How to Be Countercultural
By Elizabeth Prata
“Pride Month” is over now, thank goodness. All during the month of June we were bombarded on social media and elsewhere with perverse and disgusting depictions of the perversity that sinful people love but that God hates. (Romans 1:31-32)
Whenever I was scrolling and came across one of those depictions, I averted my eyes, ground my teeth, asked God “How long O Lord?!” and went on. Seeing those pictures and clips upset me, especially when there were children in them or bystanding as they do when a parade passes. A parade of perversity.
I’m on Twitter a lot. Twitter (now ridiculously named ‘X’) is owned by Elon Musk, the billionaire. He tweeted something the other day that caught my attention.
I realized how much of a relief it was when I did come across a photo that simply was beautiful, or happy, or displaying nature in all God’s glory. Yes, I decided, I will make a practice of posting a few things each day that are simply beautiful. I figured if I was relieved seeing such nice things, other people may be too. I’ve been burdened by the ugliness of the perversity and sin captured in these photos and videos. Let’s push back and show either great art, design beauty, or nature in all its wonder.
THAT now got me thinking about photographs in general. I’m an educator and many of my colleagues are on Facebook. Summer time is fun time. I love seeing their summer vacation photos. I love seeing the anniversary celebration photos. I got to thinking about their pictures. It makes me happy to see my friends happy. It gives me joy to see a marriage thrive long-term.
And that is the crux. It’s the reverse of the Pride pics. If it makes me, a Christian, happy to see God’s working in families and marriages, visual depictions of a couple’s blessing of children or a marriage succeeding under His ordinance and guidance, it must grind the sinner’s gears to see them. As much as I am grieved with glimpsing on social media during Pride Month overweight men strutting around in bondage gear, it must grind satan to see displays of flourishing families frolicking at the beach or couples praising God for a wonderful marriage.
Amazing these days that a mom and her child and her husband as nuclear family, happy in the Lord, is revolutionary in these perverse days.
Normal family life is now counter-cultural. Stop and think about that for a second. It really is. You think that posting happy family photos is a negligible act, or an incidental moment. Frivolous, really. It’s not.
It’s actually an act of war.
The simple act of posting family photos of a nuclear family with a married biological mom and a dad is a poke in the eye to satan.
Whether you knew it or not when you posted that photo or video, the effect is countercultural. It’s a revolutionary push back against ugliness. And sin is ugly. Grace and godliness is needed. THAT is the real beauty.
You do not need to be a skilled rhetorician to show Christ in your life. You don’t need to always take a combative stance. You don’t need to win debates. If that is not your style, that’s fine. Simply posting a photo of your family with a caption of how much you love motherhood, or an anniversary picture with a praise for your husband, will have the same impact, or more, than all the above. Even better, attach a pertinent verse to it as well.
So post your photos that show a moral life under God- the wedding pics, anniversary photos, clips of the kids, being a mom or a dad, choosing motherhood, happy in the Lord. They are not incidental pics nor are they frivolous. They are revolutionary. Sad to say that showing a nuclear family with a dad, mom, and happy children, with the adults thriving in their complementary roles, is now considered extremist.
So, DO IT.
Further Resources
Beauty and the Best, RC Sproul
The Beauty of our God, RC Sproul
