I just finished taking some quizzes for my Old Testament class. One of the quizzes was the inter-testamental period. It was interesting to read about the hellenization of the Jewish culture, and the inflitration of pagan worship that had taken place prior to the Maccabean revolt. The hellenistic Jews were so wrapped up in the new culture that they actually allowed a statue of Zeus to be placed in the temple. No wonder God was ticked off!
The thing that really occurred to me while I was reading this was that, I bet the people who were into this “new and experimental lifestyle” were the cutting edge of their day, the progressive thinkers, the celebrities who set the standard for trends in day to day life. And look what they did. They were so deluded, they openly insulted God, and turned to worshipping (if at least indirectly) Satan.
How often, in our postmodernism-contaminated thinking, do we allow the same thing into our lives? I’m so guilty of jumping onto every new and controversial theory that comes down the pike that I sometimes get a royal smack down by the Holy Spirit telling me to wake up. Fortunately, we have Him around now, which is an advantage that those guys didn’t have. But still, what are we capable of? What have we let in under the premise of being accepting and open-minded?
I’m not trying to retract ealier comments here, because I mean what I’ve said about today’s Christians being too closed minded. But there’s just as much of a danger in going to the other extreme, and letting anything in that feels good or looks good to us. Paul encouraged us to “test all things” (I Thessalonians 5:21a, HCSB). I don’t think we do that nearly enough. The Bible gives us a lot of liberty in a lot of things, but there’s also some definite black and white in there.
So I guess what I’m saying is, use moderation. We’re certainly too closed minded as Christians today, but we can’t welcome everything new with open arms, either.
I agree with you completely