Introduction:
This study aims to clarify the meaning of the word ideology, and understand why Solomon advises us to guard our hearts, in order to exemplify how the ideologies defended and propagated by the various means of communication can influence and affect our lives, and corrupt our hearts.
You have certainly heard of gender ideology, right? Well, through this study you will also have understanding on this issue, as well as others, and its negative impact on the lives of many.
There are not a few who enter into conflict because of ideological confusions, and this is not rare, because many are the people who begin to have identity problems as a result of the various ideologies by which they allowed themselves to be influenced. We will talk about this as well later on.
Although little discussed among God's people, about the various lines of thought spread and followed by many, even by those who consider themselves Christian, it is necessary to address in a very clear way, what it really is, and how to deal with these issues.
Ideologies aim to influence the way we see the world, they have the purpose of controlling us and telling us how we should proceed, interfering in everything, whether in the way we dress, in decisions about what we should and can eat, about the way we should take a stance and act in the face of adversities. Have you heard of #StayAtHome during this time of pandemic? So, it is not a real solution to the problem, but a thought that arose in someone's heart, and was propagated with the apparent good intention of containing the virus, without measuring the consequences of such an act. How many people were unemployed for having adopted the #StayAtHome ideology in companies in a mandatory way? How many died even following strictly everything that was suggested? How many were moved by fear and ceased to participate in worship and died spiritually? In short, this is just one example of the many lines of thought that exist, also known as ideology, affects us in all areas of life, because they are in politics, in music and much more strongly still in religions.
To assist us in understanding the dangers of ideology, we will also explore a text by Solomon, which is found in the book of Proverbs chapter 4, which guides us to guard our heart, before anything else, because it is a vital source.
Knowing about ideologies and what is intended with them is very important for us to be able to protect ourselves from the snares that the enemy has used to influence people all over the world.
Base text:
Proverbs 4:23: “Keep your heart above all else, for it is the wellspring of life.”
Meaning of Ideology:
The word is a feminine noun, with the meaning of the collection of personal certainties of an individual, of a group of people and their cultural, social, political perceptions, etc. Example of expression: your ideology is to do good to others.
In politics, ideology means a collection of ideas characteristic of a group, of a period, and that mark a historical moment: Example: capitalist ideology, whose line of thinking is basically to capitalize, to increase capital.
Ideology is also understood as the science of the origin of ideas; study of ideas in an abstract way; doctrine of ideas.
In Sociology it means organization of ideas based by a certain social group, characterizing its own interests or institutional responsibilities: Christian ideology; fundamentalist ideology; Nazi ideology, etc.
In Marxist Philosophy it means that which encompasses the system of ideas, both authorized by the economic power of the bourgeoisie, as well as those that express the revolutionary concerns of the proletariat; social consciousness.
In Philosophy it means attribution of the origin of ideas to the sensory notions of the individual from his understanding of the external world.
Etymologically (origin of the word ideology). Ideo + logy.
Synonyms of Ideology: Ideology is a synonym for: values, thought
Source: https://www.dicio.com.br/ideologia/
Simplifying the meaning:
In a very summarized way, ideology is what guides the way we act in our lives, the line of thoughts and ideas that we follow, which can explain our actions, because it is related to our values, what we believe, in short where the source of our thoughts comes from, and depending on which ideology we decide to follow, we can put our lives at risk.
Gender ideology:
In a very simplified way, gender ideology is a line of thought in which it is defended and sustained the idea that people should not be classified as being only of the masculine and feminine genders, that is, it is the opposition, or struggle contrary to the division of human beings exclusively as male and female, as God created them. In this point of view, genders are not shaped according to biological sex, but rather with the individual and cultural structure of each individual, and comes with suggestion of guidance and indoctrination of children about issues of sexuality, which goes totally against biblical instructions, which guides us: “Train up a child in the way they should go, and even when they are old, they will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6”.
Explaining the Text of Proverbs:
In this passage we will make an explanation of some verses from chapter 4 of Proverbs.
Proverbs 4:19-27
The way of the wicked is like darkness; they do not know what they stumble over.
Pay close attention to this passage, how many people do you know who are lost, without seeing a solution to their problems? If you turn your attention to the lives of these people, you will understand the reason, and you will agree with this passage, because as a rule, they are people who do not know what justice is, or if they know they do not practice it, and as a result they remain in darkness, far from the Just Jesus, because He is the Light that can dispel any darkness, any gloom.
Wicked ones are those who follow various ideologies and doctrines, and are not guided by God's counsel and teachings, and this stance causes them to remain far from the Truth, distant from Jesus, because He Himself said: “I Am the Way the Truth and the Life”. Whoever is not on the Way can only be lost, not knowing where to go, or where they are walking, and that is why they stumble. Those who do not live in Truth live a life of lies, deception and uncertainty, unable to count on Life, Eternal Life, which we only achieve in Jesus Christ the Lord of Lords and King of Kings. These, because they love their earthly lives more, keep themselves in darkness, giving up what is most valuable, the Salvation of the Soul.
My son, pay attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; keep them in the depths of your heart. Because they are life to those who find them, and health to all their body.
Here God makes an appeal through Solomon, so that we may listen to His words, to His counsel, it is what we have already emphasized in the previous passage. If someone does not want to find themselves lost, living a life of lies, walking a path of uncertainties, it is important to pay attention to the teachings of Jesus, because in Him there are no doubts, nor shadow of change. In Him we have Eternal Life and constant support while we are here in this world.
Keep your heart above all else, for it is the wellspring of life.
Being the core of our study, this verse deals exactly with what we are trying to prevent, that is, that people be corrupted by various ideologies, whose purpose is to distance people from God, to live in suffering and darkness.
How many do you know who never cared about good counsel, with a healthy, just, obvious line of thinking to all who paid attention to it? Well, these allowed themselves to be contaminated, not guarding or protecting their hearts, and with that they fell into entangling nets and thus lost their lives.
The proposals are many such as: Easy money, pleasure without guilt, countless advantages, and when people decide to wake up they are already compromised.
When it is said that from the heart come the fountains of life, it is a reference to the seat of all human understanding, even though we know that it is in the brain where thoughts are processed, but there is a worldwide understanding that it is from the heart that all desire, all will, in short everything that will become practice in the lives of people. All attitudes depart, that is, proceed from the hearts, therefore it will influence the results of the lives of its owners.
Guarding the heart is not allowing yourself to be influenced by any line of thought that distances us from God and His teachings, it is running from thoughts contrary to biblical principles, causing these ideologies not to be part of our ideas, that they be far removed from our hearts. This is the greatest advice we could have, so that we live a blessed life.
Remove falsehood from your mouth, and put perversity away from your lips. Let your eyes look straight ahead, and your gaze be fixed right before you.
If there is one thing that pleases God it is honesty, before anything else, the Lord desires that we be sincere with ourselves, and especially with Him. We see that Isaiah had his sins forgiven and was one of the greatest prophets of God because of his sincerity, because there was no falsehood in him. Obviously the Lord already knew his heart, and how he was, for that reason revealed Himself to him in a tremendous way, and in that vision that Isaiah had, he recognized that he was a sinner, and exclaimed: “I am a man of unclean lips, and I live in a nation of unclean lips, but my eyes have seen the Lord”.
We constantly need to use sincerity so that we are focused on God's Kingdom and His Justice, thus we will be far, turned away from falsehood, from lies and consequently with our lips turned away from perversity, thus keeping our eyes fixed on the goal, fixed on Jesus, on His promise of salvation, speaking the truth and of Truth to our fellow men.
Ponder the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established! Do not turn aside to the right or to the left; remove your foot from evil.
Applying the counsel of the previous passage, without a shadow of doubt it will reflect on our journey, on the course of life that we will need to traverse, ensuring that we are always reflecting or pondering our path, our ways. Causing us to always walk in order or in order, without sinning, without displeasing the Lord of the Universe, so that we do not fall or turn away from God's path, always remaining straight, without leaning to the right or left, always deviating from the snares and ambushes of the devil.
Source of ideologies and their purpose:
The ideologies that rule over our lives come from those who influence us, such as family, friends, media, music, religions, etc., and aim to shape us in the way we should see the world, with the ultimate purpose of controlling us. Unfortunately, many thoughts followed by the vast majority had their origin in the devil's plans of destruction, and that is why it is written: "We know that we are of God, and the whole world is in the evil one. 1 John 5:19". There are those who say that we are the sum of the 5 people with whom we relate, that is we will follow their line of thought.
We are what we do, we are what we truly believe:
Our attitudes have their origin in our thoughts, in short, in what we truly believe, as we addressed in the passage that speaks for us to guard our hearts, given its vital importance. Therefore, it is good to make it clear that we will only be a servant of God in fact, if we believe deeply in His Word, it is not by chance that David said: “I have hidden Your word in my heart, that I might not sin against You. Psalm 119:11”. With these statements there is no doubt that someone does not know God's Word, and it is not in their heart, therefore such a person will not have the actions of servants of God, living anything else, less the doctrines of Christ.
Ideology that has dominated the secular world:
There is a line of thought in the secular world, that is, with people who do not defend the teachings of Jesus in a full way. In fact, many of these people even want to justify their faults, claiming that God is love and because of that would not be able to condemn anyone. This argument does not fully accord with biblical truths, which show that God is indeed love, but also shows us that He is justice, that is, that He will not leave the guilty unpunished, whoever they are.
Ungodliness, egotism, perversity, the practice of repaying evil with evil and of gaining advantages at any cost, are constant in the lives of those who do not have the Sacred Scriptures as their foundation, who often justify themselves saying that the world belongs to the smartest, and that "he who can do more cries less", because they affirm that we are alone in this world, without anyone caring or looking out for us, it being necessary for each one to fight for their ideals, whatever the cost. In their speeches, they claim not to believe that everything is open to the eyes of God, nor that he will charge each one according to their attitudes while they live.
There are not a few who affirm that we would not need a God for the world in which we live to come into existence, even with all its complexity. Many are those who claim that everything they possess is uniquely and exclusively through their own effort, demonstrating total lack of knowledge of what Jesus Himself affirmed in John 15:05 "without me you can do nothing."
The main ideologies followed and publicized by the various ones of the secular world: Capitalisms, Communism, Left, Right, Atheisms, Satanisms, Buddhism, Spiritualism, Ecumenism, among others, we will not go into the merit of what each one defends, however it is very important that you are alert so that you are not influenced in such a way that you are taken away, or even that you do not reach the presence of God, because of the various lines of thought that exist and that have influenced many, including you.
Ideological Confusion:
It even seems strange to speak of it, but ideological confusion is what most prevails, and its incidence usually occurs on people without personality, without firmness, without identity, which is very damaging, because for Jesus it is a lukewarm person, who neither comes in nor goes out, in short an indecisive person, with one foot in two boats as the popular saying goes.
Someone who would like to please God, but does not let go of sin. It is not by chance that Jesus told us that our word should be YES YES, or NO NO, this has to do with position, but how many are those who want an alternative option, like a maybe, but that does not exist in God's kingdom, nobody will be able to be half in heaven and half in hell, someone's indecision is already a sign that in heaven will be no place for such a person, until they firmly decide.
How many are the people you know, who call themselves Christian or evangelical, in many cases simply out of fashion, but they do not know Christ, nor do they have any commitment to His teachings, being in fact totally far from the ideology of Jesus Christ.
Ideology that has dominated the evangelical world:
It is visible in all media how much the number of people who call themselves evangelical has grown, however we can see that the vast majority have no commitment whatsoever to the teachings of Jesus, because they only run after their own personal interests and benefits for their earthly gain, such as houses, cars, healing and prosperity.
They live the ideology of can do anything, that is, in their thoughts it is enough to be a visitor to some religious movement and everything is solved. There is no concern whatsoever with holiness, with decency, because they expose their bodies, ignoring that lust is sin, that we should not make our bodies objects of sensuality.
The majority are followers of religious syncretism, a thought that allows combining and performing in their worship, customs and practices of various religions, such as Umbanda, spiritualism and many others, thinking that it is the action of God, however it is a fact that there is nothing of God in these movements, for very simple reasons, because in their line of thinking they relativize everything, relieving them of the obligation to obey the doctrines of Jesus, whom they claim to serve.
Conclusion:
Pure ideology coming from Jesus:
In a very objective way, we can affirm that the wisest way to guard our heart is by living under the ideology, coming from the teachings of Jesus, being influenced only by Him, through the practice of His Word, and this is possible when we follow these principles: Obedience to His Word with: Holiness, Work, Love (To Him above all things, to oneself, to the spouse, to the neighbor), Gratitude and Justice.
May your life be tremendously blessed, and may we each day grow more and more in the Grace and Knowledge of Our God, Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.