Do Not Read This if You Are Allergic to Frogs and/or Boiling Water

Historical Drift -- a departure from original beliefs, purposes, and practices resulting in the loss of spiritual vitality. --Dr. Arnold Cook


On Moral and Spiritual Laxity
by Al B. Boyld


Ever heard of the frog-in-the-kettle analogy? Who hasn't? Everyone and their kitchen sink uses this one. But in case you haven't, it involves placing a frog in a pot of room temperature water and slowly heating the water to the point of boiling. Will he jump out posthaste? Will he holler, "Mayday, mayday, I'm being eaten by Smivvenbivvens!"? No, he won't. He'll just sit there looking simple, contented with his surroundings, oblivious to the fact that some devious human being is slowly boiling him to death ('til he croaks. Hahaha.). So he ends up boiled, though contented, but also quite dead. However, if one simply throws him in a pot of boiling water immediately, he'll break records for jumping out.

Well, it doesn't take a rocket scientist (fortunately for me) to figure out that we live in a culture that is constantly changing, not only technologically, but also morally. Our society has concluded that the almighty (fickle) individual is the great determiner of right and wrong . . . for himself. Hence, God's unchanging values have become replaced by man's changing values. If it feels good, do it.

The world system has never been a great friend of God's anyway, so in its rebellion against God it naturally has become more humanistic in its philosophy. That's understandable, though disturbing. But even more disturbing, is that many so-called followers of God have also let some of this philosophy creep into their lives. So much so, that is increasingly hard to tell the difference between the World and the Church. According to a survey performed by George Barna in 150 lifestyle areas (including divorce and abortion) he found that the church was no different than the society around them.

It is true that the fleshly nature of Christians pushes them towards fitting in with popular culture. After all, it's not that comfortable being different from everyone else, is it? But I think a more subtle threat to our separated status from the World is the desire to be relevant to the culture we live in. Becoming like them to win them. I mean, what Christian can argue against being relevant? Didn't the Apostle Paul "become all things to all men that he might save some?" Well, yes . . . but not at the expense of Truth. Truth is very relevant to a culture that is accustomed to deceit and hypocrisy. Do you think they're impressed with someone who's just like them, just trying to put on a front in the name of relevance? I think not. They're looking for something different and real. Something worth living for. Or dying for.

This is where the Gospel comes in. And we're not talking about a Billy Graham crusade in which we "come forward" and pray a prayer accepting Christ as Savior, then proceed to live life as if nothing ever happened. Not at all. We're talking about the Kingdom of God, discipleship, self-denial, the Cross, the power of the Holy Spirit, and inner regeneration based on our belief in Christ's death and resurrection. A radical change of focus. Like the words of Jesus.

`If any one doth will to come after me, let him disown himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me;
for whoever may will to save his life, shall lose it, and whoever may lose his life for my sake, he shall save it;
for what is a man profited, having gained the whole world, and having lost or having forfeited himself? (Lk. 9:23-25 Young's Literal Translation)

One would think that such a high level of required commitment would be detrimental to a cause of this nature. But this does not seem to be the case. Instead, the early church grew like weeds in spite of the high level of commitment required, especially given the persecution they faced. Sociologist Dean Kelley wrote a book titled Why Conservative Churches Are Growing, and in it he concludes: "We may suppose that the higher the demand a movement makes on its followers, the fewer there will be who respond to it, but the greater the individual and aggregate impact of those who do respond."

While Kelly makes a good point about the importance of commitment, it is possible to be commited to the right thing but for the wrong reason. For instance, we may be unconformed to the World, and that's great, but not without being transformed by God (Rom. 12:2). In this case, it's not about God but about ourselves. To make us look "Christian". That, my friends, is called legalism (not to mention idolatry). It is my (sometimes uneducated) opinion that legalism has less to do with rules, but more to do with motivations. Self is at the center. It's quite easy to fall into, but spiritual renewal (or revival) helps us out of this rut, and, of course, spiritual renewal is dependant upon God. You can't live for God without God.