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A House Divided
Quoting from Mt 12:25, Lincoln said, A house divided against itself will not stand. The division in our culture has invaded the lives of many who consider themselves Christian. The Christian mindset is Christ-centered and biblically based. However, the post-Christian mind seeks to erase, or at the very least sidestep, the moral values found in Scripture. Our culture is divided between a Christian worldview and a secular worldview, and caught in the middle is the post-Christian mind that believes values must change because the circumstances of our lives have changed.
This became evident when Carl and Samantha came in for counseling. They were in their late fifties, Carl made a good living, had ended his drug addiction several years ago, and Samantha wanted a divorce. She was having an adulterous relationship with a pre-marital boyfriend Wayne and was convinced they were in love. The children were grown, and she wanted to have fun and knew that God wanted her to be happy. When the counselor told her God was far more interested in her holiness than in her happiness she wasn't moved. God has forgiven our sins past, present and future, she said.
""Moral values don't change,"" the counselor told her. You have turned away from the standards for moral conduct and behavior established by God in order to have your perceived needs met. Samantha was convinced that moral values do change, and codes of conduct are a private matter. The counselor pointed out that morality is in the public domain. He went on to point out to her that our entire system of law is based on the Ten Commandments.
In the post-Christian mind, logic and reason can't be used to arrive at conclusions or decisions. We can only rely on our emotions that will never lie to us. This is what Samantha believed and was holding on to. She continued to insist that she was in love and that Wayne understood her and Carl didn't. The counselor tried to point out that what she felt wasn't love, but rather what the Bible called lust. Samantha fell silent.
In subsequent sessions Samantha realized she had a problem she didn't know how to solve, and showed great restraint. Although Carl had made his own share of mistakes, he was not about to lose his wife and insisted that divorce was out of the question.
In order to combat the fallacies of the post-Christian mind with which Samantha was struggling to escape, the counselor made a suggestion. ""I want you to take the characteristics of love in 1 Co 13:4-7, and put them into questions about yourself. For example ""Is my love patient and kind? Does it envy? Am I boastful? And so on."" - She agreed to try it in order to redefine LOVE Biblically.
Today in counseling we must look for the story behind the headlines. The post-Christian mind is a reality and can be deeply rooted in the problems of the counselee. So we must fight two battles. First we must expose this post-Christian mind, and then we can present the absolute and unalterable truth of the gospel to begin the healing of a house with a divided heart and worldview.
This became evident when Carl and Samantha came in for counseling. They were in their late fifties, Carl made a good living, had ended his drug addiction several years ago, and Samantha wanted a divorce. She was having an adulterous relationship with a pre-marital boyfriend Wayne and was convinced they were in love. The children were grown, and she wanted to have fun and knew that God wanted her to be happy. When the counselor told her God was far more interested in her holiness than in her happiness she wasn't moved. God has forgiven our sins past, present and future, she said.
""Moral values don't change,"" the counselor told her. You have turned away from the standards for moral conduct and behavior established by God in order to have your perceived needs met. Samantha was convinced that moral values do change, and codes of conduct are a private matter. The counselor pointed out that morality is in the public domain. He went on to point out to her that our entire system of law is based on the Ten Commandments.
In the post-Christian mind, logic and reason can't be used to arrive at conclusions or decisions. We can only rely on our emotions that will never lie to us. This is what Samantha believed and was holding on to. She continued to insist that she was in love and that Wayne understood her and Carl didn't. The counselor tried to point out that what she felt wasn't love, but rather what the Bible called lust. Samantha fell silent.
In subsequent sessions Samantha realized she had a problem she didn't know how to solve, and showed great restraint. Although Carl had made his own share of mistakes, he was not about to lose his wife and insisted that divorce was out of the question.
In order to combat the fallacies of the post-Christian mind with which Samantha was struggling to escape, the counselor made a suggestion. ""I want you to take the characteristics of love in 1 Co 13:4-7, and put them into questions about yourself. For example ""Is my love patient and kind? Does it envy? Am I boastful? And so on."" - She agreed to try it in order to redefine LOVE Biblically.
Today in counseling we must look for the story behind the headlines. The post-Christian mind is a reality and can be deeply rooted in the problems of the counselee. So we must fight two battles. First we must expose this post-Christian mind, and then we can present the absolute and unalterable truth of the gospel to begin the healing of a house with a divided heart and worldview.
