
You know, it doesn't matter who or what or what with
29:23
everything's acceptable now. That's the only thing that the
29:26
Bible condemns. And it's just, that's just not
29:29
true. Another example is the
29:32
prosperity gospel movement, which aligns more with a
29:35
consumerist culture than with biblical principles of humility
29:40
and selfishness. This reflects cultural
29:42
relativism by adapting the gospel message to fit
29:46
contemporary desires for wealth and success.
29:50
They take when, when, when? God says the words, I'm here to
29:53
make your life more abundant, give you life more abundant, and
29:57
give you all these things. You know, they take that as
30:02
material. You know, if you know God
30:04
doesn't want you to be poor, God doesn't want you to be sick.
30:08
And if you're poor and you're sick, then you don't have enough
30:10
faith. Right.
30:12
Yeah, absolutely. And one of the ones, Brett, the
30:14
next one we're talking about is one that is so often will I get
30:20
so fired up about it because it's one of those issues that
30:23
it's like common sense issues, but yet we have to even talk
30:26
about it. But it there's this acceptance
30:29
of abortion in in certain circles, certain circles are OK
30:33
with killing a baby at a certain age, a certain time of life.
30:38
And scripture is very clear. The way I'm going to put this is
30:43
I won't get too much into it, but Scripture is very clear.
30:46
It says in Psalms 13913 and 14 for I formed you in your
30:51
mother's inner parts. I knitted you knitted me
30:54
together in my mother's womb. I praise you for I'm fearfully
30:58
and wonderfully made. We understand and we should
31:01
believe the Bible. And the Bible says that from the
31:03
moment of conception, we are made in the image of God.
31:08
We are a life in the image of God.
31:11
And to have an abortion is to murder, is to kill, is to commit
31:17
one of the 10 commandments, right?
31:18
You're, you're not supposed to kill, and yet you're killing a
31:21
life that God has created. You're killing an individual
31:25
that God has created for his glory and for his honor.
31:28
And you're taking them away from their mother.
31:31
You're taking them away from life.
31:33
And one promise that we that I believe is that they're in
31:37
heaven and they're with the Lord and they are seated there and
31:41
God has this ordained counsel of babies that have been awarded
31:47
and they're worshiping Jesus right now.
31:49
But man, what a, what a tragedy that we're going to have to
31:51
stand before God and say millions and millions and
31:56
possibly even billions of lives have been destroyed because we
32:00
didn't take a stand and we didn't stand up against it.
32:03
And rather, churches have stood up and not taking a stand over
32:06
the last 50 years and allowed these things to happen.
32:10
So I think the Bible is very clear that life is valuable to
32:12
the Lord. Amen, Amen.
32:15
You know the the Another example is the redefinition of justice.
32:20
Biblical justice, which emphasizes righteousness and
32:23
accountability before God, is often replaced with secular
32:28
social justice ideologies that promote partiality,
32:32
contradicting Leviticus 1915, which warns you shall not do
32:37
injustice in court, you shall not be partial to the poor or
32:40
defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge
32:44
your neighbor. So we live in this idea that if
32:49
you're born of a certain skin color, you're always going to be
32:53
an oppressor. There's nothing you can do.
32:56
It's ingrained in our culture. Doesn't matter if you've ever
32:59
said anything racist or prejudice, because you're white,
33:02
you're always going to be an oppressor.
33:05
And if you're any other color other than white, you're always
33:08
going to be the oppressed. And it doesn't matter social
33:12
standing or anything. It's just the way things are and
33:15
there's nothing you can do about it.
33:17
People play into this and they live their life being the
33:21
playing the victim. And other people live their life
33:25
cowing down the people because of the skin to the color they
33:28
were born, when that's not at all what the Bible teaches.
33:32
The Bible teaches a a color blind society, neither Jew nor
33:37
Greek nor man nor woman. We're just all God's people.
33:41
And that's something that we're forgetting today.
33:44
Yeah. And you may say you may be
33:46
listening here to your listener. You may say, well, Brett, that's
33:49
the Old Testament. That's the old school.
33:52
Why are we going to Leviticus? You know, there's so many laws
33:54
in Leviticus we don't follow or observe or listen to.
33:58
And so let's give a modern day example, modern day example, a
34:02
modern New Testament example in James chapter 2, where James the
34:06
half brother of Jesus is writing to the Church of Jerusalem and
34:09
he says, my brothers have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the
34:12
Lord of Lord without partiality. For if any man with a gold ring
34:15
and fine clothes comes into your assembly of a poor man, and
34:19
ragged clothes comes in, and you have respect for him who wears
34:22
the clothing, the fine clothing. And you say to him, Sit here in
34:25
the good place, and you say to the poor, stand there, or sit
34:28
there under his footstool. Have you not become partial
34:32
among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?
34:35
Listen, my beloved brother, has God not chosen the poor of this
34:38
world to be rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom which he
34:41
has promised to those who love him?
34:44
But you have despised the poor. Do not rich man oppress you and
34:48
drag you before judgement seats. Do not blasphemy you and worthy
34:51
by the name of Christ. And so all of a sudden we see
34:54
that in this modern day example, in this modern example that we
34:57
have here in Scripture, in the New Testament, they were also
35:00
showing this partiality as well. So it's not a new concept.
35:04
It's not something that is that is this radically new thing.
35:08
It is something that we have fought against all throughout
35:11
church history, all throughout time, because we would rather
35:14
put some person above someone else.
35:17
I think that James was uniquely qualified to talk about
35:23
partiality because look who his brother was.
35:26
James, just here. Mary James, why can't you be
35:28
more like your brother Jesus? Right, right.
35:32
Never messes. Up.
35:34
Anyway. I agree 100%.
35:37
I think that's why he had that ability to talk into it a little
35:40
bit because he had that story He had that I was raised with
35:44
Jesus, the son of God. I was, I was raised with the
35:46
perfect guy. I had the partiality and I'm
35:48
here to tell you that it it's not doesn't work in God's
35:51
Kingdom. Exactly.
35:53
Love it I love it hey and we got to get you talking more like a
35:56
woman there Brett. So how do we fight back against
35:58
this right that things happen we're we're addressed with some
36:02
of these issues to to begin this the counteract cultural
36:07
relativism. It's essential to reaffirm the
36:10
authority of scripture. Hebrews 412 reminds us that the
36:14
Word of God is a living and active being, sharper than any 2
36:19
edged sword. Regular in depth Bible study
36:24
will help you as a believer to discern truth from cultural
36:27
trends. Just recently preached a sermon
36:31
at a church in Cool Springs, North Carolina.
36:33
Here, real close to the church I met and I began to talk about
36:37
the voices of those that influence us and the power of
36:41
the influences of words and things in our life.
36:44
And I gave the illustration of the voice of Satan versus the
36:48
voice of the Lord. Ride the The voice of the Lord
36:51
is the shepherd speaking to His sheep.
36:53
They hear his voice and they know who he is.
36:56
But all of a sudden there's this voice of the devil that we don't
37:00
always know. Because we're not so in tune
37:04
with the voice of the Lord. We are not able to discern which
37:07
one is the voice of the Lord and the voice of Satan.
37:10
And so we must be so in tune with the Bible, so in tune with
37:14
Scripture, that when Satan speaks, we immediately know it's
37:18
something different. We immediately know it's the
37:20
flesh. We immediately know it's not of
37:22
God because it is so contrary to the Word of God.
37:27
Amen, Amen. You know, I think that of course
37:31
that is 100% we need to stand on Scripture, but on that we also
37:37
need to engage in apologetics. Apologetics is vital for
37:42
Christian. You know, first Peter three
37:44
15315 instructs us to always be prepared to make a defense to
37:49
anyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you.
37:54
And by understanding and articulating the reasons for our
37:57
faith, we can confidently address relativistic arguments
38:02
and uphold biblical truth. And I'm going to tell you right
38:05
now, you will get so much benefit by even even just
38:09
watching people do apologetics. You open up your YouTube and you
38:14
go to Cliff Connectoly. OK, He goes and he stands on
38:20
college campuses all over the country.
38:24
He's a pastor from Connecticut and he just he talks with
38:28
atheists and people, college students to have questions.
38:32
And so much of the apologetic answers that I, you know, that
38:37
are in my repertoire have come from Cliff.
38:40
Frank Turek's another one wrote a good book.
38:43
I don't have enough faith to be an atheist.
38:46
He his crossexamined.org is his website and his channel, but
38:52
Frank Turek, Cliff connectedly, you need to get on there.
38:55
You need to watch some apologetics.
38:57
You need to get some of these answers where when people ask,
39:00
you see they always ask the same people's like man, they always
39:04
these apologetic, these apologists, they always give the
39:07
same answers just because they're always ask the same
39:10
questions. These are the same questions
39:12
that people have been asking for thousands of years.
39:15
And so we need to know the these answers.
39:17
And I think it would be benefit to anyone to go watch some
39:21
apologetics and get some of that under your belt.
39:24
Absolutely. And one of the things, Brett,
39:26
that we must do, we say this, I feel like we say this almost
39:28
every week, but it's so valuable when we talk about the church is
39:32
we must be in a fostering of community that values
39:36
accountability and discipleship, encourages to us to adhere to
39:40
biblical standards, and it provides support to US against
39:43
cultural pressures. If you're in a church that is
39:46
doing these things, that is preaching biblical doctrines,
39:51
that is encouraging you, that is keeping you accountable to the
39:54
Lord, all of a sudden your faith is going to begin to grow.
39:58
Your faith is going to begin to flourish because you are
40:01
surrounding yourself with men and women of like mind, of like
40:04
faith that is valuing the word of God, that is valuing what is
40:08
true, what is right, what is honest, what is just.
40:11
They're thinking on those things, they're doing those
40:14
things, they're meditating on those things.
40:16
And they're allowing the word to influence them and not the
40:19
culture of the time that they're in.
40:22
They're allowing the word to influence them and everything
40:24
they do. When I want to hit on one thing
40:27
you said and that way, and I think it's probably one of the
40:30
most important things is that some accountability we can
40:35
discipleship and we can set all these things up, but if we don't
40:39
have a process of keeping ourselves accountable, we won't
40:42
stay in line with the truth. Our flesh is going to knock us
40:46
off course. We have to lean into each other
40:49
in the church. We are here to encourage one
40:53
another in in a in a church in a local body.
40:56
People in that church are there to encourage one another to stay
41:00
on track and we need to use that use your fellow brothers and
41:04
sisters in Christ, get in a three person discipleship group
41:09
that keeps you accountable for your prayer and your Bible
41:12
reading and, and and some sin that you're in.
41:15
You need to get account accountable.
41:18
I think that's just a big part of this.
41:20
But we we, we need to do we need to go into the next question is
41:25
what what to do if we encounter cultural relativism.
41:29
What we know we're out in the wild, we're out in the world and
41:31
we we come across this, what do we do?
41:35
Well, we should approach the situation with grace and truth.
41:41
Colossians 46 instructs us that your speech always be gracious,
41:46
season with salt so that you may know how you ought to answer
41:51
each person. Grace and truth not.
41:54
And notice that it's the two working together.
41:57
Not just truth, but you. You've got to have that grace.
42:02
You can't scream. You can't bar.
42:04
You can't get hot. You know you can't.
42:07
You know, because that's what they're going to do.
42:09
OK, they may go low, but we need to go high.
42:13
Right. But we don't need to do like
42:15
some politicians have said, when they go low, we go lower.
42:19
We must go high, yes. I just know what I was cooking.
42:24
Yes, yes. Another thing we can do, and
42:27
these are some practical advices for us as we encounter this is
42:31
we must engage in respectful dialogue, seek to understand the
42:35
underlying reason for their beliefs, and then gently present
42:40
an unchanging truth of Scripture.
42:42
Man, this is one of the things that Jesus tells us in John
42:45
1717. He says sanctify them in the
42:49
truth and your word is truth. The only way we're going to win
42:53
the world over is by the Word. That is not by our own sense of
42:58
understanding, that's not by our own intellect, but it is by the
43:02
Word of God that is sharper than any 2 edged sword.
43:05
And by us presenting that to people, by us telling people the
43:08
word and allowing the word to do the work, it is a whole lot more
43:12
graceful than us yelling back and forth at one another.
43:16
Exactly. And when somebody comes at you
43:20
and they're asking these questions about what you believe
43:23
and why you believe it, and you know, if you've watched
43:26
Apologetics, if you watch something on YouTube, maybe you
43:29
have something to say. But the end of the day, you need
43:32
to rely on the Holy Spirit and you need to pray and ask God for
43:37
wisdom and discernment. To help you answer these
43:41
questions, James 15 encourages believers.
43:44
If any of you lacks wisdom, wisdom, let him ask God, who
43:49
gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given
43:54
Him. We need to go to the Lord and
43:55
ask Him. He promised us we want wisdom.
43:59
Ask for wisdom and He'll give it to us.
44:02
Yeah, absolutely. It's so important for us to do
44:05
that. And then lastly, I think we
44:07
would need to begin to talk about is remember that our goal
44:11
is not to win the argument. Often times we we think we've
44:16
got to be right. We think we've got to win, but
44:18
it is to be lovingly guiding others toward the transformation
44:24
of the power of the gospel. Ephesians 415 calls us to speak
44:28
the truth in love, standing firm on our convictions while
44:33
demonstrating Christ's love. We must be a people who are
44:38
loving others, who are pointing people to Jesus.
44:41
There is this thought of what people ought to call the cage
44:45
stage of life, the cage stage Calvinist, the cage stage
44:50
different area that we live in. And one of the most important
44:54
things that we get to do is not decayed stage.
44:57
Not trying to win the world over to our ideology, but when the
45:01
world over to the Lord and tell them about the truth, tell them
45:05
about love, tell them about the grace that God gives them, and
45:09
speak that truth in love. Amen.
45:13
You people are going to start asking you these questions and
45:17
this, this stuff is coming into the church And you know, if
45:20
you're conservative, you're going to, you're going to stick
45:22
by the word of God and you're going to get questioned.
45:25
You're going to say why? You know, this is an ancient
45:27
book that you know, this, this book was written 2003, 1004 up
45:33
to 4000 years ago in the Old Testament.
45:35
Why do you why is it relevant for today?
45:38
And we've got to be able to answer them with the truth.
45:42
And we need to do our due diligence and we need to study
45:45
and we need to study the Word of God.
45:47
And even we know and we need to pray and ask God to give us
45:50
wisdom to continue to preach the Word of God.
45:54
Absolutely absolute truth, spoken in love, spoken in grace,
45:59
spoken with truth, and spoken with authority will do the rest.
46:04
And the absolute truth we have is the word of God.
46:06
And when we speak it with the power and the authority that
46:09
Christ has given us, the Bible says that the power of Christ,
46:12
the the dynamite of Christ, the dynamite of his word will take
46:16
over. We don't need to try to win the
46:18
argument. We don't need to try to win them
46:20
over with our wonderful speaking ability.
46:23
We just need to speak the truth and let the Lord do the rest.
46:26
And we'll begin to see a change in our nation, a change in our
46:29
world, and a change in our culture.
46:32
And so we've hoped. Yeah, we've hoped.
46:34
You've enjoyed the episode today talking about cultural
46:37
relativism. Excited about what we'll be
46:40
talking about over the next couple of weeks.
46:42
We're getting close to the end of our woke series.
46:48
We've got about 3-4 more topics to talk through and then we've
46:52
got a couple of things We're going to be talking about the
46:55
different camps of the IFB and where they came out of to finish
46:59
up this season. And we've already got lined up
47:02
for some awesome interviews for next year, for next year, the
47:06
the next season there that we come back from the summer and
47:10
already prepping for that. And so we hope you've enjoyed
47:13
this. As always, if you ever have a
47:15
thought or a concern, reach out to us on social media.
47:18
Let us know your thoughts, let us know your thoughts on these
47:22
episodes. And it's always a blessing to be
47:24
able to do this. Brett, any final thoughts, final
47:27
words? No, I just, I'm thankful.
47:30
I'm glad. I'm looking forward for the rest
47:32
of the season. I'm especially looking forward
47:34
to the IFB camps. And we have lined up one
47:39
interview in particular that I am extremely excited about.
47:43
And if I know our audience, I think they're going to be
47:46
excited about it too. It's a big name and you know
47:50
it's going to drop some jaws and I am looking forward to it.
47:54
Absolutely. Well, if you ever have any
47:56
questions, let us know. Until next time, to God be the
47:59
glory. Great.
48:00
Things he has done. Found my new name, Found that
48:05
good grace, Found that healing. And the tears fell down my face
48:10
when I found my beginning has no ending.
48:14
I found that second chance. Found my best friend, Found my
48:16
forgiveness, Found my happiness. I've been singing ever since.
48:18
I found my freedom, me all. Thanks for listening to the Four
48:35
Freedom Podcast. If you enjoyed our content, do
48:38
us a favor by liking, subscribing, or sharing our
48:41
podcast on whichever podcast platform you use.
48:45
Be sure to join us next time for The Four Freedom Podcast.