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INTRODUCTION
The post-modern American way of 'wearing your heart on your sleeve' is to express your opinions on your T-shirt or on a bumper sticker! Some other western cultures may consider it a taboo to discuss politics and religion in public, but in the USA, we just 'let it all hang out!' It's part of the Fifth Amendment heritage guaranteeing the right of free speech. We cherish our right to say anything, anywhere, anytime. Even those who may differ with us will say, 'I don't agree with what you said, but I'll defend your right to say it.' The right of free speech is the main requirement for a free society. But there is one little problem, are we sure of what we want to say?
BUMPER STICKER WISDOM
Weaving my way through some recent morning traffic, I felt that usual lift I get when I pulled up behind a car with a fish sign on the rear bumper, knowing that ahead there was a fellow comrade in arms, who almost certainly would let me in the lane ahead of them, or who wouldn't shake their fist at me if my driving habits caused offense. And there it was, the 'I Love Jesus' sticker on one side of the bumper. However, the little lift I was feeling soon plummeted as I noticed the sticker on the other side saying, 'Horn broken, Watch for Finger!' It just didn't add up. It was as oxymoronic as a Christian swearing. How can you mix the two?
A MAZE OF MEDIOCRITY
Has our Christianity become so diluted that we have no qualms about mixing black with white and producing a muddy shade of grey in direct opposition to the exhortation of 2 Corinthians 6:14 NIV, "...What do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?" As usual, it all comes down to the difference between the two kinds of salt Jesus spoke about in Matthew 5:13, "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men." There is a salt for savoring (preserving), and there is a salt for treading! Long ago, the dams holding back the lakes of the ethics of this age burst and flooded the church with a maze of mediocrity, rendering it unable to proclaim the truth any longer. Consequently, the culture of the world and the church have blended, making them both masters of the mixed message.
 The emasculation of America
What is the ethic of the age and how did it get into the church? In little over one generation (the baby boomer era), our culture has undergone a complete 180° turn on many social and moral issues. T.R. Ponich comments on one perspective of this change: "...[The Three] Stooges comedy consisted mainly of wild physical antics and verbal chicanery. Unfortunately for Stooges fans, by the 1970's, a new generation of... post-Vietnam feminist moms seemed intent on programming aggressive male traits out of their young sons... Random violence, even comic violence, became distinctly unfashionable. Guns and G.I. Joe dolls soon bit the dust, and even the old Warner Bros. cartoons -- wildly anarchistic and hilariously violent escapades starring Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Bugs Bunny, Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner -- started getting the evil eye... Eventually, the comically aggressive, all-male and somewhat misogynistic Three Stooges got caught in the crossfire. They and Bugs gradually melted away from after-school fare, replaced by safer figures such as Big Bird, Barney and the pre-porn Pee-Wee Herman. It was part of the emasculation of America. It was never an organized thing, but as it accelerated through the Carter era, this phenomenon began to produce harmful effects: men with perms, Alan Alda, boys who don body armor to ride their bikes." The ensuing gender confusion is just one symptom of the muddying of the message. The church, perhaps aspiring to greater social acceptability, and backing down in the face of the shifting sands of public opinion, has failed in any effort to clarify the issues.
A SIMPLE PRAYER
I'm going to close this article with a simple prayer. "Lord, help us as your Body here on Earth, to be more than what we used to be or are now. Stop us in our tracts from continuing in retreat mode. Let us clarify our cry and be clear and concise in our efforts to evangelize our society. Restore to us our saltiness so that we, in turn, might restore our culture to your righteousness again. Eradicate all spiritual apathy, familiarity and mediocrity from our hearts, so that we can send a clear message of truth to a world that is still looking the answer. Above all Lord, give us strength to always be worthy of Your Name. Amen!"
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