|
Christian Snowflakes
The term 'snowflake' has come into recent usage to describe college students in particular who become offended at the drop of a hat. Like an actual snowflake, they seem unable to withstand even the slightest challenge. They are 'triggered' by any verbal expression or action they do not like. In a way they act as sort of thought police to pitch a fit if they encounter anything they have not been programmed to accept. This could not have happened to them without being severely divorced from reality.
One would have to question to what extent this phenomena could effect Christians. Strolling through the world with haughty disdain was usually only reserved for kings and emperors and a few aristocrats (Matthew 11:8). This was because difficulty and hardship introduce reality into a life that is inescapable. Often it is just these encounters that prove to us our need for God and his provision.
Having been born into an era of prosperity fueled first by the Industrial Revolution and then by a creative web of ever expanding debt, most people have come to be increasingly isolated from reality. Ideas that men and women can change sex, people can and should save the planet from whatever threat they imagine, cure poverty, evolve to higher consciousness, or import a malignant culture gain traction in the minds of those who have come to believe that the world is theirs to create.
Jesus warned his disciples of the dangers of riches (Luke 18:25). We can see in the bible how Nebuchadnezzar's prosperity diverted him from reality (Daniel 4:30). King David had become so divorced from reality that he had a man killed so he could take his wife.
James writes Christian leaders to warn them to reflect on their actions because they might not have true faith (James 2:14). Satan has put a lot of effort and resources into getting society to accept his ideas. Our prosperity may not be so much 'blessings' from God but the result of Satan's schemes to divert us into the deceptions so easily considered by riches (Mark 4:19).
When a Christian looks at the world and sees something attractive, he risks becoming an enemy of God (James 4:4). When he sees a system that needs fixing, he risks thinking he is God (Genesis 3:5). When he sees opportunities for riches, he risks grief (1 Timothy 6:8-10). When he sees himself superior, he risks having contempt for others (Luke 18:9).
Snowflakes are pitiable creatures who have come so far from reality that they are almost laughable if they were not so dangerous. As Christians we should reflect on how far the deceptions of riches and the world may have also carried us from reality as well. It can happen subtly. A husband and wife can work, commute, and shop outside the home over 100 hours a week. Their children might receive the bulk of their learning from TV and school. In order to provide a 'better' life for their children a couple may actually accomplish the opposite.
Hardship, privation, and even suffering may offer a 'better' life than delusion, self-importance, contempt, and becoming offended at anything one does not like.
|
