Monday, November 20, 2006

Of Fish and Men

• Posted by Hannah at 4:28 PM
• 1 Comments

Such is the life of a goldfish. Born in water, he will most likely spend his life doing the same exciting activities as always: eating, breathing, and of course, swimming. Believe it or not, this little fish with his pea-sized brain and infamous three-second memory span, has a lesson to teach.

Can the goldfish know he is wet, if he has never known what it means to be dry?

Pause. Take a close look at your surroundings. What do you see? You are immersed in a culture: a society that is the product of the lives, ideas, and beliefs of the men and women around you. You are bombarded with the culture through the media---music, books, newspapers, television, and the internet.

Whether or not you are conscious of it, every single form of media is sending you a message. Do you know what messages you are being sent? Do you know what messages you are unconsciously accepting?

A.W. Tozer said, "What we believe about God is the most important thing about us."Who or what you worship defines how you live. Fun-worshipers (believe me, they exist) live in pursuit of new thrills. Ambition-driven individuals live in pursuit of their ambition. On a more specific level, New Age devotees live to ascend by conforming to the "cosmic purpose." Buddhists live for the extermination of all desires. Even secular humanists, who claim to worship no one, live for the potential of mankind, or in other words, themselves.

What dictates the lifestyle of a Christian? As recently the Church of England announced that killing disabled babies is ethical and the American Episcopalian Church has installed its first presiding female bishop, it is unsurprising that only 9% of born again believers and only 50% of American pastors have a Biblical worldview.

Labels: worldview