Societal pressures are hard for new Christians in areas with little Christianity - but Noah had even more societal pressure

The expectations of society, of the local community, can be a very powerful force. People who do something different to the usual customs in the local area may experience prejudice, criticism and negativity from others around them. 

In the case of a new Christian in areas where Christianity is not readily accepted, these new Christians are exposed to a very challenging set of circumstances. Some may have family members who no longer wish to have a relationship with them. Others may experience discrimination in the workplace, socially or in other parts of their lives.

As extremely difficult as this is, it can be encouraging to remind ourselves that surely Noah (who was a Jew, the same as everyone else back then) had even more societal pressure. Why? He heard God's call for him to build an ark. His friends and neighbors must have thought he was crazy. And his ark was a very public thing. Even if he had desired to hide it from strangers and just let a few trusted people know about the ark, he didn't have that option. There is no way to discreetly hide a giant ark that you are building. 

And considering he was building this on dry land (which was later to get flooded), you could see why everyone around him thought he was crazy. They would never have believed that water would come up that far from the coast and carry the ark away with him and his family safely inside. 

Even the religious leaders of the time would have thought Noah was a heretic. How do we infer this? - because if these religious leaders of the time believed Noah was truly acting from God they would have aligned themselves with his mission and wound up in the ark, but we they didn't.  We know from the Bible that Noah and his immediate family and their spouses were the only humans inside the ark, the only ones that survived the great flood.

Indeed, back in the days when Noah was building the ark, he may very likely have been ostracized from his community. He likely would have been ridiculed. So in the short term, things didn't look too good for him and his children and their spouses. But fast-forward later on to when the flood arrived... Noah and his family were doing great! They were the ones that survived because he carried out God's plan. Everyone else perished in the flood.

It is clear from the Bible that Christians should never deny Jesus because of fear of what people will think or do to us. If we deny Him because of these fears, His father in Heaven (God) will deny us when it comes time to enter Heaven. This Bible reading is of Jesus speaking to His disciples:

And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God, but whoever denies me before others will be denied before the angels of God.

Luke 12: 8-9

So it is true that new Christians can experience negative social pressures in some areas of the world where Christianity is not readily accepted. But, in the longer term, Christians are in the winning position. They have been saved and have eternal life. And if we acknowledge the Father in our time here on Earth, He will acknowledge us and allow us to be with Him in Heaven.

If you found this post interesting, you might also like these related posts on this blog:


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why Do Atheists Shout So Loudly When They Believe the Stakes are Lower?

When it comes to religious matters, we Christians believe our very souls are at stake.  Atheists do not believe there is anything so serious at stake.  Anyone would therefore expect that Christians would shout their message the loudest, since they believe there is the most at stake.  However, it seems that both 'shout' similarly loudly.  Why is that?    Both camps genuinely believe that their version is the underlying truth (although of course, both cannot be right).  Therefore, both camps have the truth at stake; they think of themselves as campaigners for the truth.  In addition, Christians believe our souls are at stake.  Why then do atheists shout so loud when they believe there is less at stake?   This is a question which is difficult to answer.  However, we should be aware that Christianity can actually benefit from these loud shoutings of the atheists.  Why is that? It is because the atheists give us spec...
Read more

Do You Expect God to Match Up With YOUR Specifications?

"God isn't real if I don't believe in him" "I can't believe in a God who lets X or Y happen" The above are sentences which are heard frequently.  Curiously, these people seem to think that if God doesn't match up to THEIR specifications, He can't be real.  I think the root of this is the lack of ability we humans have to 'prove' or see the existence of God (or from the opposing viewpoint, to prove a lack of existence). The difficulty with which we can detect spiritual things compared to the ease with which we can detect the physical world makes it very easy for us to think we make the rules and that if God doesn't appear to follow 'our' rules (expectations), He can't be real. Consider a hypothetical creature of spirit visiting Earth for the first time.  This creature has no way of directly measuring anything physical.  Although unable to sense gravity itself, it realizes from reading minds that humans have measured...
Read more

Organized religion and why it is important

The church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum of saints All too frequently, organized religion (i.e. a church) can seem pointless and boring.  I certainly found it this way before I started reading the Bible.  Often, the lack of interest in church may be caused by one of two main things: 1. The person has had a bad experience previously in organized religion 2. The person feels uncomfortable about realizing that they are a sinner In the case of the first problem, it is quite possible that differences in Christian denominations has confused the person.  It is confusing!  It is important to go to a church whose teachings are in line with the Bible.  Identifying such a church oneself does require a) attending a church and b) reading the Bible. In the case of the second problem, that isn't actually a problem at all for attending church.  All of us are sinners.  It is as simple as that. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of G...
Read more