The Pendulum Swings

I was watching the news and saw the article which featured the Academy apologising to Sacheem Littlefeather for the reception she got when she appeared on behalf of Marlon Brando to turn down his Oscar. I don’t remember how I felt at the time but those were conservative times and it’s likely that the general feeling in New Zealand at the time was not supportive.

Then I was watching the rainbow folk on the news because they are now able to get support from the Human Rights Commission for their experiences with conversion therapy. This was all put forward in a very scientific manner, No morals discussed here only the psychological damage caused by this bizarre practice.

I guess now I know how it feels when the pendulum swings. As a youngster in conservative New Zealand where there was casual racism and homosexuality was driven underground. I was on the side of the majority at that time. Liberals were shunned and the papers supported the conservative dominant discourse.

However, today the conservatives are decidedly in the minority and progressive liberalism is the dominant discourse in a decidedly left wing social political environment. From a social conservative and even a centrist perspective it seems as though the world has gone to hell in a hand cart. I guess that’s how the liberals felt fifty years ago?        

From a Christian point of view it is hard not to want to take this all personally and get vocal on social media or other forums. The issue being that hate speech is a distinct possibility in this time so there is a need to weigh carefully what is said and the likely outcomes of speaking out against other sects in secular society.

I think there is a tendency with Christians to get a little self righteous and to condemn other people from the perspective that we are morally superior to them. I actual fact we are all sinners and sins are of equal weight in God’s eyes. So judging others is not a good idea. It is better to point out that we all fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), and there is none righteous not even one (Romans 3:10). So all are in need of salvation in Christ Jesus if we are to attain eternal life.

In the current environment people are becoming so sensitive to any form of criticism that Christians almost need to resort to our default position. That of sharing the gospel only even on peril of imprisonment or death. There will come a time when the world will be so harsh that people will once again realise that Christ Jesus is the only saviour and once again turn toward Him. Our job is to follow the Great Commission and go to the nations baptising them in the name of the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit.

Finally I would simply say that events are moving rapidly and we are heading for what I believe to be the day of apocalypse spoken of by Jesus Christ in the book of Matthew at chapter twenty four. It seems that from the time the current government took office there has been the feel of an increasingly turbulent roller coaster ride to daily life. Mass shooting, the pandemic, the implementation of a controversial new social agenda, monthly weather events and with global events to match. Almost daily violent gun attacks in the United States, the Trump and anti Trump diatribe and of course the pre-cursor to world war in the Ukraine. The question is what will life look like in 2025 or in 2030? Food for thought.