A stale version of the gospel: Is culture settling for a half-hearted truth?

I was sitting in my graduate social work class one day and realized something that was unfolding right before my eyes: people are settling for surface-level truths. 

And it’s especially apparent in the American classrooms. 

My professor and classmates were talking about social morals that should be implemented into more spaces (and are currently seen everywhere in America). 

“Spaces should be gracious, full of love, and judgment free. Each person is different and we need to make spaces more welcoming.”

It began to make me feel frustrated.

All of these morals are good, in fact they’re necessary for society to be healthy. The Bible clearly states that we should be graceful, loving, and not judgmental because that is what the gospel is.

And yet, people are preaching these biblical qualities without the Bible. They’re copyrighting scripture (cue the frustration).

Society is settling for a picked apart, stale version of the gospel which is allowing for personal corruption. Christians should especially be aware of this for themselves and to help spread the gospel to non-believers.

Okay, so what’s the big deal?

What is wrong with only following some of the rules of the Bible? Or not crediting God for the fulfillment of these truths?

When considering this question as I listened to my classmates, Matthew 7:26-27 came to mind.

“And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against the house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it,” Jesus says. 

The concern is that a lot of people’s homes are built upon the politically correct morals of grace and love without Jesus. 

And when people are advocating for individualism, inclusivity, love without God, it makes me weary of the God-sized weight they are carrying on their finite being.

We cannot possibly love without God because love comes from God. We cannot be self-reliant because we are finite human beings who desperately need God to even breathe. 

When we are not taking these things from the source, it will only lead to a lack of true fulfillment or even corruption. 

When personal morality is nothing more than subjective preferences based upon the sand of emotion, a person will collapse. And great will the fall be. 

How heavy that must be to have your house built on the sand of your own finite emotions. 

How confusing it must be to your identity and sense of purpose when you are subject to the eb and flow of your emotions. 

And no wonder gender is becoming such a fluid identity. It is sand in a culturally Christian America. It is the exact opposite of what God made it to be. 

This should be a great concern to believers for it includes them. 

We must check the log in our own eye before pointing out the speck in our neighbor’s. 

The signs that decorate our spaces with the words ‘diversity’, ‘safe space’, and ‘everyone is welcome’ are not bad within themselves. But, are we preaching the gospel without the gospel?

Are we giving credit to our Source of life, joy, and fulfillment? 

Having this perspective can also help us as we approach non-believers with grace and sympathy.

Whenever I notice that a person is holding onto gender, inclusivity, or anything else as an identity, my heart hurts for them. They’re searching for the same freedom and joy that is within Jesus.

But we have this hope: that God’s will is not dependent on me. 

Every day God is working and we are being more and more sanctified. But as we go out and share the life-changing joy that is salvation to those who are blind, step out in confidence, grace, and faith (from the original source) and have faith that God’s will will be done to open their eyes and see.