Attacking the truth of God in Christ

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Jimmy the Greek

Puritan Board Senior
Martin Luther once said,

“If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved, and to be steady on all the battlefield besides, is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point.” Luther’s Works. Weimar Edition. Briefwechsel [Correspondence], vol. 3, pp. 81f.

I think it is a great quote. In your estimation, where are the devil and the world currently attacking the truth of God in Christ?? Are we meeting it head-on or are we busying ourselves elsewhere on the field? It is hard for me to actually narrow it to a single point when the gospel is under attack on multiple fronts.
 
1) Abortion (how can the killing of innocents be anything but first?)

2) Greed/self gratification/love of the world and it's "stuff" (a very close second)

3) Heresy in the Church
 
I think the devil is sowing seeds of unbelief in any kind of absolute truth--"tolerance" for everything except religious dogmatism. So everyone has their own "truth" scale, their own moral standards. We see evidence of these things in abortion, homosexual rights, war . . . whatever you say is right and wrong is only right and wrong for you, but not for anyone else.
 
I wasn't exactly sure what you meant by Statism. But found an article by RC Sproul where he said,

"A decline from statehood to statism happens when the government is perceived as or claims to be the ultimate reality. This reality then replaces God as the supreme entity upon which human existence depends."

Ligonier Ministries | Tabletalk Magazine
 
My opinion is that the truth of God is under attack constantly, and in every category of life. In philosophy it is the attack on the unity of truth under the guise of situational truth, or Relativism. In ethics it is the unity of morality, under the guise of "new" moralities (plural). In epistemology it is the objectivity of understanding, under the guise of rationalized epistemic foundations. These are the three main areas of life; they are no less under attack than they have ever been, but they are always ahead of us in sophisticated arguments.

One of the main areas of defense, as I see it, is in the words I used to describe what is under attack. It is not just truth, but the unity of truth that is under attack. It is not just morality, but the one unchangeable and necessary moral structure that is under attack. It is not just epistemology, but the objectivity required for true understanding. All these containg things necessary in the attack, and yet are under attack.

One good example is the attack on morality in Canada. A pastoy is taken before the Human Rights Commission to investigate his "attack" on the rights of homosexuals in his articles in a local newspaper. In another case a candidate is refused atmittance to all-candidates conferences because of his stated views that homosexuals ought to be executed. It is not whether what these men did was right or wrong, it is that these cases have been or are being prosecuted on the grounds that they spoke against homosexuality as if it was immoral. This is considered to be a "hate crime" in Canada.

This action makes legal entities, such as the Human Rights Commission or the police force, a threatening tool in order to force compliance to a new order, one that adopts homosexuality as a moral alternative lifestyle. They stand on the fact that they have been discriminated against. But now that they have attained a considerable amount of recognition of equality under the law they are using this to oppress those who stand opposed to their way.

They argued on moral grounds, and now they oppose morality; they argued on
grounds of being discriminated against, and now they entrench a deeper discrimination into the law of the land; they argued under equal rights under the Charter of Rights, and now they intend to remove the rights of those who oppose their rights. They argued for equality under their status as human beings, and gained rights as a special sector of humanity defining an immoral sexual preference as that right.

The defence against this is not to panic, because nothing can undo the unity of truth and of morality. The homosexual movement is already showing that it cannot appeal to truth and morality anymore. That is why these are under attack, not to unseat them but to remove them from our minds, our way of thinking. Our best approach is daily devbtion and prayer, careful attention to God's Word as it is faithfully preached, and to uphold one another in communion, studying and applying the Word together. Truth is true, morality is moral; and these will uphold themselves all on their own. We need to submit our understanding to God's Word, and not try to fit God's Word into our preconceived notions of right and wrong.

That's my view.
 
I see it constantly in the sexualization of the nation where p0rnography and their actors are lauded in public/private ceremony, given awards, touted on even public channels. Where internet p0rnography is so prevalent that we have to make specialized software with updates just to filter it out. The nation glorifies sex outside of marriage and allows for cohabitation as a way to "get to know the other person before marriage."

When we watch TV, which I limit very much, we see commercials that have sexual innuendo, the television sitcoms that rotate around sexual tension as if that is what the drama in our life should be, infidelity that can be atoned for by human actions. I could go on but what the nation desires, it has been given up to and we are paying the consequences for it as a nation.

An attack on God? Because sexual sin is evil and it should be abhorred, but in general populist thinking, it is the right of people to do whatever. But, it is also a sin that is that is glamorized as being a "real man" or whatever - but it is not brought up routinely as the heartbreaking, God dishonoring act that sexual sin is.
 
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