“Do and dare what is right," wrote Dietrich Bonhoeffer, "not swayed by the whim of the moment. Bravely take hold of the real, not dallying now with what might be. Not in the flight of ideas but only in action is freedom. Make up your mind and come out into the tempest of living.”

It's a rough world out there and no one knew this better than this German pastor and political dissident, who helped lead the Confessing Church in standing up to Adolf Hitler during the Second World War. But from Bonhoeffer, for whom almost every well-intentioned effort ended in failure, these words carry a special significance.

As John Stonestreet reminds us in this week's edition of our "ReSeries" video commentaries, what matters most when Christians confront a culture or government hostile to our worldview and values is not how confident we feel, how much is at stake, whether we stand alone or even whether we have a chance of success. All that matters is obedience, and the willingness to set aside conjecture when the time comes, thrust ourselves into the storm of reality and take the action God has called us to take. In the words of Chuck Colson, we must do the right thing, no matter what it costs us.

"Who stands fast?" asked Bonhoeffer shortly before the end of his life. "Only the man whose final standard is not his reason, his principles, his conscience, his freedom or his virtue, but who is ready to sacrifice all this when he is called to obedience and responsible action in faith and an exclusive allegiance to God. Who tries to make his whole life an answer to the question and call of God. Where are these responsible people?"

That's a question which for Christians in the West, is becoming increasingly urgent.

Explore This Week's Theme

	What motivated Dietrich Bonhoeffer? John Stonestreet answers with three deeper questions vital for Christians to live out our Biblical worldview. What evil must not be tolerated? What is broken around us that must be fixed? What is good that needs to be celebrated, highlighted and protected? >>Watch now.
	In his most recent Talking Points, T. M. Moore asks the question of our age: "Who says?" The challenge of relativism to authority undermines the efforts of even the most avid Christian apologists for Faith and morality. But there is a reply. >>Read more.
	In Friday's BreakPoint commentary, John Stonestreet asks why young couples so often come to their senses and return to church when they have kids. It's because faith and family are intertwined, he says. They stand or fall together. >>Read more
	John Stonestreet says we need to talk about death more in church. Find out why at ThePointRadio.org. >>Read more.
	John Stonestreet interviews graduates and instructors of the BreakPoint Centurions program who're turning their faith into action. >>Read more.

What is the defining characteristic shared by all humans, which we cannot change? Once upon a time, it was the realization that we are, as John Calvin said, "incurably religious" beings. We long to worship something, and find Someone to whom we can devote ourselves. Indeed, we must. Because that characteristic defines us, religion was long seen as the gatekeeper to which all feelings, ideas and desires must submit. The higher moral order to which individuals and societies bound their choices and behavior (including sexual behavior) demanded subjection. 

And while the modern age and its confusion of secularism with neutrality pretends it can bypass this characteristic, it has committed itself fiercely to an entirely new religious dogma—one before which everything, including laws, religious beliefs and even the rights of others to hold such beliefs—must kneel. Why? Because personal desires are now viewed as sacrosanct, and the determining characteristic of all men and women.

As John Stonestreet argues in this week's "ReSeries" video commentary, a great reversal has taken place. In order to understand the conflation of the homosexual "equality" movement with the African-American civil rights movement of the 1960s, and the deployment of terms like "bigot," "hatemonger" and "homophobe" against orthodox Christians, we must realize that our culture really has come to view sexual inclinations as inherent and defining features of what it means to be human. In this paradigm, sex has replaced religion as the gatekeeper and reality before which everything else must submit. So it's only natural that when NBA athlete Jason Collins came out as the first openly gay member of a major league sport, members of the media were beside themselves with delight, and buried sports commentator Chris Broussard beneath shocking outrage for merely expressing the traditional Christian teaching on sex.

Our culture has changed the way it defines humanity, and Christians are increasingly viewed not simply as advocates of a different opinion which ought to be tolerated, but belligerents and purveyors of hatred whom society cannot tolerate, and must silence. How do we repond? Well, that involves calling our culture back to what defines us as people, and challenging the idea that sexual inclinations amount to inherent characteristics which we must praise and accommodate. That ugly, biologically deterministic idea not only excuses sin and brokenness, poisons dialogue and robs us of our freedom to disagree. Ultimately, it reduces us to something less than human.

It's time to offer our culture a better definition.

Explore This Week's Theme

	In this week's edition of our "ReSeries" video commentary, John Stonestreet discusses how the Western world has traded one definition of what it means to be human for another. >>Watch now.
	In his most recent Talking Points, T. M. Moore takes stock of the cultural landscape and urges Christians to adopt a new tack for pushing back the darkness. >>Read more.
	In Friday's BreakPoint commentary, John Stonestreet broaches a controversial subject, suggesting that part of the reason evangelicals have been so ineffective in responding to the cultural push for so-called "gay marriage" is because evangelicals accepted decades ago, without question, what has become the vanguard of the sexual revolution: birth control. >>Read more
	John Stonestreet offers a startling and shameful example of what happens to Christian orthodoxy when tolerance becomes the all-overriding virtue of one's worldview. >>Read more.
	John Stonestreet interviews Mike Adams and Jeff Myers of Summit Ministries about preparing your student's worldview for the crucible of college. >>Read more.