For many years, I’ve stood amazed at the complete lack of powerlessness of today’s Christian church. Whether talking about the political values supposedly endorsed by the church, or the ethical tenets espoused by Christians, or the views on truth and metaphysics once seen as true, the beliefs of Christianity are facing major headwinds recently. Indeed, it looks like Christianity is in full-bore retreat.
Why?
I’d like to propose three stances that have led us to today’s situation. All three boil down to one major issue – Christians have abandoned the manual put out by the Creator. There is a lot of power available when we play by the rules. But we’ve rejected the rules.
The first rejection was the rejection of the Dominion Mandate. Mankind was told to have dominion over the earth and its resources. Our role was to act as steward of the resources given to us, but that was rejected. The result was irrelevancy.
Second, the church has rejected the leadership role in philosophy (especially epistemology) that, at one time, set the foundation for the modern world. For years, the Bible was seen as Truth, with Theology being the Queen of the deliberative sciences. But arguing that ‘Jerusalem’ had nothing to do with ‘Athens,’ Christians turned over the pursuit of truth and its justification to secular philosophy and theology became narrowly focused. But secular philosophy could not come up with a justification for truth. So the rejection of philosophy was synonymous with the rejection of Truth. With no truth, Christianity had nothing of value to offer.
In a move parallel to the rejection of philosophy, Christians also rejected the Old Testament of the Bible, with its emphasis on practical points of justice and right living. The Biblical worldview provided the belief in an orderly universe necessary for science. It provided the legal support for private property that led to a flourishing economy. It puts constraints around people’s actions that led to a legal system upholding the dignity of each individual person. With the rejection of the practical points of the Bible, the tools of the Christian were thrown out. The result was powerlessness.
Irrelevant, powerless, with nothing to offer. That’s the price of rejecting the Bible as God’s word.
Askance Eye Miniblog 