OPINION:
Admiring a piece of art or architecture generally leads to accolades for the painters, creatives or builders responsible, with praise for their passion, zest and inventiveness abounding.
Yet this commonsense approach to honoring creativity doesn’t often translate when we’re talking about God, whom the Bible credits with forming every facet of our being and sentience.
While the Almighty was once an intrinsic cultural mainstay, today He is simply an afterthought, footnote or ghost for many — a distant figure unworthy of attention, let alone praise or adoration.
In contemporary culture, people, things, ideas and constructs are undoubtedly taking precedence over the Almighty. And as the emotional whims of the day create a wind that thrusts people into whatever direction they so choose, the consequences are clear.
The fixed parameters of truth have been replaced by the constant ebb and flow of human passion, and, as a consequence, an obsession with the here and now has enraptured us all.
One of the Apostle Paul’s most telling and timeless proclamations can be observed in Romans 1:25 (NIV), which reads, “They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator — who is forever praised. Amen.”
This is the crisis we face today. People have become apathetic or even hostile toward the Lord and have turned their attention — and worship — to created things rather than the Creator.
We see it in politics, our schools, emotional coping mechanisms like safe spaces, a bizarre cultural turn to the occult and even in hyper-environmentalism. This obsession with the temporal is the result of society’s slow and steady move away from faithfulness and, at the same time, the ever-distracting paradigms created by an influx of technology.
After decades of pulling prayer and God out of everything, we’ve left a massive vacuum and a dearth of spiritual connectedness leaving people desperate for something — or someone — to revere.
Rather than honoring the Creator for all He has made, we do exactly what Paul warned about: We serve and praise created things. We set the standards, we make the rules and God’s standards — the very cement holding together our existence — aren’t even in the equation.
That’s the mayhem with which we’ve chosen to live, bending the rules and truths needed to maintain sanity and reality to their breaking point.
One of the most flagrant examples of this cultural conundrum comes from the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, an organization that recently announced its use of artificial intelligence to rewrite the Book of Genesis.
Yes, you read that correctly.
Rather than honoring the text’s thousands of years of history and context, this new version of the book seeks to be more animal-friendly, amending elements of Abraham’s story. At one point, he befriends a lamb rather than engaging in animal sacrifice. While some might laugh off the antics, the message seems clear: humans know better than God.
We see this same toxicity in our politics, where many have turned from morals and values and are now willing to compromise simply for the sake of winning. Elevating politics above God is a surefire way to find oneself abandoning the biblical call to love God and love others; unsurprisingly, we’re experiencing a frigid culture delivering moral muddles.
But it doesn’t end there. Environmentalism is another area where we see this dynamic rearing its ugly head. There are certainly merits to treating the Earth well, but some facets of the movement have moved into what feels like overt glorification of the creation.
A December 2022 Washington Post article titled, “Should you not have kids because of climate change? It’s complicated” explored this very issue. The article noted there are people in the “U.S. and other rich countries preoccupied with how having children may worsen the world’s rapid warming.”
Regardless of where one stands on climate change or any of the other associated issues, allowing the Earth to dictate decisions that should come from God is deeply problematic.
And it doesn’t end there. Under the parameters of transgender ideology, God’s plans for one’s body, being and life no longer matter. Emotions take precedence, and an abandonment of the eternal means acting upon internal feelings to create an alternative reality.
Another area where we see the worship of creation replacing the Creator is in the theological realm. The percentage of Americans embracing the Christian faith has plummeted, with the nation’s youngest generations the most disconnected from biblical truth.
Meanwhile, stunning percentages of people between the ages of 13 and 25 are turning to herbs, crystals and occult practices. In fact, 44% of youths in this category use these tools, with 21% doing so weekly. They’re looking for power in creation and themselves — strengths they’ll only truly find in the God of whom they’ve been deprived.
But can we really be surprised? Culture has sold the lie we don’t need God, we get to set the rules and that the creation really is worthy of all the glory and praise. As a result, we’re experiencing record mental health crises, copious violence, hatred and rage, and a disconnected populace desperately in need of hope.
My prayer is we all start to heed another of Paul’s proclamations in Romans 15:13 (NIV): “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
• Billy Hallowell is a digital TV host and interviewer for Faithwire and CBN News and the co-host of CBN’s “Quick Start Podcast.” He is the author of four books, including “Playing With Fire: A Modern Investigation Into Demons, Exorcism, and Ghosts” and “The Armageddon Code: One Journalist’s Quest for End-Times Answers.”
• Billy Hallowell can be reached at bhallowell@washingtontimes.com.
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