We’re living in an era of rapid change, aren’t we! By now you’ve heard that Oprah has left the building, Regis is retiring, Katie has vacated CBS’s news anchor chair, and soap operas are now an endangered species. Oh, but those are not the changes that will shatter your world. Right? No, the real psychological upheavals are changes in “NORMs” (defined as beliefs that are normal to the majority of the population).
For example, the marriage “norm” has changed radically in the last 50 years. When I grew up in the 50s, divorce was still a rarity, pre-marital sex was frowned on (at least, overtly), and co-habitation was uncommon, if not reprehensible—the American “norms” were still pretty much a “10-Commandment/Judeo-Christian” thing. But, last week a government survey showed that unmarried couples (does anyone remember when we called it “living in sin”?) make up 12 percent of U.S. households, up 25 percent since 2000. And in the same survey, over 50 percent said they support the legalization of same-sex marriage. There’s even a new name for these non-traditional “live-in” relationships—“domestic partners.”
How did these cultural norms and expectations change? Largely, by a world-wide media (TV, movies, the Internet) that is challenging time-honored norms and propagating new ideas faster than light. The result: a worldwide cultural revolution unlike anything before known to mankind. We are living in a point in time that challenges us to continually evaluate what it means to live a Christian life, one that is based on biblical precepts, not on cultural norms.
I think the worst thing is when you encounter, sadly, more and more of these cultural changes in the church.
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