Culture Shock - What Ever Happened to Right and Wrong?, Part 1

Whatever happened to right and wrong, what is behind the violence. Read sheeting and moral erosion that we see in business, sports, and even the church. Why aren't good people making so many bad decisions. That's today welcome to this Friday edition of living all the truth Living on the Edge features the Bible teaching of dripping on this daily discipleship program continues a series culture shock just before we get started, let me encourage you to try using trip screen message trips notes containers outline Scripture references much more.

Remember what you ensure what you're learning. Just go to LivingontheEdge.org click listen now. It's a quick download from their pellets torture for part one of his message. Whatever happened to right and wrong. I believe today if God would send Moses to America member. He went to Israel. When Moses came to Israel and they were in bondage. He said let my people go.

The bondage that I see in America, especially inside the church.

If God sent Moses to America, he would say let my people think let my people think they lost sight of how to think. They don't know right from wrong. They don't think clearly and they don't know why we've got a big problem big problem inside the church and the problem outside the church. Now the symptoms flow out of morality. Morality is just the lots insurance. Every culture from the code of Hammurabi to the 10 Commandments to the Persians, or ancient Chinese.

Everyone has had a code of morality. This is what is right and this is what is wrong to talk about ensuring it's happening about the last 60 to 80 years, beginning with the philosophers all the way down to modern culture. But how truth is changed. I want to read something that is deeply disturbing to bit graphic what's happened is you can watch the 10 o'clock news and read an article or hear something and get so desensitized like I am that I read this article and it shook me and it shook me just not because it's a terrible insidious thing that occurred but it shook me because of the response of the people that did it pick up the story happened in Houston to young girls Elizabeth and Jennifer gone to a party suburbs. They called their moms and dads at 1130 and said were on our way home. The two girls decided they would take a shortcut through the woods as they took the shortcut through the woods. There was a gang called the black and white. There is about six young men ages 14 to 18. They had just finished a initiation right where they were fighting, improving their machismo and who was strong in these young girls were walking by and as the article says one of them yelled. Let's get them the six men descended on those two young girls. Four days later, their naked bodies were found in the woods too graphic to get the details here but they were raped multiple times strangle killed sable to those things happen all the time. None on what 22nd.

Ironically, one of those gang members was caught on television the day before with these words, human life means nothing human life means nothing. All six of those young men ages 14 to 18 participated in both the rape and the murders. All of them were indicted and upon hearing that they were to go on trial for murder. One of these young men's response was great.

We finally made it to the big time. My point of that story is not murder occurred. Rape occurred. That's happened for centuries. My point is there is no remorse.

There is no thought that this is wrong or right. My point is what you can see is those exact words. Life is meaningless. Human life is meaningless came from about a 70 year journey of the transformation of truth, beginning with German philosophers then through Europe across the channel to England over to America by the early 20th century into everyday culture and then when existential thought came into full bloom. We have people who say who's to say what's right, who's to say what's wrong. Truth is completely relative and so people indiscriminately kill other people for pleasure with no remorse.

The symptom is our moral issues and it's not just isolated. I notice as I did my research every 24 hours 1000 unwed teens become pregnant 500 adolescents will begin using drugs hundred 35,000 kids will either kill someone, or take a weapon to school and six use will commit suicide. That's not every week it's not every month this time tomorrow another six of our teenagers will commit suicide human life is meaningless. There is no purpose. The real issue has to do with ethics and values. Now when things begin to roll out in the 60s in the 70s and the 80s and business people found that you can't trust people anymore. The universities begin to put ethics and you know we have the need to have a standard of conduct and honesty and integrity.

You see life can't work without some values and ethics. But here's the dilemma whose ethics. Who's to say what's right and wrong. Who can say this is right and this is wrong when relative truth gets into the core and the fabric of the society where everyone says will that's true for you, but that's not true for me.

And so as you see here the question behind what's right and wrong is always what's true if you can identify this is true. You cannot make up any right or wrong or code of ethics to understand the real problem you need to really get your arms around what's occurred historically, philosophically, and for this. I'm your take on a journey. About 70% of the philosophical and some thinking and some truth and some history of the last 25 or 30% will be unity with the Scriptures and then the next number of weeks we can apply.

So what's true to most controversial issues in our day like sexuality and homosexuality and abortion, the church and politics and the environment. But before we do I put a list of four books that that will trace this journey. The first is mere Christianity by CS Lewis was published in 1943 when the intellectuals were debating the issues of truth, he talks about the lots in the shoulds within every soul, and he is that famous person who was a atheist Oxford professor who became the greatest apologist of last century, the next book is the closing of the American mind was written in 1968. This is a very secular book written by someone who makes absolutely no claim to Christianity, but to Alan Bloom wrote this was very became a bestseller was very controversy on the day and he writes in the introduction of his book. There's one thing the professor can be absolutely certain of. He was teaching taught at Yale, Cornell later Chicago University.

Every professor can be absolutely certain that every student entering the University believes or says he believes the truth is relative, the students backgrounds are as varied as American can provide some are religious. Number eight is similar to the left summer to the right. Someone tend to be assigned to some humanist others professionals are business people.

Some are poor and some are rich, but they are unified only in their relativism and their allegiance to equality and the two are related in a moral intention. The relativity of truth is not a theoretical insight to them, but a moral postulate beauty say this is this is 1968, and he basically claims that the universities are ruining the entire next generation because their teaching that all truth is relative and now the students believe that the next book is via Berkeley law professor Philip Johnson. It's called reason and the balance the case against naturalism and he takes the issue of relative truth applies it to law and to the sciences.

He is a Christian debates all over the world and finally Francis Schaeffer who wrote from the 60s all the way through the 90s and Schaeffer begins to trace philosophically in a culture and an art high we can't hear the question I title the sermon, what ever happened to right and wrong, what what what happened to right and wrong. How do we get to where there is no real writer. There is no room wrong. At least no one can agree on a few basic things coming historically.

I'm telling you for thousands and thousands and thousands of years up until about the last 50 or 60. Everyone agreed telling the truth, not stealing, being faithful to your partner. Being kind, being respectful not hurting other people indiscriminately keeping your word forgiving people who done you wrong, not murdering these these for absolutes and and it produced people may have disobeyed them that when they disobeyed him they thought what they were doing is wrong. They didn't do it with a callused human life has no meaning. We just killed and right to little girls and it doesn't matter. And who's to say it does to. That's the logical end when there is no absolute truth. I was, not a Christian. Most all my life growing up totally disillusioned with the organized church, which in my particular case.

Not to say that others were but my particular case was filled with hypocrisy. No one believed God's word and no one lived in so I rejected I came to Christ at 18 and after coming to Christ to begin to grow rapidly at about three or four years and then in grad school, I found myself with a lot of relative truth that a lot of sociology professors and psychology professors and a lot of people challenging my faith when I found myself was I was in the situation where I had this amazing experience.

I was experiencing God my life is changing, but I didn't have good answers for the intellectual cash questions are being thrown at anybody ever go through that and I have made this internal decision that I'm not going through my brains in the trash.

Follow Christ I'm not can be sort of leading to some way that you not. Maybe I'm diminishes my motions, and so I went on a journey on a journey in terms of philosophy and other religions to dig out what is true and how can we know is planning basketball team.

At the time of the premed student name Steve Vogel, and Steve is very familiar with Francis Schaeffer. I'd never read anything by Francis Schaeffer. He has three key books one. This is he is there he is not silent. The other is escape from reason and then the other. I put in your notes here. The God who is there and Schaeffer and those three books that the core of this trilogy will trace for you and me. The movement from absolute truth of all of history. How it started college change and then how it moved to the different different disciplines to work gets all the way to the point where someone kills two little girls and says life is meaningful, meaningless, and what I want to know that just happened. There is a clear shift in how people viewed truth that impacted morals that created the world by the way that you live in and you kids live in and I just want to tell you this whole series will not be banging the table about people are doing what's wrong and we need to do what's right and this is right and that's wrong.

Those are terrible people for the problems of government are the problems Hollywood of the problems immediate that's not what this is about.

This is about us and we have a problem. We, the church have a problem.

We'll believing what's true we don't how to think anymore and that's why we can't understand why the average age of a teenager leaving the faith is 16 years old is only 4% of the teenagers today would self identify as a follower of Christ, 91% of teenagers don't believe in absolute truth, 66% of adults in America don't believe in absolute truth, and in the 18 to 35 year, 72, or three out of four people don't believe in absolute truth in recent Barna research very very interesting. They went on a campus after doing all this research when a large university campus and went randomly to 20 people and just ask them do you believe there is an absolute truth.

It's true of all people of all time. That is just absolutely true and responses went like this. Truth is whatever you believe, there is no absolute truth. If there were such a thing. Absolute truth. How can we know what it is. People who believe in absolute truth are dangerous. 19 of 20 of those people that was their response the 20th was an evangelical students that I believe absolute truth is in the person of Jesus Christ. Most of mankind's history has believe that there is a truth that is absolutely true whether I experience it or not. For example, things like if I take a book I can say I don't believe in gravity but if I drop the book whether I believe in gravity or not. The book drops to get more personal. People can say I don't believe in gravity but if they get to three-story building and step off their belief system may change very quickly release their experiences, we on week. Things that we don't see like electricity when we want to have brain surgery were really hoping the person believes in absolutes like that might be the right tumor to take out instead of that we believe in absolutes when we pull up to a gas station.

We don't say any liquid will do. You say why we just put water in its cheaper mean how narrow and are tolerant to think the only thing that you can put in the combustion engine is gasoline or diesel. We live on the basis of absolutes in all these areas except in the things like what is life all about what's right and wrong is there meaning or purpose.

Why am I here on the biggest issues of life and so for most all of history.

There is absolute truth.

By contrast, you notice the truth is relative is the existential concept of truth in the 60s and the 70s as it went from the philosophers down to sort every day people you heard phrases like, just do your thing. If it feels good do it later. As it moved on. It was will truth is different for me than different from you and then finally the one we hear all the time will who are you to judge the premise of who are you to judge his pluralism, pluralism simply states that all opinions all the time have equal value and so the number one virtue of relative truth is tolerance, not the meaning of the word tolerance in terms of accepting people, for they are. But tolerance, as in anyone who says this is right and this is wrong on any issue is intolerant. The number one virtue absolute truth is truth and justice. What I like to do is take you on a little journey and talk about how we got here. I told you I met that friend on that basketball team in my first book by Francis Schaeffer. I was in a philosophy major and so I was getting words like metaphysics and epistemology in and sign member having a 3 x 5 card where I would read a paragraph go to a dictionary look things up later.

That became the basis of my master's thesis at West Virginia University.

As I decided I needed to dig in and find out what's true, what's not.

What's happened and says those three books along with a lot of other information became the heartbeat of why do I believe what I believe. Why do I believe or do I believe that there is an absolute truth and what I want to do is give you a thumbnail sketch and here's my challenge. Some of you need to pick up some of these books and read and think we are so technical lead savvy to get right now information. What happens were living inside of the bubble in your living inside of the bubble about what's practical and what can you get what about this and what about that but you don't stop to ask the big issues of life.

Sometimes you need to read some books that are hard to read that are thoughtful that are deep and then you need to take those concepts especially if you're a parent and sit around the table and talk about not just what's right and what's wrong can be a good person.

But why do you think the way you think and what's the basis for it. Wisdom according to Scripture, is built on knowledge and understanding knowledge is about the what understanding is about the why.

So bear with me, but let me give you little journey on what happened, how did our view change so dramatically for the first 1200 years of the church truth was defined by revelation. In other words, God has spoken. He spoke it through his word, Old Testament and New Testament. But most people didn't have a Bible there wasn't a printing press. The only people that have the truth were quote the clergy after 1200 years actually have about 500 or so we solve it. What the church was saying what the Bible actually taught was corruption just like this corruption in the church today so little by little by little the church begin to teach things that the Bible would say this, but the church would say this and he had the. It's called the dark or Middle Ages. People didn't know much. A lot of things were said in the name of God at work, contrary to God. Contrary to his will and religion got used and mixed up with the state.

Then we saw the big breakthrough in the big breakthrough happened in the 13 to about the 1500s, call the Renaissance and the Renaissance. In essence, the word means rebirth and rebirth happened into streams. The one stream in the secular world was going back to the classics to Greek literature to Plato to the Arctic David to statutes and pretty soon, instead of man being this worm and this person has no value or nobility.

The red Renaissance was the birth of humanism. It's that man has value in nobility and given enough time and energy. We can change the world to make the world what it is.

It's of the classics and art was changed. The other stream was among Christians, and there was a return to historic Christianity to the original text, and so people like Martin Luther began to actually study the Bible for themselves in the original autographs. The Hebrew and the Greek Latin Vulgate and they begin to do things and said realize you know what the church is saying this, but the book of Galatians in the book of Romans says this and I gave birth to the Reformation was a calling back to truth. The calling back to what does God say it so the Reformation occurred and you had Zwingli and Luther and Calvin Melanchthon on this return to truth in this return to what does the Bible say on the authority of Scripture and had a revolution occur overlapping that was then the Enlightenment in the 16 to 1700s was called the age of reason of Rousseau would say that man is basically good, but what we need as we had all these difficult, painful things that happened in history, but man is basically good with enough time with another education we can produce a utopia. Emmanuel, would follow-up that and you had what was called the rationalist and people that thought reason instead of Revelation out it's man's thinking man is the center man is the measure and we in our thinking and our reasoning is the authority when it what we think is different than what God says. Reason champions and see had this birth of the Enlightenment after the Enlightenment again crossing over was the Industrial Revolution of the 17, 1800s more inventions in that period of time happened and probably the last 2000 years amazing inventions.

Inventions and begin to change the world and prosperity occurred in industry occurred in things were just multiplying. So now man is the center reason is the authority and the self-sufficiency we can actually change the world will make the world what we wanted to be in the midst of that in the 17th and 1800s. Charles Darwin wrote a book. Did you know he was a theology student 1859 he wrote a book called origin of the species that know what you need understand is that it had little or no scientific impact. No one bought into it whatsoever. But at the end of the 19th century became a buzzword evolution, and it was the software the social sciences that picked up on evolution as it is a way of thinking in relationships and it begin to become how people begin to think not. That was scientific credibility behind at the same time, another young man. The theory of relativity would be burst by Albert Einstein. Einstein never thought truth was relative what he was talking about was a new way of looking at the world a new paradigm instead of just one in reference point. He said no no no, you can look at reality through more than one reference point in but the buzzword in the early 20th century was about this idea of relativity. Now the philosophers and got a hold of this German philosophers first and then those German philosophers begin to extend through Europe and from Europe across the channel and as I said then to America so that gave birth to what's called the age of modernity or modern thought 1890 to about 1930. You had people in ways like never before saying you know what truth is an absolute it's it's relative and says they came through all these seasons in history, a group like Jasper. Later would be Kierkegaard and Danish and then later across the channel and in France.

John Paul Sartre and pretty soon Nietzsche and in the God is dead movement and all this was like way out there, weird intellectuals, and then it came across to America and Huxley was a biologist picks this up and believes that Spencer was a philosopher picks it up and then they began to teach this in the universities and begin to make its way early in the seminaries of the major denominations do. We then in the early part of the 20th century would would say you know something. The real issue isn't what's right or what's wrong. The real issue is what works in pragmatism with birth and basically the whole educational system rather than the classics, and this is true and what we know and God being the authority it's man's the center are reason trumps everything. Truth is something that is a matter of perspective and then it moved because sunset doesn't work that reality doesn't work in real life.

Look at it minute. But then what happened, people begin to experience despair. So Kierkegaard would say from a sort of religious perspective you need to take a leap of faith to find meaning jaspers would say you need a final experience and so pretty soon the only way to authenticate truth is your experience excess naturalism. So if it feels good do it.

This would give birth to situational ethics and so I still remember is about a 10-year-old. My mom's a guidance counselor and William Kaufman Sloan William Sloane coffin. Excuse me, wrote the book and in all of our public schools. We begin to teach situational ethics and it was taught by giving these people, these impossible dilemmas. You know, what would you do if there's five people back in the room. Would you live in order to protect them and no sense of.

Yes, there are competing values and so are all of our public schools would begin to teach. There is no absolute right or wrong.

There is no moral fabric and so you get the birth of the 60s in the 60s as a throwing off all moral constraint in the 70s as the age of experimentation.

The 80s becomes the new generation. It's not just what works. But what works for me and greed is paramount in the 90s we have the kids of the parents of the 60s who grow up without any sense of absolutes and so now were surprised because the divorce rate goes from single digits over 50%. What used to say the question in life isn't what's right it's not what's wrong. It's what works. In fact, it's what works for you. Do your own thing that's true for you but not true for me to get it.

Here's what you got understand all of what I just shared philosophically and historically is why when your kids go to trade school or college or hang out in your high schools at 16 or 17 and say I believe in Jesus and people start asking them questions 1 to 3 and four that they don't have any good answers and that's why by the way inside the church. The problem may be as big or as difficult research right now in the people under 20 and 30's in Bible teaching churches now would say that living together is morally acceptable.

We have about 1/3 of our teenagers who would say homosexuality or loving another person of the same sex is morally acceptable.

This is in the church and when you say things like this is right and this is wrong. Your Pega some sort of old-fashioned don't you get it, you have no idea where they got that when a guy hoists a beer and says life is meaningless and kill someone indiscriminately, but he is understand if that's what John Parsa John Parsa exactly there is no meaning there is no rhyme differ from chaos, random chance. This is just the logical flow of what's happened in the church's chip will be right back just joined us. You're listening to Living on the Edge with shipping room chips message today. Whatever happened to right and wrong is from his series culture shock in this bold series trip addresses fundamental yet controversial cultural issues from a winsome biblical point of view. Topics covered are human sexuality, the truth about sex, abortion, homosexuality and the church and politics. Parents help equip your children to know the truth about these important topics and consider using this series as a devotional study with your teens and preteens. Culture shock is also a popular study for Sunday schools, youth groups or neighborhood Bible studies chip does the teaching and brings the issues to the table in a way that promotes discussion versus debate like versus heat the small group study is currently discounted. So take advantage of this opportunity and order your studies today. Just give us a call at 1-888-333-6003 or visit us online at http://livingontheedge.org will trip before you come back with some final thoughts from today's talk.

I know you're Living on the Edge that were strong advocates were doing life together in small groups. But when it comes to this series and the highly controversial topics covered in it. Imagine that there are a lot of people were pretty hesitant to leave the group like this.

What can we do to help them be more confident. All that is an insightful question and and you're right. I've actually had people tell me yeah yeah yeah I you really want to delete a group that talks about politics, abortion, homosexuality, I mean, are you on drugs into which I say you not officially but yes yeah I want you to do that and here's why your children if you did nothing then lead a group for your family and a handful of close friends, let alone you know in your church or in the marketplace. People are making decisions and having their values shaped by television by movies by political rhetoric right now and they're going to get their information from somewhere and Jesus was very clear that you have to know the truth and apply the truth and then you're set free and so yes it might be uncomfortable. You might even be perceived a little negatively. At times, but someone has to step up and I mean think of all those passages were Jesus talked about you know Blessed are you that are persecuted are Blessed are you when you step up and you step out for my sake.

And so you know what I want you to know is it's okay to be afraid, but we need to teach in the church, especially to our young people in our young adults what the Bible says about these very controversial topics and they need to hear it with warmth and compassion in and with research where it is not just this is what we believe, then you're angry or there's this passive silence that is literally killing the church and so I guess we will give you some tools to help you lead.

We talked a lot about our online course for small group leaders. But I think the issue here is courage. Would you just be willing to lead this and then just trust God with the results he's going to come through banks trip for complete information on all the culture shock resources, including the book and previews of the small group video sections. Visit us online that LivingontheEdge.org or if you'd prefer to talk with someone about these resources. You can always reach us by calling 1-888-333-6003 and for a limited time. The small group study of culture shock is significantly discounted to get your copy today.

Visit us online at http://livingontheedge.org or give us a call at 1-888-333-6003. Now with some final thoughts.

Here's chip as we close today's program. I just want you to lean back right where you are, no matter what you're doing and I just want you to think with me for just a minute. I mean, I shared some shocking stories.

I mean if they're not shocking to you then you've become desensitized like I find myself getting desensitized. I mean every night on the news there is just story after story that would just curl our hair 30 years ago. It's stories of people who live lives in ways that we would say to ourselves. How can this happen and what I want you to understand is it's not about pounding the table and saying you know things are really terrible and calling into talk radio shows and having coffee with fellow Christians in whining and complaining about this is terrible. You need to understand that we are reaping what we've sown and what we've sown is a lack of commitment to absolute truth, and it has infiltrated the church and some of the biggest issues in the church not out there in the church are in terms of sexual fidelity, purity, honesty, I will learn a bit later in the series that about one third of all teenagers today believe that same-sex relationships are morally acceptable to God working to learn that among the 18 to 30-year-olds.

I mean, the young professionals the young people in our church that about 60% of them believe living together is morally acceptable for God and this is not going to be a series of hitting people over the head to try and make them feel guilty. The fact of the matter is that chaos and the pain and the breakup in the divorce and what's happening to kids and the results of this lack of truth is killing the church and its killing God's people.

This series is about getting to the root of how we got here and then real solutions from God's word about how we can make a difference.

So it's very heavy at times. There's lots of information. Let me encourage you to go to LivingontheEdge.org. The message notes the diagrams the things that I share there all available online and they're there for free but strip will were wrapping it up here, but I know there was one more thing you wanted to say we've talked today and in the last few days about the most important things African impact the culture, your family, your kids and I just want to say thank you to a very special group of people that have been very generous and gave us the money to create the small group DVD resources you are enjoying the fruit and tools of people that have been extraordinarily generous so that Christians could live like Christians and make a difference in America and I just want to pause to say thank you, thank you very much to each person who's been on the team and maybe just close by saying if you like to join the team. We could certainly use your help and would appreciate it deeply.

If you've been blessed by the ministry of Living on the Edge. It's easy to send a gift to Living on the Edge, simply visit us online at http://livingontheedge.org or you can always reach us at 1-888-333-6003 and let me say thanks for your generous support of this ministry will be sure to join us again on Monday of strip continues our current serious culture shock so Ben this is Dave brewing saying thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge