Those three words best describe the feelings that came over my husband and I this past weekend when our 9 year old brought his ipad to us, to show us the “cool game” I had just minutes before, given him permission to install.
You guys, I did everything right. I read about the game. I checked the suggested age for the game (ages 4+). I even typed in the parental control password we have set, to give my permission to download the game. Here it is:
It just your basic, "tap the ball carefully through each obstacle and your ball will switch color with some powerups" game. My son asked my husband to try the game out, so he did. It was colorful and challenging. There was no problem until the advertisement videos for other free games played. The ads were for a game called "Episode". It's a game that is "supposedly" suitable for ages 12+ (according to who, I'm not sure). I have an 11 year old and I can tell you that she will not be playing it. I recorded one of the ads to share with you:
In case you can't view the video on your phone, it is two girls kissing. The one says to the other, "let's keep this between us, ok? and the other says "what is somebody sees us".
Hopefully, that made you just as uncomfortable as it made us. It should. Even if you don't have children, it should. But for my husband and I, knowing that our 9 year old had just watched that ad, made us more than uncomfortable. It made us angry. After playing the game a bit longer (by now our son had run off to play outside) it played another video. I'm not going to post the other video, but I'll tell you about it. There was a girl trying to decide if she should "get a closer look" at a half-naked man posing for a painting, or if she was too shy. There was a woman wearing lingerie saying "I don't look this sexy for nothing", trying to decide if she should wake up her drunk husband or divorce him. And it ended with "Adam and Eve" trying to decide if they should break up or "repopulate the earth". Some might find that funny. I didn't. Some might call me a prude. That's fine. I am just trying to raise my children to know right from wrong, and I'm swimming in an ocean, surrounded by fish going the other direction.
Hopefully, that made you just as uncomfortable as it made us. It should. Even if you don't have children, it should. But for my husband and I, knowing that our 9 year old had just watched that ad, made us more than uncomfortable. It made us angry. After playing the game a bit longer (by now our son had run off to play outside) it played another video. I'm not going to post the other video, but I'll tell you about it. There was a girl trying to decide if she should "get a closer look" at a half-naked man posing for a painting, or if she was too shy. There was a woman wearing lingerie saying "I don't look this sexy for nothing", trying to decide if she should wake up her drunk husband or divorce him. And it ended with "Adam and Eve" trying to decide if they should break up or "repopulate the earth". Some might find that funny. I didn't. Some might call me a prude. That's fine. I am just trying to raise my children to know right from wrong, and I'm swimming in an ocean, surrounded by fish going the other direction.
Whether we want to believe it or not, there is an agenda in our culture. It's everywhere. It's on our TVs, in movies, magazines, social media, and yes, even in our app stores. There is a whole slew of things that are becoming more and more "acceptable" in our culture today because of the constant, ever present, "in your face" media. Sex outside of marriage (in all forms), homosexuality, drunkeness, divorce, etc. etc. Our culture is becoming more and more desensitized to these things. And by "our culture" this sadly, includes our children. Kids are becoming way too "knowledgeable", way too young, thanks to the constant outside influences.
I'll compare it to the TV show The Walking Dead (yes, I watch it). The very first time I saw a zombie get killed, I jumped. It startled me, even grossed me out a bit. But by the 2nd season of the show, I was like "oh look...they're killing another zombie." *yawn* I've gotten used to it. It doesn't seem scary or gross anymore like it did the first time.
Unfortunately, the same thing happens with sin. The more our culture throws sin in our faces at every turn, the more we become "used to it'. We become more and more comfortable with what we are seeing. It doesn't "gross us out" like it did the first time we saw it. It becomes an "oh, look...another girl sleeping with her boyfriend" *yawn* mentality...just like the zombies. In fact, so many people have BECOME just that....zombies.
One of the definitions of the word zombie is: a person who is or appears lifeless, apathethic, or completely unresponsive to their surroundings
How fitting. Sounds like so many Americans to me.
I don’t know about you, but I have no desire to be a zombie.
The Bible says “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that be testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” –Romans 12:2
How do we avoid conforming to the world’s standard? By the renewing of our mind! We cannot allow our culture to determine our mindset, especially when it comes to sin.
1 Peter 1:13-16 says “Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘You shall be holy for I am holy.’”
Those who are in Christ are to be set apart from the world. We are to take a stand against sin. However, in doing so, we will be hated. Jesus was hated, so why should we expect anything less for ourselves as followers of Him? In John 15:18-19, Jesus said, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own, but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”
There have been several people who publically claim to be believers, on social media in the past few weeks, who have said that we as Christians need to be more accepting of certain sins in order to "love people better". To me that is like saying that Jesus didn't know what He was talking about. That our culture has “evolved” and that now we know a better way to love people, so to do that, we need to be more accepting of sin. I disagree. Jesus gave us the blueprints (the Bible) for how to live in the world...even in our world today. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever! (Hebrews 13:8) The Bible still holds true today, just as it did 2,000 years ago.
While we may feel like we are fighting an uphill battle against our culture, it is imperative that we still fight. Our future depends on it. Our children's futures depend on it. Don't become complacent in a culture that would love nothing more. Take a stand.
Please join me in saying "I will not conform!"