I want to read a passage from Isaiah 40:8, a familiar one. It says:
The grass withers the flower fades but the word of our God stands forever.
And you will see the significance of that passage as we go through our lesson tonight.
Just keep that in mind.
There's been a lot of commentary and public debate recently over the issue of political
correctness.
You may not be able to define this term but I'm sure you have heard about or have been
affected by it's influence. Political correctness, or PC as it's referred to, is an ideological
movement that began in the early 90s on American college campuses.
It's hard to define but basically it's an attempt to solve the problems of intolerance
and bigotry in this country.
That's the definition.
Political correctness is an attempt to solve the problems of intolerance and bigotry in this country.
That's what people say about it.
The problem is that in an attempt to solve these problems the PC movement has become
a problem in itself.
So my lesson this evening I'd like to review the background of this ideology and propose
a Christian solution to the problems that the PC movement is trying to resolve.
A blogger named Jon Miltimore writes that in the November 16th issue of the Claremont
Review of Books.
A professor, his name is Angelo Codevilla.
He wrote a very interesting article about the rise of political correctness in America.
Professor Codevilla is a professor emeritus of international relations at Boston University.
He wrote that the notion of political correctness came into use among communists in the 1930s
as a semi-humorous reminder that the party meaning the Communist Party.
The Communist Party's interest was to be treated as a reality that ranks above reality itself.
Stay with me here.
The inside joke among party members at that time went something like this.
Comrade, your statement is factually incorrect.
However, it is politically correct.
That's where that term initiated. This little joke,
this little inside joke was a vital reminder to Stalin's party members that to stray from
the communist party line could mean death.
So whether or not something was true mattered less than whether or not in advance the Communist
Party's ideology or in other words unless it was politically correct and so the term
to be called politically correct meant, correct according to the party doctrine.
Never mind the truth, never mind reality.
Reality was what the party said it was. There reality was politically correct.
So this term and approach has been appropriated by the politically progressive movement here
in the United States and elsewhere in order to move their agenda forward.
Political correctness is not a goal.
It is not an end result as many think.
It is a means to an end.
Political correctness is a strategy.
The PC movement has a basic goal and that is to fix what they believe is a broken society
here in the United Sates.
If they seize control of that society they will repair what is broken.
The main faults, according to PC ideology, the main faults of this nation according to
them are the following.
The first is racism.
And according to them, racism perpetrated mainly by white people.
Secondly, sexism and sexism perpetrated mainly by men.
Thirdly, oppression and oppression perpetrated mainly by America
because it's accomplishment and laws and traditions were simply a history and a product of racism,
sexism and oppression of the poor and most recently added to that category, immigrants.
Of course, no one can deny that these problems do exist in this vast country of over 300
million people.
But the PC movement believes that these are not simply problems that any society has but
rather that racism and sexism and oppression of the poor are the basis of American thinking
and political policy.
And their solution to this problem involves a complete change in the way that Americans
think and relate to each other.
The PC strategy has three avenues that will lead them to their goal and the goal is control.
Political correctness is a strategy in order to gain control.
So what are the three avenues?
1. Promote universal multiculturalism
In other words, PC believe that American history and culture is way too concentrated in European
white history and literature.
In PC thinking re-education requires equal time for every culture represented in America
today so that in the classroom students should spend equal amounts of time and resources
studying George Washington, a white male European descendent.
They should spend as much time studying about him as they study the poetry of Maya Angelou
who is a black female former poet laureate.
So much time in the classrooms, studying the poetry of Maya Angelou as a student study
the life and times of George Washington. PC ideology would do away with the melting pot
idea that when you come to America you shed your past and you embrace the values of the
USA set forth in the Constitution and the traditions of this country.
In other words, you've become an American.
Instead each culture would promote and develop its own ideas its own history and traditions.
And America would no longer be a melting pot but will become a quilt of many colors.
So you would have African-American and Euro American and Native American and Hispanic
American and you always with the hyphen.
Actually this is the political philosophy of Canada.
Nothing new here and I can tell you what that has led to having come from Canada.
2. Reinvent language and law
In other words, change the language and the laws so that they will eliminate any form
of racism or perceived sexism or harassment.
What would that mean?
Well freshmen are now called freshpersons.
Ms. instead of Miss or Mrs. Eliminate References to God as Father in the Bible.
That's sexism. Some companies forbid employees from having
or reading a bible at work because this would be religious harassment to those who do not
believe and of course the support of gay rights and abortion rights because not to do so would
be sexist or racist because everyone has a right to pursue their own orientation, whatever
they believe that to be and the government is there to support that.
And anyone who is against that is a bigot or a sexist.
Now there are more examples than time.
But many efforts to outlaw prayer for example or to initiate quotas or even suppress displays
of patriotism.
Patriotism is part of the strategy.
Good example of that is the University of Maryland officials at the time did not want
students to fly the American flag during the Gulf War because of protest of the PC advocates
because they claim that the flag was a symbol of American racism oppression and sexism.
And these efforts to change the law and to change how we speak and how we relate to each
other are largely done through the influence of this movement that began in the 90s.
3. The redistribution of wealth
A basic concept of the PC movement is that America systematically oppresses its poor.
And for this reason a redistribution of wealth is necessary.
This is why in PC terminology a person is not poor.
Oh no.
That's a degrading term.
A person is economically exploited.
Yes, a person is economically disadvantaged.
New Language.
The PC movement goes beyond a simple concept of the "haves" sharing with the "have nots."
They want government to guarantee that the wealth and whoever has it is evenly distributed
among everyone.
Now the battleground for these ideas are the college campuses because that's where the
future writers and business leaders and politicians and social engineers will come from.
And the influence of this movement is felt not only on campuses but in larger society
and government as well.
Note the support of gay and abortion rights by the previous administration in this country.
Mr. Obama, he was the absolute poster boy for the PC movement.
He embraced all of this with enthusiasm if you didn't realize that.
Do you remember Donna Shalala?
She was the former secretary of Health and Human Services.
She was considered one of the leading exponents of the PC movements while she was the chancellor
of the University of Wisconsin.
She was plucked out of there and put in charge of a large bureaucracy.
So with all of this happening around us, how do we as Christians respond to this newest
social and political way?
Let me suggest two very practical and effective responses that Christians can offer to the
people and the influence of political correctness in our generation.
So what will it be like, the title of the sermon says Political Correctness or Bible correctness.
1. Understand the motivation behind the movement
Don't get mad just because of what you hear on TV.
Sometimes I get so upset I just turn it off, switch the channels.
This ideology and the changes that it is causing in our society stems from the frustration
that some people feel in dealing with social problems that don't seem to be getting better.
I mean let's face it, discrimination does exist in this country where a person is excluded
from opportunity and respect based simply on their color or their culture or their physical
and intellectual limitations.
We cannot deny that, that it exists in this country.
And oppression, of course, oppression does exist.
We're the "haves" used their wealth only in the service of gaining more wealth without
regard for others and their needs.
Does that exist in the USA?
Absolutely.
But I don't believe, like the PC movement does, that this country was founded with the purpose
of perpetuating racism and oppression.
I don't believe that.
However the economic success.
The country was based on the idea that economic success should
be had by all kinds of people, not just white males.
That we should have political and religious freedom in this country.
That the amount of foreign aid that we give in comparison to others is quite generous.
And not to mention the cost of American lives to defend other nations and their freedoms.
All of those things tells me that this country was founded on the principle of liberty and
justice for all people, not just white Anglo-Saxon males.
The ideals of the founding fathers may have not been reached and the PC movement may be
correct in pointing that out.
And we need to understand this.
But to say that the original goal was to produce the evils of racism and oppression that is
to be guilty of the very thing that they condemn and that is intolerance and hatred.
So what was interesting is the big march after Mr. Trump was inaugurated (took the oath of
office) remember that big march that happened the next day, that protest march?
They said a million women were marching in and we were showing solidarity and blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah.
And but who was not allowed to march in that march? The men.
You know who else wasn't allowed to march?
Pro-life people.
They were not allowed to march.
They were not permitted to march.
Christians who openly acknowledge that they wanted to march to say to the nation Christianity
is about love.
Christianity is against racism.
Christians, they were not allowed to march.
The problem with the PC movement is that it is an overreaction to a real problem and in
doing so it makes the same problem worse.
The other thing that I might point out to you,
aside from trying to understand what is actually taking place here.
2. Understand that the answer to the evils in society is Biblical correctness not political correctness
In every generation man tries to find ways to solve society's problems.
There are breakthroughs in science and there are breakthroughs in social engineering and
there are all kinds of philosophical ideas that come and go one generation after another.
And the political correctness movement is just one more of these that are going by.
But the way to deal with evil is to confront it with the truth of the Scriptures and remain
steadfast that with truth and that truth, whether it seems politically correct or not,
remains the truth.
One generation after another.
The advocates of the PC movement are merely trying to establish their own standard in
order to measure what is correct and right.
The mistake with this is that they are trying to take the place of the Bible as the basic
standard for what is right and for what is good.
The Bible is the standard for what is right and what is good.
In John 12:48 we read, Jesus says:
He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word
I spoke is what will judge him at the last day.
We use that passage obviously to encourage
people to respond to the gospel of course, but in this passage Jesus is also saying the
word I spoke to you, this is what judges not only you personally but this is what judges
what is right, what is good and what is proper.
The word I spoke to you. In another familiar passage (II Timothy 3:16), Paul says every
scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching for reproof for correction for
training in righteousness.
What is that training?
For knowing and doing what is right.
That the man of God may be adequate equipped for every good work. Equipped,
meaning we don't need another philosophy to tell us and to explain to us what is right,
what is good, what is proper or what is moral.
We have it already.
The Bible says of itself that it is the standard given by God that will determine what and
who is right, regardless of what man says.
But the PC movement is trying to change this.
For example, political correctness says to oppose homosexuality is a sign of sexism and
intolerance.
But the Bible says, "Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind.
It is an abomination" (Leviticus 18:22).
And then Paul says in I Corinthians 6:9-10 homosexuals will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Who you going to believe?
Another example of political correctness says that a woman has authority over her own body
and a right to choose if she wishes to terminate her pregnancy or not.
And anyone who opposes this is bigot. is a misogynist, sexist, whatever you want to call
that person.
But the Bible says that all human life is sacred because it is made in the image of God.
And so this requires us to respect all people regardless of their color or their sex.
Now PC people would agree with us on that point.
But it also requires us to respect all those who are human but have not yet been born.
In the New Testament, the Holy Spirit described John the Baptist while he was still inside
his mother's womb with the term "Brephos" which is a Greek word meaning "babe" in Luke 1:41-44.
The interesting thing about this word is that it is the exact Greek word that is used to
describe Jesus
after He had been born.
Same word used to describe John while he is still in his mother's womb.
Exactly the same word to describe Jesus after He has been born and come into this world
(Luke 2:12).
The conclusion here is that in God's eyes both are equally human whether still in the
mother's womb or delivered into the world.
That's not theology, that's grammar.
If there was an essential difference between the two of any significance there are plenty
of Greek words that could have used another word to describe the child in the womb.
The only difference between these two was in the development and the environment.
So the answer to racism and sexism and depression is not a new language or a new distribution of power.
The answer to these evils is a new heart transformed by the Spirit of Christ.
A heart that the Bible says is putting to death the deeds of the flesh like racism and
greed and oppression and sexism.
And putting to death these things by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:13).
Not being put away by the power of a political movement.
A heart that the Bible says is free from all bitterness and wrath.
Anger clamorous slander along with all malice a heart that is kind to others tender and
forgiving (Ephesians 4:31).
I ask a question.
Was this the heart that was being demonstrated as the PC movement people were rioting in
the streets and destroying property and smashing cars and beating people up and cursing?
Is that the heart?
Jesus says from the heart comes what you say, and what you do.
It comes from the heart.
You can tell the tree by its fruit.
Well if the fruit of the tree is rioting and discarding of the rule of law.
And oppression, is this a movement we ought to adapt to in this country?
Political correctness has produced a new language and a lot of debate that hasn't really solved
the problems that it identifies.
Biblical correctness, on the other hand, produces a new heart which bears the fruit of true
personal change.
Love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and faithfulness and self-control which ultimately
works to change society for the better.
Thirty years ago the issue that I might have been preaching about was the issue of the
New Age movement.
Remember that the New Age movement?
My point back then would have been: stick with the New Testament because the New Age
movement would ultimately be old news and fade away.
Today the buzz word is politically correct and the message now is to stick to what is
Biblically correct.
Because with time political correctness will show its errors and it too will fade into
the closet of social issues and fads.
Do do you see a trend here?
Ideas come and they go.
Fads, they appear and they disappear.
Movements, they rise and they fall.
And I remember I told you to keep in mind the Scripture, "but the word of the Lord is
forever.
And happy are those who are faithful to it generation after generation."
One last point I want to make and that is how political correctness is affecting religion.
It is now politically incorrect to claim that someone may be lost because of sin.
Why?
Well because there is no sin just the results of racism, sexism and oppression.
It's also politically incorrect to suggest that one may be lost or mistaken in their
religion because along with universal multiculturalism there comes the idea of universal salvation.
In other words, according to the PC movement every religion is OK and every religion accomplishes
man's salvation.
Well I could take another sermon to respond to that claim.
Suffice to say that if all religions are exactly the same then none of them are worth anything.
If you say otherwise (to them) that there is only one God, one salvation, it is to be
religiously intolerant and legalistic.
But again the Bible says, "and there is no salvation and no other name under heaven that
has been given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).
Apostles and disciples who preached this in the first century were also politically incorrect
and they were killed for their effort.
Thank you very much.
Being Biblically correct produces new hearts and new attitudes for those who believe.
But for those who do not believe, Biblical correctness is as Paul says, "the aroma of
death for those who reject it" (II Corinthians 2:15).
Christians who preach the gospel of Christ as the only way of salvation have always been
politically incorrect and will always be so.
So don't be surprised that the opposition and do not back down because of it.
God searches the earth for those who hunger and thirst to be right with Him.
And to these, He promises satisfaction. Never mind political correctness,
it will not make you right with God and its success to make you right with yourself or
your neighbor or your society.
This is doubtful at best.
I go back, remember I mentioned Jon Miltimore?
A fine fine article that he wrote.
I want to quote some from him.
It says,
The method the communists and progressive's differ but the goal is one and the same: achieve
cultural hegemony (hegemony means control/domination).
Progressive's learned that achieving hegemony by criminal punishment such as prison and
torture and the gulags.
Achieving domination through this method is difficult and expensive intellectuals
seeking to remake America
born tainted by Western civilizations or original sins that they claim: racism, sexism, greed, genocides.
The Progressive's found a much better way to take care of these people.
Political correctness he says perpetuated by a small class of people is ensconce that
universities and bureaucracies and major media is the ideal tool for achieving cultural domination.
It is what he calls forceful seduction.
It achieves tacit collaboration by millions who simply bite their lip.
Meaning they say nothing out of the fear of being accused of racism or sexism.
How many people.
And again I don't mean to get political here.
How many people who were sympathetic to Mr. Trump and his campaign.
And would you know voted.
How many of those people do you think didn't put a sign in their front lawn because they
were afraid of getting blowback from their neighbors?
That's how political correctness works.
That's what he's talking about here.
Tacit collaboration by millions of people who simply bit their lip and say nothing.
As a political philosophy, political correctness might seem lifeless and aimless,
but Codevilla noted the goal of Lenin and Stalin was not a state built on Marxist principles;
it was always party control.
The two philosophies are similarly empty. Meaning Marxism and Politcal Correctness.
Again I quote:
Like its European kin, all that American progressivism offers is obedience to the ruling class, enforced
by political correctness….Nor is there any endpoint to what is politically correct, any
more than there ever was to Communism.
Here and now, as everywhere and always, it comes down to glorifying the party and humbling
the rest.
The social justice people are always on the side of compassion and victims rights.
So objecting to anything that they do makes you instantly a perpetrator.
There's no place that you can stand without being vilified.
And that's why it continues to creep forward.
And that's why it continues to creep forward because too many people just bite their lip.
Who knows?
PC ideology may ruin this country after all.
I don't know.
I can tell that.
I can't tell the future.
I certainly hope not but I can guarantee however that it cannot and will not destroy or control
the Church of Christ - that I know.
What does Jesus say, "also say to you that you are Peter and upon this rock I will build
My church and the gates of Hades will not overpower it."
Just take out the "gates of Hades" and leave a blank there and just fill in whatever you
want to fill in
depending on what century you're living in.
Naziism will not destroy it and communism will not destroy.
Materialism will not destroy it.
Political correctness will not destroy.
If the devil and hell cannot destroy the church we can feel confident that this latest in
a long line of failed movements will not be able to as well.
Our task in this loud and noisy social time is to be on the alert and to stand firm in
the faith and act like men and be strong.
Let all that you do, Paul says, be done in love.
In other words he's saying (not just to the males) he's saying to the church, stand up.
Be a man.
Stop whining.
Stop being afraid.
In every generation there's going to be someone that wants to shut you up or shut you down.
If we do this, if we stand up, we will be Biblically correct.
And this type of correctness is pleasing to God no matter what man tries to accuse us of.
In closing let me just say that if we are not correct with God, because this whole lesson
was about replacing political correctness with biblical correctness and I've been assuming
that we're all correct with God - we're OK with him.
But in the event that someone may not be correct with God.
Well then there is a change that is necessary.
Whether the change is from disbelief and disobedience to faith and obedience through repentance
and baptism.
If that's the change that is required.
Don't be afraid to do that because that is Biblically correct.
Or perhaps the change is a necessary change in direction or a change in commitment expressed
in a desire to be restored through the prayers of the church.
That impulse, you can act on that impulse because that's probably biblically
correct as well.
So John I'm going to ask you to get your song ready and I encourage anyone that requires
to be correct or right with God whether it be through conversion in baptism or through
the prayers of the church.
The elders are here tonight ready to pray for you.
Take your good confession of faith, whatever type of ministry you might need.
Please come now as we stand and as we sing our song of encouragement.