“Son of man, eat what is before you, eat this scroll; then go and speak to the house of Israel.” So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat.

Ezekiel 3:1-2

Ezekiel was a strange sort of man. He saw angels as clear as day, he inspired the song “Wheels in the Sky”, and he baked his bread over cow dung. Strange man. But this man also told it like it is, “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me.” (Ezek. 3:16).

So warn them he did. But he also has much to say to us. Especially when it comes to what is wrong with popular culture at large. 

Ezekiel 26:49 pointed out three-thousand years ago that all cultural rot begins with, “pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease.” Luxury and prosperity are the beginning of the soul’s and society’s downfall.

Why do I have Ezekiel pointing this out? Because this is us! For the last fifty years, Americans have enjoyed relative peace born from our technological advancements bringing affluence and an abundance of leisure time. We have grown bored. There seems to be nothing left to do but sit and watch mind-numbing stories played on our living room television screens. Experts say for most of us, fifteen years of our lives are lived under the blue hue of digital make-believe. And then after every fifteen minutes of viewing, our story is interrupted by an onslaught of advertisements that bombard our senses with the same droning message, “You are special and you deserve to be happy.” The solution is to go shopping and buy what you want, now! Whether that be concerning the bar of soap you are using in the shower or the pizza you are having delivered to the front door for dinner, life is all about you and purchasing that thing that will make you happy!

This constant concern for only satisfying “me” has leaked into every aspect of life. Just ask your child’s coach if this is true. They will tell you that each player on the team believes themselves to be the best. And no wonder, because every parent tells their child they are the best, the one meant for glory who deserves the spotlight, the most playing time, and to take the final penalty kick to win the game.

As the obnoxiously sentimental Walt Disney talking point goes, “All our dreams can come true; if we have the courage to pursue them.” So, logically, if the child has the courage to believe and they do not become the star of the team it must be some sinister plot of the coach that is keeping them back, “My child wanted more! But no! That stupid coach got in the way of their success!”

CURRENT CULTURAL ROT

Let me pick the scab of this obsession with “self” a little more.  Ezekiel continues, after the being overfed and unconcerned, “my people have grown haughty and have done detestable things before me.” Detestable in this case means perverted actions with their body that make God sick. Once again, welcome to America.

Have you ever visited a gay pride parade or caught a glimpse of the rainbow spectacle online? The first thing you will notice is all of the colorful vibrant banners and flamboyant outfits parading down the street whether it be San Francisco, New York, Toronto, or Hackensack, New Jersey. Combined with joyous calls for unity and love, the LGBTQ movement sure seems like it is full of happy fun people celebrating their newfound self and personal independence from society’s antiquated and restrictive norms. “Finally,” they tell us, “we can be who we have always wanted to be!”

But look closely, are the people who are wearing the bright rainbow underwear, and sometimes no underwear at all, really that happy? What have they actually achieved? Some will say they can now create a new identity for themselves. Others are finally seeing signs of a complete cultural shift where traditional values of marriage and family are starting to change, an inclusive invitation for all of the new types and definitions of family are welcome. For a person in the LGBTQ movement, this is human progress, something to celebrate. But aside from all appearances, there still is a lot of personal anger and angst bubbling up from underneath the surface. If you took some time to listen to the average gay person’s grievances and complaints, or if you were to read their writings, the vast majority of people in the LGBTQ movement are still not happy. Actually, many of them are downright miserable. They not only want the right to live in the reality of their own choosing, but they also want total acceptance from others of that reality.

Hiding behind all of the revelry and joyful celebration is a deep-seated hostile demand, “Not only should you recognize that I am my own person as I decide what is right for me, but you need to love me the way I am.”  They are insisting and even enforcing civil policy to be recognized as the masters of their own reality even if biology, long-standing healthy societal practices and norms, or plain old common sense tells us differently. Just because a person is born a man does not mean they have to conform to the physical chromosomal demands and stay a man. Just because thousands of years of teaching has taught us that a child needs both a mother and father doesn’t mean their child needs a mother and a father. And the reason is simple: No one should ever be able to stop any of us from determining our own path. Not even God.

Why? Because life is all about me! I am master of my fate.

BREAK THE CHAINS

Deep down in the modern person’s psyche, we need to do all we can to “break their chains and throw off their shackles.” (Psalm 2:3) The love of self and the ultimate value of personal self-determination is modern society’s highest goal! It is so important that people will reinvent themselves and strive to become whatever they want just because they can. Or they will push the extremes just so they can spite those who say they can’t. A grown man will even don a pair of baby diapers so he can poop himself simply because he wants to.

We’ve arrived, we are all completely free! “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” (Judges 17:6) The radical feminist who wants to marry themselves would agree. The comic-con fanatic who dresses like Harley Quinn even at work would agree. The spoiled fat child on a 30-hour video game binge would agree., “It’s my life and I can do what I want!” And now the spillover from this autonomous rebel spirit has seeped its way into the church.

DONERS AND THE CHURCH

The individual Christian in this era must also be allowed to freely pick and choose how they worship and follow God. Gone are the days when the local church in a person’s neighborhood community was where they should try to find a Christian family to grow and mature with. Sunday commitment has now become “Showtime!”; church is a place to be amused and entertained, so go to where the best show is. And why not? We all need to be able to go where we like, don’t we? If too much is asked of me by the church, if people bother me, or if the pace of the program is too dull – – I’m done!

 “Doners” are all the rage now in Christian circles. Younger generations of Christians figure that it is better to stay home or go to a coffee shop and be true to yourself than sit under stodgy orthodoxy or put up with an angry man yelling from the pulpit. So they are done with the local church, “I just want to be me, isn’t that what grace is for?” In this hyper-individualized world there no longer is any room for strict words and phrases that once were part-n-parcel of traditional Christianity. Words like “obey”, “duty”, “sacrifice”, and “suffering” have no meaning anymore, we cannot allow them in because they might spoil the mood. “How dare God tell me what to do. He is lucky I even come to church when there are better options available for me. And after all, I am a nice guy. Isn’t that enough?”

 So where does loyalty to Jesus fit in this modern age?

How do you think the Lord, our master, feels when people only see him as someone who is there to give sanction to each person’s chosen lifestyle? In the modern mind, Jesus has not only become for us the bartender handing out each person’s preferred drink of choice, but he is also the big bouncer at the door of the Christian nightclub who is ready and willing to kick out those who don’t want to join in the celebration of freedom. Can you see him? There Jesus stands with his muscled tattooed arms – it is a barbed-wired cross of course – keeping the legalist and traditional Christian out. This spiritual party is only for the free-spirited, grace-filled explorer who is finally allowed to become their fully self-actualized self!

Jesus knows it is about time to give up the old, dusty expectations of dying to self. His new calling is more akin to Walt Disney, we need to dream and become all that you want to become. We are now told that Jesus wants to see the variety of diversity while we love one another just the way they are. The new credo of bartender/bouncer Jesus is, “If anyone wants to be a Christian let him express himself, pick up a new shade of lipstick or hair color, or the latest Avengers outfit and I will follow them!” Or to be more politically correct, I can just hear Jesus now, “You go girl!”

JESUS NEEDS TO CHANGE

To be relevant in this inclusional new world, Jesus needs to change. What worked to reach the first century Jews and Gentiles no longer works on gender fluid folks and weekend sports warriors. We are no longer uneducated ignorant peasants living a hardscrabble farm life. Simple commands to follow is no longer enough. We are now highly educated techno-savvy selves, our options are unlimited, Jesus needs to either join us as we keep on our busy schedules, or gently persuade us why following him is worth it.

 Jesus, stop telling us what to do, we don’t take too kindly to heavy-handed authority figures. We have had enough of their abuse, or we have heard from others how abusive authority has become so it is hard to trust those in charge. Jesus, you need to be gentle. Give us what we ask for, encourage us when we are fearful, be patient when we want to relax and unwind, don’t put undue pressure on our already stress-filled job, and most of all confirm our feelings. They are our authentic self after-all.

What the modern world demands is a fun-loving friend to make our hectic lives easier. We don’t need a bloody man hanging on a cross anymore. Do we?

Or do we? I wonder what Ezekiel would say?