The Baptist Beacon
The Baptist Beacon
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POLITICAL CORRECTNESS By: Elder Lynn Stapleton Huntingdon, TN In Ecclesiastes 1:9 Solomon said there is no new thing under the sun. Solomon never saw an automobile nor a spaceship. What then did Solomon mean? Solomon's vast experience taught him that in many ways new inventions are similar to the old ones. Man has always sought faster means of travel and a way to reach heaven. Man's motives and methods may differ through time but there is nothing really new. The popular new expression "political correctness" is simply a way of wording things nicely. While the expression is new, this type of political rhetoric is not. Politicians use words and phrases that are politically correct and they coin new words to make old problems sound better to avoid offending voters. Political correctness, in my opinion, is filtering over into religion. Politically correct Bibles are being written which are less offensive to human nature, and one version removes every reference to God in the male gender. "Preachers are using motivational style preaching which persuades men and women to believe more in themselves rather than repent to God for forgiveness of sin." Nondenominational churches are growing rapidly because they offer everything that appeals to the flesh while avoiding the truths of God's word that offends the conscience. These recent developments in religion are not new. In I Kings 12:28 King Jeroboam told the Israelites it was too much for them to go all the way to Jerusalem to offer their sacrifices, so he erected altars in Bethel and Dan. In Jeremiah 36:23 King Jehoiakim burned the inspired words of God because he didn't like what he read. Using politically correct words and phrases is a strategy used to get votes and win elections and this strategy is also employed in religion to build great congregations. Proverbs 16:25 says "There is a way that seemeth right unto a man but the end thereof is death." Jeremiah 5:31 asks what will a man do in the end of a lifetime of listening and loving false doctrines? "Religion which only appeals to man's carnal nature may seem right but it will leave the sinner hopelessly lost." In contrast, true religion demands repentance and a complete regeneration through the power of God's Holy Spirit. The prophets of the Old Testament and the preachers in the New Testament preached the word of God boldly and exposed man's sins. It was not the message men wanted to hear but it was the message God gave the preachers and the message that worked salvation in all that believed. That same message, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, may be heard today in Baptist Churches throughout the world. It is not politically correct and it is not any more popular today, but it is the power of God unto salvation.
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