POST 23 - More Cultural Shifts in the World

 POST 23 

I started a series of posts reflecting on the church of my upbringing--Fellowship Baptist. In my 20s, I moved away and saw just how legalistic it had been. I wanted freedom and, so I suppose, I deconstructed a lot about the load that I'd lived with from birth until my late 20s. Instead, at a my new church Bethel, I found genuine care and love over rules! 

But I do still hold true to several teachings that in today's culture sound legalistic. Here is another such hot topic - living together unmarried. 

I'm certain some people don't want to go to a church that will tell them they should not live together unmarried. So many today don't know why we care so much about legal marriages.

I once worked as administrative assistant to the Bishop of The Free Methodist Church in Canada, typing his manuscript called Counterfeit: The Lie of Living Together Unmarried. In fact, I even suggested the title for the book.

I had asked my daughter to NOT live with her fiance before marriage. It seems all her age are doing this as a right of passage they've come to accept. It was hard to explain to her my reasoning apart from, once you marry, what will be special about it? 

So you can imagine my horror when my own daughter told me she was, in fact, living with her fiancé. It was a big emotional blow and a significant source of stress for me. They would NEVER understand how hard it was for me with the background bias I had in my soul.

Sometimes, I feel like the last fundamental, believing Christian around. I feel odd or out of place in a world that often dismisses or misunderstands my traditional values.

And while there was lots wrong with my upbringing, there was lots good about it. God had called me. He had chosen me to know him. I was able to plant good roots in my sould. 

My fundamental Baptist upbringing did instill in me a deep foundation of faith, morality, and a personal relationship with God. These are strengths, not weaknesses. 

I don't believe in cutting corners or cheating to get ahead. I believe in generosity, and God has proven faithful in supplying our needs when we seek to live uprightly. Principles like love, integrity, humility, and seeking God’s righteousness are eternal, and I remain committed to letting them guide my actions, regardless of ongoing cultural shifts. 

Yet holding to these principles feels like a very private matter now. I avoid arguments or conflict about them because I don’t like confrontation. I kind of feel trapped in a world of my own--having to bite my tongue so I don't unintentionally offend someone. I learned while partipating in a church small group, that even some of those members have differeing, more worldly viewpoints.

I find all I can do is nurture my soul and stay productive quietly living out my faith, encouraging myself, and letting my actions speak instead of my words.

Proceed to POST 24