I am working my way through a blog series in anticipation of my forthcoming book, Surviving Religion 101: Letters to a Christian Student on Keeping the Faith in College (Crossway, 2021). This new series will include 7 videos that tackle key intellectual questions about the Christian faith.
This fifth video deals with one of the most common challenges we face: “My Views Are Seen as Hateful and Intolerant: Should I Change Them?”
Here we come to the issue of the Christian view of morality. For those on a secular college campus, there’s nothing that makes you feel out of place more quickly than your distinctive moral code.
Of course, college campuses have never been known as bastions of moral virtue. The party atmosphere and near-hedonistic tendencies of modern university life are well known (as captured in all the 1980s movies I watched growing up). Even so, something has shifted—and shifted dramatically—in the last generation. And this shift is most evident in the way people approach the issue of sex and sexuality.
No longer is sex just something people do, it is viewed as core to who they are. People have attached their “identity” to their sexual activity and their sexual preferences. The two—sex and identity—are now inextricably intertwined.
This means that Christian views on morality—especially as they pertain to sex—will be seen as a personal attack on people. While in prior generations the biblical view of sex would have just been viewed as old-fashioned and stodgy, now it is viewed as downright hateful and discriminatory. It’s regarded not as just a different opinion but as a full-frontal assault on another person’s dignity and worth.
In other words, much of the world considers the Christian view of sex—more to the point, the Bible’s view of sex—as immoral. (Just let the irony of that sink in for a moment).
And here’s what’s going to happen (and probably already has happened). You will begin to doubt the goodness and rightness of your moral positions. You may wonder if you are the problem. You may begin to feel like you’re a hateful, discriminatory person. And this might tempt you to change your views so that you are seen as more “loving” and “tolerant.”
So, how do we respond to this challenge? Here’s my latest video:
Dr. Paul Inman says
I very much have and continue to appreciate your articles and videos which articulate effective answers to various doctrinal, ethical, and moral issues. HIS blessings on you, family, and the ministry/work HE has entrusted to you. Blessings from Atlantic Canada!
Chevy says
Yeah, but if Christians rely on and look to God for the foundation of their moral character, who says they have a corner on God’s “views”? Who made Christians the standard-bearer for all moral viewpoints? They look to the Bible for this. Who says everything that the Bible says is true, and that we all should follow that way? Why are not the arguments of humanists, or atheists, or (pick a worldview) just as valid as Christians?
Nemo says
Chevy wrote, “Why are not the arguments of humanists, or atheists, or (pick a worldview) just as valid as Christians?”
Do you have some specific arguments in mind, or are you just shooting the breeze?
Chad says
“No longer is sex just something people do, it is viewed as core to who they are. People have attached their “identity” to their sexual activity and their sexual preferences. The two—sex and identity—are now inextricably intertwined. This means that Christian views on morality—especially as they pertain to sex—will be seen as a personal attack on people…It’s regarded not as just a different opinion but as a full-frontal assault on another person’s dignity and worth.”
This quote perfectly describes what some have termed “the psychologized self” where one’s beliefs are internalized and personalized such that differing views represent an attack. This then creates hostility and offense, and shuts down meaningful debate and the free, civil exchange of ideas. Very troubling trend.
Thank you Dr. Kruger for your sound teaching.