Moralistic and Therapeutic Beliefs

Americans today are synchronistic in their beliefs about reality. That means they pick and choose what they believe. They decide what the moral truths are and what is reality. One common combination is “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism”. It was popular 30 years ago and still is fairly common in America though what I call Critical Expressive Individualism seems to be the popular belief mashup today. We are going to look at the moralistic and therapeutic belief systems through the lens of some diagnostic questions. I am using Mark Sayer’s “Sin Chart” taken from a blog post by Jake Meador at Mere Orthodoxy. I am adding answers I would give as Christian to these 5 diagnostic questions.

Questions	Moralistic Answers	Therapeutic Answers	My Christian Answers
What is the purpose of life?	To do good.	To feel peace.	To know God and trust Him, and to live life by loving Him and loving others. This is only possible because of God’s grace.
What is sin?	Oppression that comes from ignorance.	The causing of mental or emotional discomfort or pain.	Self-centered attempts to be God by doing things our way. This makes us broken.
What is the world?	A good place ruined. The world is good but ignorant people create ignorant structures and that creates oppression.	A dangerous place filled with pain, trauma, and discomfort. You’re seeking a smaller world where you don’t feel those things.	A broken place that is full of broken people in need of God’s grace.
What is its attitude toward faith?	The church is immoral.	It can be acceptable when used as a tool for personal peace. It’s utilitarian.	Faith in Jesus Christ brings a full life and it begins the restoration process.
What is the solution to the moral ills of the world?	Virtuous education. Inform everyone through education of what is the new moral code and how we live that. If we do that, the world will slide toward a virtuous future.	Harm minimalization. Create a place that’s safe where harm will not be done.	We cannot solve the ills of this world, but God can. Jesus Christ came and paid the price for our sin. He rose from the dead so that we might have life. God is at work in us.

Most Americans will pick and choose what they believe and how they see reality, so you will find people with combinations of several beliefs. Mark Sayer’s “Sin Chart” gives a good insight into moralistic, therapeutic, hedonistic, and nihilistic beliefs. But Americans will take what they like from each of these beliefs and from other beliefs too. While they tend to create their own belief systems, many times their beliefs will mostly match one belief system or another. This is because the culture influences Americans and helps guide them into their belief system. So the culture tends to make the personal beliefs of others more consistent with the general population. Over 60 years ago, the culture was supportive of the Christian worldview. The culture has transitioned away from the Christian worldview to beliefs like Moralistic Therapeutic Deism and then today to beliefs like Critical Expressive Individualism. Both of these belief systems have elements of moralistic and therapeutic beliefs in them. Can you see elements of the Moralistic and Therapeutic belief systems in your own beliefs or in the beliefs of others?

As I have studied different worldviews and the modern mashup of different belief systems, it is obvious to me that the Christian Faith has the best view of reality among all the different worldviews. It is what is true.

My next blog post will cover the hedonistic, and nihilistic beliefs from Mark Sayer’s “Sin Chart”.

Three Bad Church Words

Today, most people think all of us are naturally good. The Bible says differently (Romans 3:10-18,23), and from what I have observed in people’s interactions and in myself I would have to agree with the Bible. We are naturally bad, and there are three words, church words found in the Bible, that describe our condition, ‘sin’, ‘transgression’, and ‘iniquity’.

‘Sin’ is a bad church word that is defined as a thought, word, or action that breaks God’s moral law. It is wrongdoing, wrong speaking, and wrong thinking. But it is much more than that. The Greek and Hebrew words mean ‘missing the mark’ or ‘missing the goal’ with the Hebrew word also having the meaning of failure. We are to love God and love people (Mark 12:30-31). That sums up God’s moral law. When we fail to love, we sin. Note the love here is about putting others and their concerns ahead of ourselves. It is the selfless sacrificial agape love.

Sin is a big part of our lives. Our selfish desires cause us to act for our own benefit at the expense of others. We hurt others. We are truly self-centered to the core of our being. Sin is like a beast crouching at our door seeking to take us captive (Genesis 4:7). In fact, without Jesus, we are slaves to sin. As Christians we have been set free from sin through our baptism (Romans 6:3-8). Unfortunately, sin still lives in our bodies (Romans 7:15-19). We are not yet totally free from sin.

Another bad church word like ‘sin’ is ‘transgression’ which also may be translated as ‘rebellion’ or ‘trespass’. The word in Hebrew and Greek is about betrayal, that is the breaking trust in a relationship. Adam broke the relationship with God when he disobeyed God, and because of that we all lived in that broken relationship with sin, but Jesus came and graciously restored that relationship by making us righteous (Romans 5:12-17).

And the third bad church word is ‘iniquity’. The word in Hebrew and Greek is about crooked behavior and the crooked consequences due to our choices. It is sometimes translated as “guilt” or “punishment”. Note we call criminals crooks, because they have departed from the straight moral way.

Psalm 32:5 has all three of these bad church words, so I am going to be bold and use the meanings of these three words and create my own version of the verse.

I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. (Psalm 32:5; ESV)

I acknowledged to you that I missed the mark with my disobedience; I did not hide my crooked behavior; I said, “I will confess my fault in breaking trust with you, oh Lord,” and you forgave the crookedness of my failure. (Psalm 32:5; “my version”)

We need to confess our sin, but how often do we shrug off our sin and do not seek the forgiveness our gracious God offers. Many times these church words have lost their seriousness for me and I need to be reminded of the meaning of these words. These words are life and death words. These words show the bad that we all have in us. We do not love, and we end up hurting ourselves and others. We separate ourselves from God. We are broken and crooked. But “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:25a). God does forgive us. Jesus paid the price for our sin, our transgressions, and our iniquity. Because of all Jesus has done, we can be set right and made whole and brought into relationship with God (John 3:16). Jesus has done it all for us.

This post was inspired by three great Bible Project videos. Check out “Khata/Sin”, “Pesha/Transgression”, and “Avon/Iniquity”.

Two Kingdoms

American Flag Photo by Lisa Setrini-Espinosa

Christians need to hold a Biblical view of civil government. The Biblical view is that we are citizens of two kingdoms, a spiritual kingdom and an earthly kingdom. For Christians, the head of the spiritual kingdom is Jesus Christ. The Christian Church on earth is the visible component of the spiritual kingdom. The Church shares the Good News of Jesus Christ and offers mercy, grace, and forgiveness. The earthly kingdom, our civil government, is the country we live in, and it offers a stable environment of laws that promote the common good. Neither the visible Church or the civil government are perfect. They both have their problems because we are broken sinful humans. So as Christians and good citizens, we should make our Christian principles known for the betterment of the people.

Some Christians disagree with the idea of two kingdoms, but when we look at what the Bible says, the two kingdoms idea fits. Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world” to Pilate (John 18:36), and later Jesus also told Pilate, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above” (John 19:11). This shows the two kingdoms, God’s spiritual Kingdom and the God instituted civil government. The Apostle Paul explains more about the role of the civil government in Romans 13:1-7. Note Paul, like Jesus, treats the civil government separately from the Church. We are to submit to the governing authorities because they are God’s servants for our good by punishing those who do wrong. We do good, pay our taxes, and give our civil authorities honor and respect. However, because the government is run by humans, there may be times when we have to obey God rather than the civil authorities (Acts 4:19-20), but I believe those cases in America are pretty rare.

There are those in the United States who endorse the idea that Christianity in America should be given preferential treatment and that Christianity in some form should be the official religion of the nation. This did not work out well in Europe. The Christian faith ended up as the secondary partner to the government and in my opinion Christianity was crippled. Having Christian laws and an official Christian religion did not change people’s hearts. Changed hearts is the work of the Gospel message and the Holy Spirit. It is found in the spiritual kingdom, the Church, not in civil government.

This does not mean as Christians we should sit back and do nothing. No, God has called us to be good citizens and to promote the welfare and wellbeing of the land (Jeremiah 29:7). This means we can promote Christian principles that would be good for our land. We are also called to pray for our leaders (1 Timothy 2:1-2). And we also can seek the welfare of the land by becoming leaders and officers in government. We have the examples of Daniel (Daniel 2:48-49) and Joseph (Genesis 41:39-40), who were high ranking officials in pagan governments.

Today, many Christians are concerned with America losing its Christian roots. We can pray, humble ourselves and turn from our wicked ways (2 Chronicles 7:14) and let God work. Our job is to share the Gospel message, the good news of what Jesus has done for us, and then let the Holy Spirit do the rest. Changed hearts, not more laws, will restore America.

Happy 250th Birthday, America!

Reconcile

To reconcile means to restore a friendly relationship between two persons. Because of our brokenness, we are at odds with each other and with God. Broken relationships are common. In fact, all our relationships contain elements of brokenness, because we are broken. Reconciliation requires love and forgiveness. People are reconciled when in love forgiveness is given and accepted. It is not easy to love and forgive but with the help of the Holy Spirit we are able.

Reconciliation starts with God. Out of his great love for us, while we were still enemies and ungodly sinners, Jesus died for us to reconcile us to God (Romans 5:6-11), not counting our sins against us (2 Corinthians 5:18–19). On the cross, Jesus made peace with God by reconciling us with God (Colossians 1:19-20). We are forgiven because of Jesus (Ephesians 1:7). It is all God’s doing. He wants to restore that broken relationship he has with us.

With that restored relationship, we are blessed, and since we are blessed we are called to be a blessing (Genesis 12:2-3). Being a new creation, a blessing, means we are part of the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:16-21), where we share that message of reconciliation to the world. We called to imitate God (Ephesians 5:1-2). That means showing love and forgiveness to those around us . Just as we have been forgiven so very much, so we forgive others (Matthew 18:21-35). In imitating God, we get to love our enemies, do good to those who hate and abuse us, and bless those who curse us (Luke 6:27-28). We do not repay evil for evil, instead we bless (1 Peter 6:9) because we are called to overcome evil with good (Romans 12:21).

We are different from those of the world. We are truly countercultural. Today’s culture sees the world in terms of power. Many times it is expressed in terms of oppression. It divides the world into us versus them by pointing out that they have and we want, or they are in control and we are not. This view is very divisive. Christians on the other hand are in the business of reconciliation. We see the world through the lens of God’s love. We want to unite all people under Jesus Christ, because God desires for all people to come to know him (1 Timothy 2:3-6). So let us reach out in love and forgiveness and share that Gospel message of love and reconciliation.

Christian Collapse

Jesus Christ Statue Photo - Myriam Zilles

There is a video going around called “The Lutheran Collapse”. I believe the concerns expressed in this video are about 20 years late and what is happening today is a Christian collapse. Yes, Lutheran denominations have lost a lot of members. The video focuses on the two largest Lutheran denominations, the much larger theologically liberal Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) and the smaller theologically conservative Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod (LCMS). I am a member of the LCMS, so this video is of interest to me, and for a long time now, I have been interested in the reasons behind why there are fewer people from the younger generations attending church.

The mainline churches, like the ELCA, embraced the current cultural values and went theologically liberal. Many people left those churches and many of them went to more theologically conservative churches. Unfortunately, that only slowed the decline in the theologically conservative churches. The problem is the Christian faith is not being passed on to the younger generations. And this is not a new concern.

In 2003, Reggie McNeal wrote a provocative book, “The Present Future: Six Tough Questions for the Church”. In the book he tried to wake up the American church to the decline that was happening. That was 23 years ago and since then I have also read other books addressing the decline in American Christianity. It is not just Lutheranism in decline, and it is not just liberal mainline churches in decline. American Christianity is in decline. American Christians are facing this crisis because the culture is no longer supportive of the Christian faith and its values, and in general the American churches have not successfully transitioned to operate in the new culture.

1517, a theologically conservative Lutheran nonprofit, wrote an article addressing the video (and other similar videos). The article, “The Future of Lutheranism Belongs to Builders”, was well written and I liked most of it. Pastors and lay leaders need to be architects and builders, and not curators or deconstructionists. Discipling and mentoring needs to happen, and we need to keep our Lutheran doctrine. What I disagreed with was the “traditioned innovation”, which I interpreted as we keep our Lutheran traditions and innovate only within the bounds of these traditions. That sounds like curation and not innovation to me. Yes, there is a lot of good theological richness in those Lutheran traditions (e.g. our hymnody) and many are worth keeping in some form, but the question we need to ask is “Do they speak to our young people today?”

I do not know what the best answer to this crisis is, but here are some ideas that I would suggest. We need to make our Christian faith, especially our worship services, accessible to those who have never been in a church. We need to reach out with the good news of Jesus to those who know nothing of our faith. We need to disciple and mentor our church members to inspire them to share the hope we have in Jesus. For the LCMS and other church bodies, we need to put more emphasis on encouraging and training their laity in actively living their faith, and less emphasis on the pastoral office and the institution.

And above all, we need to remember what is most important. It is all about Jesus. He is the one that is important – not our church buildings, not our institutions, not our traditions, and not anything else. The Good News is all about Jesus and what he did on that cross and his rising from the dead, so that we might have life in him. That needs to be our focus.

Secular Christmas

Christmas is celebrated all round the world. Christmas is not a religious holiday for most people. This secular version of Christmas promotes values of love, compassion, generosity, giving, family, hope, peace, and joy. These good values originated with the Christian celebrations of Christmas, but the main point of Christmas, from which these values derive their meaning, is Jesus Christ coming to Earth and being born so that we might have life in him.

I find it interesting that people of other faiths have their version of Christmas. Many Buddhists, Jewish people, Muslims and even atheists celebrate Christmas in some form. They have some of their own traditions but for many of these celebrations what binds them to the secular Christmas is Santa Claus, because many of these celebrations have Santa Claus.

Santa Claus is the icon of the secular Christmas. Folklore of his story has been developed over the last 200 years to what it is today. First, there was a historical person called Saint Nicholas who really did exist and was born about 280 A.D. He was a generous Christian Bishop. Today’s Santa Claus story is very different from the historical story of Saint Nicholas but Saint Nicholas provided the origins from which Santa Claus developed. The Dutch with their Sinterklaas tradition and the English with their Father Christmas tradition were blended together to create the Santa Claus tradition. In 1823, an anonymous author (likely Clement Clarke Moore) penned a poem called “A Visit from St. Nicholas”, which is also known as “Twas the Night before Christmas”. I believe that poem created the foundation for the Santa Claus tradition. From that poem, the story of Santa Claus developed into what it is today.

Secular Christmas is fun and promotes some good values, however it is missing the historical importance of the birth of Jesus Christ. Christmas is meant to be a celebration of the birth of Jesus. God, the Father, gave his only begotten Son, Jesus, to us to restore us back to himself and to give us life in him (John 3:16). God in Jesus humbled himself and was born human (Philippians 2:5-8) so that he could live the perfect life we could not (Hebrews 4:15) and to pay the price for our sins by dying on a cross (Colossians 2:13-14) and then rising again 3 days later. Jesus gave himself so that we might have life in him. By the power of the Holy Spirit we have real life. That is the real story of why we celebrate Christmas.

The Christmas story can be found in Luke 2:1-20 and in Matthew 1:18-2:12. This Christmas let us remember the birth of Jesus who is our Lord and Savior.

PS This year I discovered the ancient “O Antiphons” which are short chants that cover 7 days (December 17-23) of Advent, right before Christmas. The hymn “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” incorporates the 7 antiphons into its verses. I am using a devotional based on the antiphons this year from 1517.org.

First Date

August 3, 1998 was Gail and Paul’s first date. In many ways, it was not anything special, but in other ways it pointed to our compatibility. We had started emailing each other near the end of June. A mutual friend had suggested to me that Gail needed a pen pal. I knew that she was matchmaking and I almost did not email Gail. The only reason I did, was that I was in Colorado and Gail was in Oregon. The matchmaking was not going to work because of the long distance. So this first date was just to see who I had been emailing. I was out visiting my folks, and Gail and I had planned a hike in the Columbia River Gorge and have lunch together. That was it.

We met at The Grotto parking lot in Portland. It was easy to find each other because there were a couple of bus loads of Asian tourists there, and it appeared that we were the only two Caucasians. We drove to Multnomah Falls hoping to hike to the top but the trail was closed. We did get a picture taken on the bridge there. The guy who took the picture told us to get closer together and act like we liked each other. We had just met less than an hour ago.

We ended up hiking up behind Wahkeema Falls. As we hiked up the Gorge wall, we talked and learned more about each other. We came down and had a lunch Gail prepared, and then the date was supposed to end. But we decided to drive over to Portland’s Rose Garden and there continued our conversation. We talked until it was getting late. We stopped because we had to make sure to pick up Gail’s car at The Grotto before it closed. Since it was dinner time, we stopped at a nearby restaurant, “Elmer’s”, and that was our first date.

It ended up being a lot longer than I had planned, and yet there was no spark for either of us. I did not think anything of it even though we talked much longer than planned. Gail was a nice lady and I enjoyed my time with her. I was still a confirmed bachelor. Gail learned that I was a “Lord of the Rings” fan so she read “The Fellowship of the Ring”. She struggled to read the book and was surprised to find out that it was just the first of three books. (She still ended up marrying me, and did enjoy the BBC Lord of the Rings radio drama and the movies.)

We continued emailing each other. By the time December came around, I knew I wanted to spend more time with Gail, so I took an extra long Christmas vacation to visit my folks. I did not see much of my folks, but I saw a whole lot of Gail, and at the end of the vacation I realized that I was in love.

We got engaged in February, and on August 15, 1999, I married Gail. That is now 26 years ago and it all started 27 years ago with email and that first date. I am so thankful that God has blessed me with Gail. She has been a wonderful partner in life.

*****

Gail here:

Paul captured the day well. I want to add that the timing of our meeting was God’s perfect timing. Meeting Paul at that point in my life was just right. God had been working in both of us over the years and I can see how meeting any earlier would not have worked out as well. The way we met was also perfect. We saw that we were compatible and over the months that we continued to email nearly daily, I learned so much about what Paul thought and how he lived. With the “pressure off” our love and attraction grew. We could “talk” thoughtfully about important things through email, and I learned that Paul was wise, kind, and generous. He was and is God’s gift to me. We are very different, but wonderfully suited to each other. It’s a joy to live life together!

*****

More of the story can be found with these blog posts: Before Engagement and During Engagement.

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. (Ephesians 5:31-33)

Nicene Creed

This year, the Nicene Creed is 1700 years old. Way back in 325 A.D., there was the First Council of Nicaea, where a large number of church leaders gathered primarily to discuss the relationship of Jesus Christ to God. There had been this ongoing controversy (Arianism) on whether or not Jesus was created and thus not the same as God the Father. Everyone considered Jesus to be divine but what was his relationship to God the Father? It came down to two Greek words, homoousios, Jesus being “of one substance” with God the Father, or homoiousios, Jesus being of a like substance to the Father. Arianism held that Jesus was the first created being, inferior to the Father but like him, and still superior to all other beings. The Council of Nicaea firmly rejected Arianism and chose homoousios. I believe homoousios fits much better with what the Bible says.

Emperor Constantine had called the church leaders together because this controversy was dividing the Church. He got the church leaders together and he let the church leaders decide the controversy and did not influence the decision. Everyone of the church leaders voted for the creed except for two holdouts. Emperor Constantine had hoped this would resolve the issue, but unfortunately the controversy continued.

In 381 A.D., at the First Council of Constantinople, the Nicene Creed was amended with the biggest change being the fleshing out of the third article which is about the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was not the focus in the original creed. All the other changes have been minor. And that is how the Nicene Creed came to be.

The Nicene Creed makes it very clear that Jesus is God who became human. It says

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of his Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made; … became man, …

And at the end of the original Nicene Creed it said

But as for those who say, there was when He was not, and before being born He was not, and that He came into existence out of nothing, or who assert that the Son of God is of a different hypostasis or substance, or created, or is subject to alteration or change – these the catholic and apostolic Church anathematizes [strongly condemns].

The original creed also made it clear what the wrong beliefs were. The key point of the Nicene Creed is that Jesus is God, a person of the Trinity, who became human for our salvation.

Today there is a falsehood going around that Emperor Constantine called the council because he wanted to make Jesus a so-called mortal human being who was a prophet into a deity and thus suppress the sacred feminine (symbolic of fertility and reproduction and being representative of mother earth). This is a completely different narrative from the historical documents, and the idea of the Trinity (three persons and yet one God) had already been established so it was not a new idea introduced at the Council of Nicaea.

And another falsehood that people believe today is that at the Council of Nicaea, the books of the Bible were selected and the Gnostic Gospels were suppressed at that time. Nothing about that is true. The Biblical Canon was not discussed at all. It had already been set by consensus. Again the false idea is that Emperor Constantine was suppressing the sacred feminine by banning the Gnostic Gospels. The funny thing is the Gnostic Gospels are much more anti-feminine than the books of the Bible. Be careful of the lies that surround the Council of Nicaea. Unfortunately “The Da Vinci Code” popularized many of these lies.

Jesus’ Resurrection

Why is Jesus’ resurrection so important? It is a major foundation of the Christian Faith. Early Christians believed in the resurrection, and a large number of them saw Jesus alive after the resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:3-8). It is a critical piece of the story of God’s redemption of the world through the work of Jesus. It gives us hope, an expectation of an assured future (Romans 15:13).

We are connected to Jesus’ resurrection through our baptism. In our baptism we were united to Jesus’ death and resurrection (Romans 6:3-4). If Jesus did not rise from the dead, then we are still in our sins and our faith is worthless (1 Corinthians 15:17). If Jesus did not rise, then we have nothing to hope for. If there is no eternal life then we just live a meaningless life, recognizing that our brokenness and evil will always be around until we destroy ourselves. With no resurrection, any hope we have then is a false hope. The reality would be then our death would send us into nihilistic oblivion. Fortunately, Jesus did rise from the dead (Matthew 28:1-10). The resurrection validated who Jesus was and what he is able to do. It gives us the assurance that he was victorious over sin, death, and the Devil (Hebrews 2:14; Romans 6:23).

Because of Jesus’ resurrection, we have a new life (2 Corinthians 5:17-18; Romans 6:4). We have been reconciled to God (2 Corinthians 5:18-19). Because Jesus rose, we too will rise to eternal life (Romans 6:23). We will have new immortal bodies (1 Corinthians 15:42-54). Everything will be made right and we will live forever in the presence of our loving God (Revelation 21:1-4).

Therefore, because of Jesus’ resurrection, we have the hope that everything now that is broken will be made new (Revelation 21:5). There will be a perfect life for us with a new Earth and Heaven.

PS For more on Jesus’ resurrection check out “Praise God for Jesus’ Resurrection”.

Affirming People

Two women talking (Christina@wocintechchat)

Today’s culture is all about affirming people. You tell them they are good just as they are, or that they are better than good. “You are the best” is an affirmation that we all want to hear. It is good to encourage people, especially people with low self esteem, but are we being truthful when we affirm someone? Reality is we are not all hot stuff. In fact, none of us are hot stuff. We are all broken people in need of fixing.

Affirming someone means you validate, support, and/or encourage their identity, experiences, or beliefs and by doing so culture says you are recognizing their worth and value. It is good to treat everyone with dignity and respect, because everyone is of great value and worth, no matter how broken they are. God loves everyone, just as they are, but God also wants to move us to a better place, to restore us and to fix our brokenness. Why? It is because he loves us.

However, today’s culture sees everyone as naturally good, and affirming them is telling them they are okay and whatever problems they have are due to society. It is not their fault. People say “You just be you because you are the best”. Unfortunately, to some extent, it is their fault, and not society’s fault. We all are broken and sinful. It is our fault. Yes, society has its problems but it is because we are broken self-centered people. The problem is us. Each and every one of us are inclined to do evil. We are not naturally good. It is wrong to affirm harmful behavior. It is wrong to ignore our brokenness.

Over the centuries we have tried to solve this problem of our brokenness. Educating people did not change people’s behavior much. Enforcing many laws also did not change people’s behavior very much. Punishing people did not change people. Trying to change society did not fix the problem. And affirming everyone does not solve the problem and change people. All these are external actions. The real problem is internal. Deep down inside of us we are selfish self-centered people. Each and every one of us has this problem. We want things our way and we would also like to have the advantage. Because the problem is internal to each and every one of us, everytime we try to fix the issue we fail, because we can not fix it ourselves.

Fortunately, God loves us even in our brokenness, and he sent Jesus to provide a solution for our brokenness. God in Jesus took on human form, lived that perfect life free from sin and then went to the cross to pay our debt. He died on the cross and rose from the dead on the third day. Through the work of the Holy Spirit, all who trust in him become children of God. The Holy Spirit is at work in us who believe, restoring us to become more like Jesus. Because of our internal change (which is a work in process), we can work for a better world. We can affirm God and his love because of all he has done for us.

So, affirming one another without recognizing our brokenness is harmful. This does not mean we cannot praise or encourage people for well done actions or thoughts. We can and we should, but we need to recognize that we are all still broken people. We cannot affirm people for the harmful actions and ideas that go against God’s holy standards. God’s standards are good for us. It may be kind to affirm someone with a harmful lifestyle, but that would not be the loving thing to do.

Yet, there is one way we can “affirm” everyone, no matter where they are at. It is by telling them “God loves you”. It is a truth that everyone needs to know. We just cannot affirm bad actions or bad ideas. Instead, culture today wants you to affirm everyone no matter what, but we cannot affirm bad behavior. Out of love, we need to address those harmful actions or ideas. Let us be affirming of all God has done, and let us share his love to everyone around us.