A Nation of Heretics and Revolutionary Truth Tellers

We are "a nation of Osteens and Obamas." So begins one of the most honest and thoughtful op-ed's I've read in some time.  Ross Douthat, a New York Times Op-ed Columnist, writes about how we got there in his book "Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics," and while I don't entirely agree with his analysis of how we got here, I do agree with his analysis of our situation.  We have become a nation where the only orthodoxy is to believe whatever you feel is right.

Far from what is always predicted, we haven't become a nation of atheists. Instead, we've become a nation that believes in a God that is all about you.  God exists to bless us and help us in calamity, but never calls us to repent or challenges our sin.   This "all-about-us-god" wants you to prosper, feel okay about yourself and your life whether you're in sin or not, and never feel like he is grieved.  To this "god" you can never do wrong.  And this is the "god" that many Americans are referring to when they mention "God" in the public square.  

We'd be wrong to think that only people who aren't Christians believe in this God. This epidemic is infecting churches across the nation. In our attempt to gather larger crowds of people, we've cut out the challenging words of Jesus in the Gospels, especially the ones that would contradict our society.  We've remade Jesus into a guru who loves everyone but challenges no one.  There is no longer any need for the good news of Jesus' death and resurrection because we barely mention any sin that we need to be saved from. And as the church moves from the message of the Gospel, true life in God becomes rare.  Ungodliness grows while we sleep unaware and we begin to become a people who call evil, good and good, evil.  

Friends, before it's too late, we must change course.  We must become a people dedicated to a higher cause than our own good.  We must find the biblical Jesus who challenges sin and offers tremendous forgiveness and empowerment to walk free of it.  We must sound an alarm among Christians about the great dangers that are going unquestioned in the church so that we can again become the city on a hill Jesus spoke about.  That will only come as we understand God's heart for ourselves, others, and our nation.

We believe that God has given us an amazing tool--called the Bible--to do this.  But we must be the people willing to accept what it says and live by its precepts.  We must be a people willing to abide by this message no matter how subversive it is to our modern culture--hence the name of this site: Subversive Truth.  We honestly believe the truth is more powerful than the lies our culture is believing. But make no mistake about it, it will challenge the current civic religion of our time. George Orwell famously wrote that "[i]n a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act." Our society is entering such a time. We are recruiting you and others to join us in the revolutionary act of declaring the truth from the Bible. Will you join us on this journey to dig deep into God's word and live and abide by what he has to say?  Will you stand with us and proclaim the truth that overturns the lies around every corner?  Stick around...there is more truth to come.

Originally posted by me at Subversivetruth.com