An article on billygraham.org discusses the way many evangelicals are relating to the Bible, in particular those parts of Scripture that are currently at odds with the beliefs accepted and promoted by the popular culture.
According to Chelsen Vicari, many evangelicals—especially those of the so-called Millennial generation, born between 1982 and 2004—are responding in a dangerous and misguided way.
“They tend to be picking and choosing which Scripture verses that they want to abide by and which ones they don’t,” says Vicari, who serves as the evangelical program director for the Institute on Religion and Democracy. “I call it cafeteria-style Christianity.”
And so, even as they claim to follow Jesus Christ, they ignore or explicitly reject biblical teachings on homosexuality, fornication, marriage, abortion and salvation through Christ alone.
Why? Vicari says it stems from wanting to be accepted: “It’s our broken human nature that wants to appease the world.”
If we are walking closer to the culture than to God, it will seem to be in our best interest to align with the culture rather than God. The loss of relationship with our friends and family over highly charged cultural issues will seem more apparent and immediate than the loss of relationship with God. It becomes a rational, and yet devastating, choice.
Our God is so good, and so loving, and so gracious to us. The more we know Him, the less we will be susceptible to the false choices of the world. Pursue Him!
And remember this: “…without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6)