They sow the wind and they reap the whirlwind– Hosea 8:7a NASB

This week I had the experience of discovering first hand what sort of cultural junk kids and teens are marinating in. It is unlike anything previous generations had access to. Today’s popular culture is much dumber, much darker and much more dangerous than anything in the 1970’s, 80’s or 90’s. The enemy is doing an effective job of using our toxic culture via phones and tablets to lead kids to hell, literally and figuratively. Unfortunately, most parents, even many Christian parents are entirely oblivious to what’s going on right under their noses with the devices they pay for. 

Jesus preserve us.

Following are five attitudes that have become deeply entrenched in our culture thanks to the internet. As Christians we must work hard our tails off to recognize and root these attitudes out of our own lives and the lives of our kids.

Each one is spiritually toxic.  They include:

The key to happiness is found marketing oneself well-

All the social media accounts I looked at appeared to have been crafted by a professional marketer to promote a carefully-thought-out image. The photos were carefully chosen. The taglines tended to be subtly suggestive and well-worded. Everything went together. All the photos and taglines vibed into a fascinating aesthetic. All-the-while being mostly empty, frequently sexually suggestive and completely devoid of any actual meaning. Once I saw it, I was appalled by the smoothness and sliminess of it all. Then it dawned on me Christian influencers do the same thing these kids are doing. Furthermore, most of the stuff being produced by the Christian community has the same smoothly crafted quality (only less filthy). Sadly, Christian parents and Church leaders have inadvertently taught the younger generation to worry more about how things look than how they actually are. 

Sex is just sex-  

It is clear that some forms of sexual deviancy have become rather faddish among the under thirty crowd. Being bisexual, gay, trans or even just promiscuous is simply a part of an image people promote to the world now. This is the new normal because sex was effectively separated from intimacy and now sex is just a thing people do when they think they might like each other (Romans 1:24-27).  We are where we are because Gen Xers and Boomers did the job of separating sex from marriage. Millennials took it a step further and removed sex from emotional commitment. Generation Z has taken the whole course to its logical conclusion and detached sex from feelings. Sex is now officially meaningless. Sigh. 

Self is the ultimate arbitrator of right and wrong-

Right and wrong is no longer something most people debate, because most people have concluded morals don’t exist or are silly. Morals have become an antiquated novelty, like telephones with cords that stay connected to a wall. This started when we began teaching that feelings were more important than facts. It was a small hop to “my feelings are the ultimate decider of right and wrong in every situation”. Without an actual standard of right and wrong life has become chaotic and everyone literally does what is right in their own eyes (Judges 21:25).

If God is real He exists as a tool to be used- 

The name it and claim it movement is to blame for this one. A lot of young people, as well as a number of not-so-young people tend to see God as a tool to be used to get what they want rather than an eternal, far-superior, immortal being who is to be loved, feared and obeyed (Proverbs 1:7, Deuteronomy 10:12). 

Life is about NOW- 

We live in a strange dichotomy. COVID-19 has proven that many are scared spitless of dying. The world remained in lockdown for over a year because of a mostly irrational fear of death.  However, few seem to worry about what will happen to them after they die. This has led to a rather peculiar reality where people want to grasp at experiences that bring immediate pleasure but do not want to think about the possible eternal consequences of choosing those experiences over a different kind of life (Jeremiah 17:4). The church is not exempt from this thinking. Many Christians have chosen to forget God still judges sin so they sin and don’t think anything at all of the eternal consequences doing so (1st Corinthians 6:9, Galatians 5:20-22). 

None of these beliefs materialized out of thin air. Kids today believe what they believe about life and God because they have seen a lighter, slightly less ugly version of the same belief system modeled in the previous generations. The only real answer to the problems this has created is for those of us who do know God to pray for self-awareness and then to repent of any sin God reveals in our lives.