inclusively exclusive.

In my varied dvd collection I have a movie called Time Changer.  It's about a writer who tries to get his book published and he feels that in order to receive more credit he seeks the approval of his seminary professors.  All pass the book but one who questions the authority of the book.  You see the writer writes about life, how we should live etc.  However, within the writings he forgets the most important thing of all, the acknowledgement of God as the ultimate authority.  He struggles with this issue and tries to persuade his peers that the book is sound.  The man who objected (who is also an inventor) invites him to his house where he has a time machine.  The writer is sent one hundred years into the future to see what will happen if what is written in his book occurs without the authority of God.  In one of the scenes later in the film the writer is ordering a hot dog.  He puts it on a bench while he settles himself and a young girl steals his food and runs off.  When he eventually catches her he tells her off and asks her if she knows that stealing is wrong to which she responds "who says?" 

So why do I share about this movie?  Well other than poor acting this film contains a very serious message that we can actually see being played out in todays world.  In a world of political correctness and the doctrine of inclusiveness we find that God is being removed from everything we do.  We wonder why the world is going mad and why people seem to have a total disregard for the law of the land and the church.  Many tell us that the church is no longer relevant and that we live in an era of Post Christendom where the church is no longer the centre of society.  I think what this really means is that God is not considered the center of society, we then wonder why crime, violence and societal and relational issues are on the increase.  Like the writer mentioned above as soon as we take the authority out of society (God) people will do what they like.    They will do what bests suits them and they will do what they believe hurts no one else and exercises their rights.  Interestingly people want lots of rights they just dont want the responsibility. We say that things are wrong but we don't say why they are wrong.  We want to be so inclusive that we are afraid of telling it the way it is.  Was Jesus inclusive?? I don't know.  I don't think he was.  He loved all people (as we are all called to do) but He certainly did not accept everything.  He challenged the status quo and certainly did not accept the issues on the grounds that He may offend someone.

As Christians we are called to preach the good news, we are called to preach Jesus.  We are called to stand up and represent God acknowledging His authority in all things.  This for the most part will certainly be counter cultural and will generate much opposition.  It may even generate words like exclusion and intolerance.  The reality is however, that pretty much all of the laws of the land come from Christian influence and have been in place (placed by God) for thousands of years.  Maybe we should abolish our entire legal system so as to be more inclusive??

The reality is regardless of what the world says (and a majority is not always right) that God is the ultimate authority and it is to Him that we are all accountable.  How do I know this? because the bible says so.