by Jacob Ninan
Satan is the ruler of this world, and his aim is to deceive and turn people away from God and against God. One of the ways he does this is by spreading false ideas through deceitful philosophies (Col.2:8). The way many people present such ideas is through the use of abstract words and phrases that give an impression of deep and profound meanings. These ideas remain 'up in the air' and are of no real practical application. However, the speaker talks in such a way that it sounds as if he has some hidden knowledge which the ordinary people cannot understand. People hesitate to question them for fear of appearing ignorant! We become vulnerable if we are eager to be 'politically correct' and taking care not to say anything outside of what is commonly accepted by society. If we want to be seen as being 'progressive' and 'moving with the times' and not 'ancient', then also we will try to use the latest trending words and phrases, and not to be the odd ones out. In this way we too will fall a prey to Satan's schemes.
Such philosophies will usually appeal to some aspect of truth, while hiding many other aspects that are false. If we are convinced with the 'truth' that is presented, we may get manipulated to accept the idea without examining the other aspects of the idea also. It is also a problem if we are not familiar with what God says in the Bible, in order to be able to judge whether what these people are saying is true, or if we are not sufficiently convinced that what the Bible tells us is God's truth. In the latter case, we may give more credence to what the 'experts' say rather than to God.
Let us look at a few examples to illustrate how deception takes place in this manner.
"All ways lead to the same God"
Swami Vivekananda of India made an impressive speech at the Parliament of World Religions at Chicago in 1893, when he said that just as streams of water starting from different places ultimately flowed into the same sea, people who follow different religions would finally find the same God. On first glance this would appear to be very profound, helping all people to be more tolerant to one another. Religious quarrels would come down. Nobody would need to be proud thinking that only he is right and everyone else wrong. Put in this way, this would certainly be appealing for everyone to accept. Except that it is wrong!If all are really talking about the same God, why is it that each 'God' is very different from what the other people are presenting? Different religions also produce different behaviour! The concepts of God are different, and His character, His plans for mankind, and His way of dealing with us are different for different religions! Obviously, all of us are not talking about the same God! But why is it that people are accepting this philosophy so easily? Is it not because the outstanding feature of this idea is its appeal for tolerance, which is a good thing in itself? Of course, we do not want to impose our views on anyone else, and we recognise the right everyone has to choose to believe whatever he wants. But does that mean that we also accept what is not true?
Those who have compared different world views from different religions have come to see that only the Christian world view is cohesive, bringing together all the different concepts about the nature of God, how He created the world and man, what He wants with us, what His plans are for us, etc. Man-made stories about God, on the contrary, are found not to fit together in all aspects.
Relativism
This is another concept that has swept over the world in the comparatively recent past. This says that the concepts of right and wrong are 'relative' to those who hold such concepts. If someone thinks something is wrong, it is only to be taken as wrong for that person and other people have the right to have their own opinion about what is right and wrong! In other words, there is nothing absolute about right and wrong. These people say that it is parents and society who thrust their ideas on children. It is seen now that what everyone used to recognise as wrong in the past is now getting accepted as right! The appeal of this concept comes from wanting to be seen as liberal and giving freedom to everyone.But the truth is that only God is the Lawgiver, and what He says is right is what is right, and when He says something is wrong, that is wrong. It is also easy to recognise this in practice. If we do what God says is right, we become happy and blessed, and if we do what God says is wrong, we suffer for it!
Wherever we are born, we will notice that we are all born with a conscience that tells us what is right and wrong (Rom.2:14,15). We can observe that when a young child does something wrong, the guilty expression on his face shows us that he knows it is wrong! It is only later that sometimes this instinctive knowledge that comes from the conscience is quashed by values supplied by the family and society.
Feminism
Centuries of male chauvinism treated women as if they were sub-standard beings only there to be used by men. Men have dominated women, abused their physical strength over them, not given them any rights, etc. But when some women began to think over this, they realised that they were being exploited and rose up in protest and rebellion, giving rise to the women's liberation movement. As a result of this, many things have improved in many parts of the world causing people to recognise and value the presence of women and their capabilities. However, the feminist movement has crossed beyond its desire to establish equality between men and women and gone on to erase the differences between men and women. The mistake was to ignore fact that the differences between the sexes pave the way for each of them fulfilling their unique and special roles.When God created human beings, He created them as male and female, each being made in the image of God (Gen.1:27). God also made it clear that He did not look at them differently in terms of value (Gal.3:28). But it is also obvious that He has created them with not only physical differences, but also psychological abilities suitable to each one's roles. Both sexes are absolutely necessary in the family, society and in the world at large, and instead of accepting and valuing each one's roles, it is foolish to obliterate the differences and pretend as if both are the same.
Parenting
Many people, when they become parents, seem to assume that their duty towards their children is to provide food, clothes and education. In this process, they miss a very important part of parenting, namely, the training of their children (Prov.22:6). Human children have a very high potential in comparison to animals, and they need to be nurtured and trained for many, many years before they can stand on their own feet. When this is neglected, many children remain as spoilt children even when they are 25 years old!One philosophy that contributed to this failure says that each child is a unique personality which should be allowed to develop in its own way, and that the parents should not try to interfere in this process by forcing their ideas on the children. Of course, this is false. The Bible says that a child left to himself will bring shame to their mothers (Prov.29:15). All we need is to look around and see this happening everywhere.
Following this false idea, many parents are refraining from 'disciplining' their children when they do wrong. Of course, when so-called discipline is meted out in anger and irritation, it amounts to child abuse and misuse of power. But God disciplines His children in love (Heb.12:6), when He finds that it is the best way to bring us back from going astray. Depending on how serious the offence is, sometimes parents may have to use a 'rod' to discipline the children to save them from folly (Prov.23:13). But the prevailing attitude is to consider every serious attempt at discipline as abuse! Can you see how the worldly wisdom is taking people away from godly wisdom?
Same sex marriage
What everyone used to consider as evil, unnatural and unthinkable is happening now. This comes from the philosophy that what two people do between them with consensus is nobody else's business. This idea is taking predominance over other concepts such as morality, practicality, social folly, etc.!Conclusion Predicting the condition of the last days, the apostle Paul wrote, "But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these" (2Tim.3:1-5). Can you see the direction things are taking?
As children of God, we have the privilege of having been given God's values for us and the direction we are to take. Let us get to know them more and more from the Bible and follow them, in order to preserve ourselves and the generations to come.