Some of these have been around for a long time… Other’s are more new and fresh in our thinking. Mankind has always found ways to “become as gods” as Satan tempted Adam and Eve from the beginning. Man’s attempt to replace God with self has always been an issue and continues to be today.

Our children need to know about these things and what the Bible has to say about them. Here are 5 dangerous ways that men are playing the part of God in our culture:

1. EVOLUTION

This one’s been around for quite a while. The theory of evolution has always been an atheist’s dream come true. If God can be removed as the source of life, God can be removed from all of life. If evolution is true, God is not only nonexistent, but also nonessential. One of the easiest ways to help your kids understand this is to remind them that it takes just as much if not more faith to believe in the idea of evolution as it does to put faith in an all-powerful, intelligent Creator. Just like a painting gives proof of a painter, and a building gives proof of a builder, creation gives proof of a Creator.

Psalm 53:1 The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God.

2. ABORTION

Apart from Creation as a whole, one of the greatest miracles of God’s intelligent design in the world is the forming of a human life. The idea that life can be created safely inside of another life, and ultimately become self-sustainable, is mind-blowing. God is the giver of life. This simple acknowledgement, or the denial thereof, changes everything between how two different sides see this issue. The very thought that God’s miraculous growth chamber of life can be purposely turned by some into a convenience chamber of death is more than just troubling, it’s reprehensibly tragic.

Jeremiah 1:5 Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee.

3. GENDER

Contrary to culture’s ever changing opinions, God still determines gender, just like he’s always done since the beginning of time. It’s not a neutral thing, a fluid thing, or an interchangeable thing. In fact, he made it so obvious at birth, that to say otherwise is nothing short of blatantly trying to play the part of God. God is not the author of confusion, but the gender identity crisis our nation is facing is firmly rooted in it. God has given children their parents to help them navigate such confusion that is trying to be forced upon them in so many ways through our culture. As parents, we must be talking about these things with our children.

Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image… male and female created he them.

4. EUTHANASIA

It’s already been seen on the rise in other countries, and it’s no doubt coming to ours. People of all ages are being given the key of permission to determine their own fate. But if we take it upon ourselves through things like abortion to determine when we want life to ‘begin’, who’s to say we can’t also determine when life should end? The war waged against the value of human life is real and being seen in many different forms. According to God, all human life regardless of age is sacred and of value.

Job 14:5 Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass.

5. CLIMATE

Of all people, Christians should be good stewards of the world God has given us (Genesis 1:28). But the Bible also speaks clearly of the danger of those who worship the creation more than the Creator (Romans 1:25). This too, can take on many forms, and obsession with “changing” the climate and a doom and gloom mentality of the world coming to an end is one of the dangerous ways that man is currently trying to play the part of God. All it takes is a flight view of the earth to see that this world, this atmosphere, this climate, are so much bigger than we are, and God controls and sustains it effortlessly.

Genesis 8:22 While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.

Can you see how all of these areas are intertwined? A belief in the first (evolution) naturally leads to an easier belief in the second and so on. Once God is removed from our society and his word ignored as a source of absolute truth, there is sadly no end to the depravity of man’s sinful ways.

“If there is no God, everything is permitted.” – Fyodor Dostoevsky

Regardless of changing culture, God’s truth stands and needs no revision. What we are seeing in society today is a total attempt at rewriting what God has already written. What we see around us is a reflection of people’s rejection of God and his authority. From a rejection of how life began and when life ends, and everything in between, man has tried to play the part of God.

And sadly, man always makes a terrible ‘God’.

How can you prioritize discussion with your kids this week about some of these things and God’s authority and role in each of these areas?