Biblical Balance not Present in Pagan Cultures

As Christians we should be well balanced on the strait and narrow path. We shouldn't be falling off the cliff on one side of the road or the cliff on the other side. Within God's Law and sovereignty we do not have to make a choice between asceticism or indulgence. We do not have to choose between extreme poverty or filthy riches. We do not have to choose between celibacy or orgy. These are all false dichotomies. We do not acknowledge a radical antithesis or contradiction between all things physical and all things spiritual. Jesus, in His incarnation and resurrection demonstrated that you can be both physical and spiritual. Within God's covenant we can glorify God and enjoy Him forever. We have been gracefully placed in the radical middle. It is the tendency of fallen man who has rejected the Creator to either worship creation or despise creation.

I was listening to a message today given by Steve Wilkins on the history of Rome where he wisely said this:

• Pagan cultures are cultures of extremes. As the implications of unbelief work themselves out in a culture the culture looses balance. The biblical balance that is characteristic of Christian cultures is not present in pagan cultures… They either renounce the world and forsake it totally or they embrace it without reservation. They despise riches or they worship them. They are cruelly barbaric or wickedly tolerant. They think nothing is humorous or they think everything is funny. They insist upon strict conformity or they scream in outrage that their individuality is hindered. They are stubbornly atheistic or incurably superstitious… The more consistent a culture becomes with unbelief the more extremes become characteristic. This is so because unbelieving cultures reject the eternal, sovereign God who is working His unchanging purposes in the earth. That distinctly Christian doctrine gives a stability that cannot be present in any unbelieving culture. That doctrine keeps us from panicking as much as it keeps us from sloth… Without stability of a sovereign God there is no stability at all.