Fear and relativism

With the dawn of the internet age it has become increasingly easy to surround yourself with friends who share exactly the same interests. For example, I have few friends in real life who wear their babies in slings or use cloth diapers. But I can pop over to www.thebabywearer.com or www.diaperswappers.com and voila! - instant peer group. While this can be fun and encouraging, it can also be dangerous. It seems like every web community has a standard group of core values. (Admit that you occassionally use disposable diapers and the girls over at diaper swappers might be shocked.) This becomes a problem when the core values of a group extend beyond outward things like babywearing or cloth diapering.

Many of the boards I visit are attachment parenting oriented. While there are some aspects of this philosophy that I love, there are other aspects that I find disturbing. I do not look at my child as a peer. They are precious charges given to me by God to raise. He has given them to me because I am older and wiser and I am to teach and train them. There is a relativism amongst many AP moms that I cannot embrace. I believe that there are absolute rights and wrongs and that I need to teach my children this. As Pope John Paul said, we do not get to choose right and wrong, we get to choose between right and wrong. There seems to be a movement among parents today to embrace allowing your children to choose their own definition of good and evil. This is foolishness. God has already decided what is Truth. He has delineated what is right and what is wrong. It is up to us to choose which side we will stand on.

While I sometimes have the courage to stand up for the Truth, I am often nervous about doing so. I am afraid that if I do not tow the party line of tolerance and respect/endorsement of all choices I will be ostracized or ridiculed. For some reason I seem to care what these e-friends think of me.

But I forget my real Audience. I should be more fearful of what God thinks of me. His opinion is the only one that matters. This week I am meditating on the fear of God (which the Bible says is the beginning of all wisdom). It is popular nowdays to replace the word "fear" in the Bible with "respect", but I think this is faulty. Most of us fear what others think about us. We say, "Oh, I can't do that because I'm afraid of what she'd think of me" or some other nonsense. But we don't stop to think "I can't do this because I'm afraid of what He would think," or "I'm afraid if I choose this path I will hurt His heart." We have no fear of God.

Luke 12:4-9"I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him. Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. I tell you, whoever acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God. But he who disowns me before men will be disowned before the angels of God. "