{"id":689,"date":"2015-02-19T10:07:21","date_gmt":"2015-02-19T15:07:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/?p=689"},"modified":"2015-03-20T10:09:57","modified_gmt":"2015-03-20T15:09:57","slug":"how-does-our-secular-culture-influence-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/?p=689","title":{"rendered":"How Does Our Secular Culture Influence Us?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thursday After Ash Wednesday<\/span><\/h2>\n

Dt 30: 15-20; Lk 9: 22-25<\/span><\/h2>\n

Deacon Larry Brockman<\/span><\/h2>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Do you any idea just how much influence our current culture has on you?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Listen again to the words in our Psalm this morning:<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong>\u201cHappy those who do not follow <\/span>the counsel of the wicked, nor go the way of sinners, nor sit in company with scoffers.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

You know what.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Every day we are exposed to the \u201ccounsel of the wicked\u201d and we \u201csit in the company of scoffers\u201d and we watch closely sinners going our way.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>You say how is that?<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>When we listen to the radio and watch our TVs;<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>when we check out the Internet; and when we read secular magazines and other publications.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Much of what we see and hear in these venues has \u201csubliminal\u201d effects on us in the sense that we may not even be aware of the effects.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>At other times, we see or hear the same thing often enough that it becomes second nature to us.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>It seems like it is acceptable to us, even if we are just passive about it, especially when our passive behavior is around others, like our children.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Perhaps a few examples would help.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>How about the acceptability of the Sports Illustrated Swim Suit Calendar?<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>And then there those nightly TV shows and magazines that tell us what\u2019s going on with the darlings of \u201cpop culture\u201d- how this starlet just had a baby with her \u201cboyfriend\u201d; or how long so and so have been living together. <\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

But then there\u2019s this:<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>The other day, I heard an item on the news where a single person could join an internet service that would send to themselves love notes and other messages from a fictitious lover.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Why? So that friends and family would think that they had a lover and they would stop pressuring them.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>I found it appalling; but how many others found it amusing to put one over on Mom and Dad, or that office acquaintance that never lets up. <\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Actually, we are being given the same choice that the people in Moses time were being given.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>We have laid out before us life and prosperity or death and doom.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>We can choose to embrace God\u2019s commandments and live; or we can face the doom that comes from ignoring God\u2019s commandments.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Old Testament cycle of God\u2019s people following Him and abandoning Him is being repeated today.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>And the abandonment is always accompanied by apathy and lack of commitment to God\u2019s commandments.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>We are inundated in the media with morally unacceptable behavior in such a way that it seems mainline in our culture.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Then we become complacent, and even passively accepting of it.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>That complacency and lack of conviction is noticed by our children, because our actions, or inactions as the case may be, allows the culture to speak loudly in the absence of our voices.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>We effectively lead others to a choice by default.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Gospel today summarizes what life is all about.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>We are challenged to take up our cross and follow after Jesus.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Our crosses are not like Jesus\u2019 wooden cross, nor are they the martyr\u2019s cross of those Christians in Iraq and Libya who were martyred this week by ISIS.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Those crosses are easy to identify- terrible adversity.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Our crosses are maintaining a life that conforms to God\u2019s will in the midst of so much freedom, freedom that showers us with conflicting values, self-serving pleasures, and subtle slippery slopes.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>But we still have an obligation to carry our crosses.; to stand up and be counted when we see evil.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

We have just started Lent.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Lent is a great time to reflect on our lives and make a change.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>That is what the word repentance means.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>So, take some time this week to reflect on the influences the media has on you and your family.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Identify the \u201cways of the sinners\u201d, the \u201ccounsel of the wicked\u201d and the \u201cscoffers\u201d who ridicule God\u2019s law and the truth. <\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

And then make a choice.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Choose life and prosperity and not death and doom; that will be cross enough to carry.<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thursday After Ash Wednesday Dt 30: 15-20; Lk 9: 22-25 Deacon Larry Brockman \u00a0 Do you any idea just how much influence our current culture has on you? Listen again to the words in our Psalm this morning:\u00a0 \u201cHappy those who do not follow the counsel of the wicked, nor go the way of sinners, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[332],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=689"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":690,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689\/revisions\/690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}