The World is Full of Normaphobes

                                      "You really do kid yourselves if you think you can be
                                        an orthodox Christian, and be cool, at the same time
                                        cool enough and hip enough to cut it in the wider
                                        world.
                                      "Frankly, in a couple of years it will not matter how
                                       much urban ink you sport, how much fair trade coffee
                                       you drink, how many craft brews you can name, how
                                       much urban gibberish you spout, how many art house
                                       movies you can find that redeemer figure in, and how
                                       much money you divert from gospel preaching to
                                       social justice:  maintaining biblical sexual ethics will
                                       be the equivalent in our culture of being a white su-
                                       premacist."
                                                                                  Carl Trueman
                                                                                  Reformation 21 Blog


          Have you noticed that almost everything that used to be "normal" is now
     considered to be wrong by the world, and almost everything that used to be
     "abnormal" is now considered to be right.

          God has a warning for people who oppose His word.

                                          
                                       "Woe to those who call evil good
                                         and good evil, who put darkness
                                         for light and light for darkness,
                                         who put bitter for sweet and
                                         sweet for bitter.
                                        "Woe to those who are wise in their
                                          own eyes and clever in their own
                                          sight."
                                                                      Isaiah 5:20-21
                                      
                                                                            

          If you oppose abortion then the world says you oppose women's "reproductive
     rights" and are engaging in a "war on women."
          If you support traditional marriage and believe that homosexual behavior is
     sinful, then the world calls you an "intolerant, bigoted homophobe."

          Carl Trueman calls these worldly people "normaphobes" because they oppose
     anything that is godly, and replace God's word with their own worldly, unbiblical
     views.
          He writes (with a strong hint of sarcasm), "The sooner normaphobes are cate-
     gorized as hate criminals, the better it will be for those of us who belong to the
     despised minority of the once but clearly no longer normal."


                                                                **********


          If you're like me, you are tired of being called a bigot because you believe in
     traditional, biblical principles, but that's what Bible believing Christians face in
     today's world. 
          The world hates us because our beliefs remind them that there is a God and there
     is right and wrong.

          The Bible tells us that the world hated Jesus and will hate his people.  Jesus even
     predicted that the world would hate His people.

                          
                                         "Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the
                                          world hates you."
                                                                                 1 John 3:13


                                         "If the world hates you, keep in mind
                                          that it hated me first.  If you belonged
                                          to the world, it would love you as its
                                          own.  As it is, you do not belong to the
                                          world, but I have chosen you out of the
                                          world.  That is why the world hates you."
                                                                                 John 15:18-19


                                         "I have given them your (God's) word and
                                          the world has hated them, for they are
                                          not of the world, any more than I am of
                                          the world."
                                                                                 John 17:14



          The word "world" here refers to the human system that opposes God's purpose.

          Christians are no longer of this world, but belong to the kingdom of God.

                            "The believer's essential being, his new life, comes
                             specially from God, and therefore he is not the same
                             as those who oppose God."
                                                                                NIV Commentary


          The world hates God, His word, and His people, but those who are faithful
     to Him will overcome the world.


                                         " ... everyone born of God overcomes the world.
                                           This is the victory that has overcome the world,
                                           even our faith.  Who is it that overcomes the world?
                                           Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God."
                                                                                  1 John 5:4-5