I've been thinking about this a lot over the past several weeks. I can't tell you how many times I've heard people say something to the effect of: "well, it seems like the majority of people feel differently, so it looks like you're in the minority". There is so much emphasis placed on what the "majority" thinks. We see it all over the place—especially in the news—where headlines stressing this reality are commonly used to make people stop and question whether or not they are, indeed, on the wrong side of history and whether or not they are comfortable being there. Here are some examples:
And when I see these headlines or receive comments like these on social media, I do feel like a minority voice. But here's another reality: I actually don't care! THERE IS NO MORAL AUTHORITY IN THE MAJORITY Thankfully, I came the the realization a long time ago, that as a Christian man—whose primary aim in life is to glorify God and honor his word—many of my views, decisions, words, and actions won't be viewed by the majority of people in my culture as good. In fact, many of my convictions—the things I stand for at the very core of my being—are not only seen as problematic, but are also considered (by many) to be wrong or even evil. Don't believe me? Do you think I'm being overly-dramatic? Follow me on this thought experiment, if you'd be so kind. THE (MORAL) BATTLE OF THE BULGE Which of the following two people do you think has the greatest risk of being called out, criticized, or cancelled by American culture? Person One: A man—who dresses up as a caricature of a women and has over 8-million followers on TikTok—who makes clownish efforts to normalize the phallic-shaped bulge which he suggests women can have when they put on hotpants and parade their perversion in public. OR Person Two: A woman, a Senator from Tennessee to be precise, who pushes back on the efforts of the aforementioned wackadoodle, and publicly rejects BOTH the pervert and those who support his efforts to subjugate God's law and reject the authority and sovereign rule of the Author and Creator of life. We already have our answer folks. While President Biden, who self-admittedly struggles to remember he is President, has remained busy calling out the deplorable Ultra-Mega-MAGA types, he still found time to invite the TikTok Tranny, also known as Dylan Mulvaney, to the White House so he could exploit Dylan's "celebrity status" to gain a few virtual virtue-signal points with all the Americans who are hellbent on celebrating depravity. And the woman who had the courage to call out this nonsense, Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee to be exact, was rebuked by the wokies for her audacity to actually call out the obvious. One mainstream media outlet ran a hit piece on the senator, with the following sub-headline: Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee joined right-wing activists' vitriol campaign against a 25-year-old trans woman who has been chronicling her gender transition on TikTok. So, yes! It's seems very clear to me, to those who are paying attention to such things, that humanity is once again entrenched in a culture who shamelessly calls evil good and good evil (Isaiah 5:20-21). 20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! 21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight! THIS IS NOT THE FIRST TIME HISTORY HAS REPEATED ITSELF And while history doesn't always repeat...it definitely rhymes. So, I'd like to look back at ancient history to try and prove my point. While many people focus a lot of their energy and effort to ensure they aren't found on the wrong side of history (i.e. the minority side of the majority) the truth is, sometimes the majority is just dead wrong. Case in point. Turn with me, if you will to the book of Genesis, chapter 18 and 19. Here is a story that most of you pilgrims are probably fairly familiar with, but just so we don't leave anyone behind, let's take a moment to paint a picture of what is going on. God had just had a decent meal and a conversation with Abraham about some things he'd been hearing about a place called Sodom. And it wasn't good things he'd been hearing. In fact, he had heard of their evil and was sending in his hitmen to destroy the entire city because of it's debauchery and perversion. Being the good uncle he was, Abraham pleaded with God to spare Sodom, if he could find 50 righteous people in the city. God humored Abraham's plea, but Abraham had second guesses about how far he may have overshot on his prediction. He negotiated with God several more times, asking that if he could find forty or thirty or twenty...oh, heck even ten righteous people that he would spare the Sodomites his wrath. Then God sent his angels to Sodom. They entered the city in the evening. Abraham's nephew (Lot) saw them and greeted them and invited them to his house to spend the night, wash their feet, and share a meal with Lot and his family. At first, the angels refused, saying they would spend the night in the town square, but Lot pressed them strongly; imploring them to come to his home instead. We quickly find out why Lot was so adamant that they not stay the night in the town square. Before the men were even ready for bed, all the men of Sodom (both young and old) surrounded Lot's house and made the following demand: Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them. Genesis 19:5 SEX IN THE CITY Now to be clear, this wasn't an act of hostile hospitality; as some liberal theologians would like us to believe. The demand, from the men of Sodom, was for Lot to send out the angels so the townsfolk could "know" them in the gang-rapey sense of the word. To restate it, the majority of the men in Sodom had come into agreement that the most appropriate way to welcome new-comers into their city was to pull them into the town square and rape them. And Lot found himself on the wrong side of history. He was the only man in the entire city, willing to call out the wicked desires of the moral majority. Lot went out to the men at the entrance, shut the door after him, and said, “I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. Behold, I have two daughters who have not known any man. Let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please. Only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof.” But they said, “Stand back!” And they said, “This fellow came to sojourn, and he has become the judge! Now we will deal worse with you than with them.” Then they pressed hard against the man Lot, and drew near to break the door down. Genesis 19:6-10 Now, of course, we must also recognize that Lot was far from a model citizen, himself. Instead of giving into the perverted lust of his townsfolk, he instead offered them a consolation of his two virgin daughters. Not really a great example of father of the year. However, the point I'm trying to make here isn't how wonderful Lot was, but rather how depraved and perverted the men of Sodom were; you know, those who found themselves in the majority. A culture which is dead set on rejecting what God calls good and celebrating that which God calls evil, will often use horizontal measurements to try and compel others to join them in their sin. In fact, that's basically what a mob does. Mob mentality—also called herd or hive mentality—is the inclination that some humans have to be part of a large group, often neglecting their individual feelings in the process, and adopting the behaviors and actions of the people around them. Now this doesn't mean that individuals aren't held accountable for their own decisions or that they have no capacity to examine and then reject the behavior of the majority. On the contrary, what it actually means is that there is a psychological and spiritual explanation for why they don't. Temptation seeks to disguise itself with many different forms of validation. For example, a piece of fruit looks good to the eyes, so it must be good for the body, right? Or a desire to be accepted or not rejected by others certainly has some immediate payouts; and how can it be wrong if so many people say it's right? There are countless ways which sin temps us to reject God's word—which he has made explicitly clear in scripture—and make excuses for why it's outdated, irrelevant, confusing, or worse of all flawed. Yet, these are the excuses that so many professing Christians make, when they do theological gymnastics in order to justify their decision to be in the majority; even when the majority is embracing and celebrating sin. IT'S BETTER TO FRIENDLESS AND FAITHFUL, THAN POPULAR AMID THE GODLESS Pilgrims, here's the point I'm trying to make in all my rambling. When it comes to the Christian journey, it is far better to find yourself on the wrong side of history, than it is to find yourself on the wrong side of eternity. Jesus told us, in the Gospel of Matthew: Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. (Matt. 7:21) History has given us countless examples of people who rejected God, in order to be counted among the majority. However, when we stand before God (alone) on judgment day; we will not be able to give our excuses, blame our associates, or offer futile justifications about why we chose to reject God's law in order to be accepted by the lawless. So, before you decide to lay down your cross and join the mob, remember that even thought the voice of the majority may be the loudest voice you hear, it is the voice of God—found in the word of God and the finished work of Jesus Christ—that matters for eternity.
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