I have a few closing remarks as I wrap up this blog series…

2 Timothy 4:3-5 says, “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”

I’m unsurprised that Christians are attracted to progressive culture and leave the church because of it. This 2 Timothy verse shows that this is not a new phenomenon. The enemy is deceptive and cunning. He uses partial biblical truths and disguises them as full truths. It’s a clever plan that many have succumbed to.

Progressive culture is undoubtedly attractive. After all, it promises social justice, self-love, relative truth, women empowerment, and bodily autonomy. Who can compete with that? It’s everything that our sinful flesh desires. To top it all off, Christianity gets a bad rap. We are labeled intolerant, bigoted, homophobic, misogynistic, and a barrier to the social justice movement. So, perhaps it’s just easier to go with the flow of progressive culture than being that weird Christian, Bible-thumper who’s just stuck in the past. If you agree with this thinking, I have two thoughts to share with you.

First, we have this misconception that to be anti-cultural, you must attend rallies, have bumper stickers, and berate anyone for not agreeing with you. This type of person, unfortunately, captures media attention and mischaracterizes Christians. It is possible to adhere to God’s standards gracefully and calmly. Let’s be honest, progressive culture has and will likely continue to win on this side of eternity. That doesn’t mean we roll over and give up. But it also doesn’t mean we need to be combative in our interpersonal relationships. When the situation presents itself, whether with a coworker or during a dinner conversation, you go with God’s standard. For example, unborn babies are defenseless so when given the opportunity, defend them. And God clearly defined marriage as between one man and one woman. No human or government has the power and authority to redefine what God has made clear. So, when given the opportunity, defend God’s definition of marriage.

Second, unfortunately for us, eternity isn’t talked about a whole lot. Eternity feels far away and intangible. But Christianity is all about hope. The Old Testament hoped for a Savior. Then Jesus came. Now, we hope for eternity where we can spend forever with Him. The rub is that it doesn’t feel real. This life you and I live feels very real. But traditional Christianity offers more in the long run, aka eternity. It doesn’t promise much here and now like progressive culture does. But, if we faithfully hold onto the hope of a future perfect eternity, we will not be disappointed in the long-term.

One last thought…

Why would I spend time writing this blog series? After all, I know that these blogs likely fall on deaf ears. The population I really want to hear this message probably couldn’t care less about it.

For me, I have personally grown from this experience. It’s been a way I worked out my faith and thought through culturally relevant topics. The process of studying each tenet of progressive culture and contrasting it to Scripture has given me confidence. I feel more confident speaking about these topics because I’ve thought through them critically and biblically. Had I not done this, my default would be to repeat a few one-liners that I memorized from some podcast.

And, more significantly, I hold onto the hope that perhaps one person is changed by it. I hope that God uses these words from this tiny little blog to bring someone back from their wandering. But that’s up to God, and I’ll let Him sort that out.

This blog series is now in a combined pdf format under Free resources. Thanks for joining me!