The Wittenberg Trail

Why Christianity Lost America?

Why Christianity Lost America?

Vishal Mangalwadi

(Author of The Book That Made Your World: How the Bible Created the Soul of Western Civilization, Thomas Nelson 2011)

 

Christianity lost America because 20th-century evangelicalism branded itself as the party of faith. By default Secularism (science, university, media) became the party of truth. This is one reason why 70% Christian youth give up meaningful involvement with the church when they grow up.

 

[...]

 

Why is the sun setting on the West?

This essay summarizes one factor: the brand Christianity.[vi]

 

In November 2011, I visited two classes at a Christian university in North America. I asked both: “How many of you would still believe Christianity if you found out tomorrow that Christianity was not true. That is: God never became a man; Jesus did not die for our sin; or, that he did not rise from the dead?”

 

Twelve hands went up in each class of about 25 and 45 students. These sincere and devout students had grown up in Christian homes, gone to church all their lives and studied in Christian schools. Some had been in that Christian university for three years! They respected their elders who taught them that Christianity was all about faith with little concern for truth. 

 

Christianity lost America because 20th-century evangelicalism branded itself as the party of faith. Secularism (science, university, media) became the party of truth. This is one reason why 70% Christian youth give up meaningful involvement with the church when they grow up.

 

In the second class, only one in four students perceived Christianity as disconnected with truth. This was because my host professor had taught them to believe because Christianity is true. Some professors and pastors do teach that, yet the “truth-less” brand is common perception because it is reinforced by most pastors, Bible teachers, and some Christian professors.

 

I asked both classes if they thought secular universities knew truth. Overwhelmingly the answer was positive. When I asked them to name one secular professor who claims to know the truth, both classes named Stephen Hawking. (No student, however, had read Hawking’s latest book which demolishes the God of Western logic but not the God who has revealed Himself.) Secularism acquired the “Truth” brand by default because evangelicalism began defining Church’s mission as cultivating Faith, not promoting knowledge of Truth (compare 1 Timothy 2:4; 2 Tim 2:25; Titus 1:1, etc.).

 

I asked these questions because two years earlier I had met students from that university on a mission trip in New Delhi. Their dedication was inspiring. Their love for Jesus was contagious. But they were “storying” not witnessing. That is, unintentionally they were rebranding missionaries as tellers of alien stories, not witnesses to Truth.

 

Jesus can claim trans-cultural authority, demand allegiance of all cultures and call them to repent only if all nations have actually been given to him as his inheritance (Psalm 2:8; Matthew 28:18). If he really is the “ruler of the kings of the earth” (Revelation 1:5): the “ruler of God’s creation.”(Rev. 3:14). Jesus cannot be the Lord and have no say over social and political, work and business dimensions of life. The fact that some American missions to Muslims and upper-caste Hindus are backing away from Christ’s lordship over their cultures seems to be a result of their increasing uncertainty about Truth.

 

To discuss the “image” problem does not mean glossing over the deeper problem of substance. Economic weakness is often a caused by intellectual and social poverty. In the long run, the image is created by theology – by the substance of faith. This essay can look only at the core theological issue: how American evangelicalism views the Bible.  

 

The branding or perception of Christianity as a religion of faith, disconnected with truth, is tragic given that the Judeo-Christian tradition is the only reason why any medieval, modern, or postmodern person talks about “Truth” that can be stated in rational words and propositions (creeds or equations). The secular academy and science acquired the truth-brand only because Secularism is a Protestant heresy. The university exists because the Church was committed to knowing and believing truth. Secularism didn’t create the university. It obtained that Christian institution because, liberal Protestantism surrendered to Rationalism and evangelicalism abandoned the life of the mind.[vii] That enabled Secularism to walk away with the brand Truth. The fact is that secular atheism and materialism leave no room for rational/propositional truth. That is why Secularism is dogmatic about relativism.

 

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Permalink Reply by James Robertson on January 2, 2012 at 10:52am

Permalink Reply by James Robertson on January 16, 2012 at 10:09am

Martin Luther King Jr.: A Letter to American Christians in 1956 (and Today)

Monday January 16, 2012 - Ed Stetzer - LifewayResearchBlog

In a 1956 message, Martin Luther King Jr. reads an imaginary letter from the Apostle Paul.

For many years I have longed to be able to come to see you. I have heard so much of you and of what you are doing. I have heard of the fascinating and astounding advances that you have made in the scientific realm. I have heard of your dashing subways and flashing airplanes. Through your scientific genius you have been able to dwarf distance and place time in chains. You have been able to carve highways through the stratosphere. So in your world you have made it possible to eat breakfast in New York City and dinner in Paris, France. I have also heard of your skyscraping buildings with their prodigious towers steeping heavenward. I have heard of your great medical advances, which have resulted in the curing of many dread plagues and diseases, and thereby prolonged your lives and made for greater security and physical well-being. All of that is marvelous. You can do so many things in your day that I could not do in the Greco-Roman world of my day. In your age you can travel distances in one day that took me three months to travel. That is wonderful. You have made tremendous strides in the area of scientific and technological development.

But America, as I look at you from afar, I wonder whether your moral and spiritual progress has been commensurate with your scientific progress. It seems to me that your moral progress lags behind your scientific progress. Your poet Thoreau used to talk about "improved means to an unimproved end." How often this is true. You have allowed the material means by which you live to outdistance the spiritual ends for which you live. You have allowed your mentality to outrun your morality. You have allowed your civilization to outdistance your culture. Through your scientific genius you have made of the world a neighborhood, but through your moral and spiritual genius you have failed to make of it a brotherhood. So America, I would urge you to keep your moral advances abreast with your scientific advances.

I am impelled to write you concerning the responsibilities laid upon you to live as Christians in the midst of an unChristian world. That is what I had to do. That is what every Christian has to do. But I understand that there are many Christians in America who give their ultimate allegiance to man-made systems and customs. They are afraid to be different. Their great concern is to be accepted socially. They live by some such principle as this: "everybody is doing it, so it must be alright." For so many of you Morality is merely group consensus. In your modern sociological lingo, the mores are accepted as the right ways. You have unconsciously come to believe that right is discovered by taking a sort of Gallup poll of the majority opinion. How many are giving their ultimate allegiance to this way.

But American Christians, I must say to you as I said to the Roman Christians years ago, "Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind." Or, as I said to the Philippian Christians, "Ye are a colony of heaven." This means that although you live in the colony of time, your ultimate allegiance is to the empire of eternity. You have a dual citizenry. You live both in time and eternity; both in heaven and earth. Therefore, your ultimate allegiance is not to the government, not to the state, not to nation, not to any man-made institution. The Christian owes his ultimate allegiance to God, and if any earthly institution conflicts with God's will it is your Christian duty to take a stand against it. You must never allow the transitory evanescent demands of man-made institutions to take precedence over the eternal demands of the Almighty God.

Permalink Reply by lutheranlady on February 21, 2012 at 3:16pm

Yep and Martin Luther King, Jr. forgot about the be faithful to your one wife part.  Can't believe he is held up as an example for us.

Permalink Reply by Dave Gosse on February 21, 2012 at 4:34pm

Hi lutheranlady

 

Long time no correspond...  I suppose MLKjr is a sinner just like me... well maybe not just like me, I have, by the grace of God, remained fathful to my wife, but there exist a number of other strikes against my name.  "The good I would do I do not do..."

 

God bless

Dave

Permalink Reply by lutheranlady on February 22, 2012 at 2:41pm

Yes you are right that we should not cast the first stone, but I have to say that for a man like MLKjr to talk about morals in any position of authority which he certainly was as he spoke as a "reverend" does not impress me to change my thinking about my moral position.  Paul didn't seem to have much to hide but some of our hero leaders expect us to sweep their missteps under the rug and pay no attention to the man behind the curtain so to speak.  Yes Paul did persecute the Christians as a zealous Pharisee but when he encountered Christ, he ceased that immoral work and became sold out to walking the path of righteousness.  Not that he was without sin, but he did not hide parts of his life that would be uncovered by others that would hold him up to ridicule.

Dave Gosse said:

Hi lutheranlady

 

Long time no correspond...  I suppose MLKjr is a sinner just like me... well maybe not just like me, I have, by the grace of God, remained fathful to my wife, but there exist a number of other strikes against my name.  "The good I would do I do not do..."

 

God bless

Dave

Permalink Reply by Dave Gosse on February 22, 2012 at 7:44pm

True enough, lutheranlady.  Of course, most of those holding MLKjr up as a role model would rather he hadn't been Christian at all.  It is easy for them to overlook his pecadilloes.  One thing is for certain, he was a gifted rhetorician.  When I joined Toastmasters one of the examples of a well written speech was the "I have a dream" speech. When I read it out loud it just rolled off the tongue.  The cadence is built in to the writing. 

Permalink Reply by James Robertson on March 12, 2012 at 9:03am

The Devil Made Me Do It!
Terry Paulson - Mar 12, 2012 - Townhall

As with C.S. Lewis, I cannot disclose how this devilish, intercepted communication fell into my hands, but disclose it I must:

Devil: Dear Graduate Wormwood, your bold move to take on America as your first project--the Enemy's bastion of patriotism, faith and apple pie--has surprised us all! Your progress...

Wormwood: Progress! We've got God, I mean the Enemy, on the run, or at least jogging up a sweat. With the help of a few gullible complainers, we've turned America's freedom of religion into freedom from religion. Let the Enemy's meek minions hide in their churches; we've taken the public square, and they're too polite to fight back.

Devil: You've successfully turned tolerance into politically correct acceptance.

Wormwood: Of course, all thanks to you for your long-term efforts to mentor me in the art of temptation and manipulation. It's working. Sin is winning. Envy is in. It's all love and no repentance. God is passé, and big government is the benevolent savior providing all the entitlements votes can buy.

Devil: I must congratulate you. This growing faith in government as the answer to all man's woes is a stroke of genius. They used to be praying to the Enemy for guidance and wisdom. Now, they just demand more from their representatives. Why help your neighbor when the government will do it for you on someone else's dime!

Wormwood: Dime! Ha! We're talking big dollars here! The debt they're passing on to their children is staggering. We've made so much progress in the envy and greed department, that no one has trouble with trillions of dollars in debt. Give me now and let others pay up later!

Devil: How you've managed to get the masses to hate the producers for their "greed" is a real tribute to your advanced "blame game" training.

Wormwood: Yes, when in pain find someone to blame. When you can't make ends meet, it's easy to blame those evil rich people who obviously must have cheated to be so successful. Now, it helps when you have a president who plays into your plan. Every time he says, "They don't pay their fair share," I leap and laugh with joy. He's doing everything he can to destroy the very work ethic that made America great. This presidential dependence pusher has increased the number of Americans hooked on their next government fix by 23% in just three years! Instead of using the gifts the Enemy has given them, they're waiting for their next "gift" from Washington!

Devil: They not only don't believe in the Enemy; they don't believe in themselves. Those free government goodies are enslaving their souls.

Permalink Reply by James Robertson on March 15, 2012 at 8:50am

Relief from Meaning
Thursday, March 15, 2012 - FirstThings
R.R. Reno

While reading the Wall Street Journal review of journals by the English historian Hugh Trevor-Roper, I was struck by the following:

We learn in the “Wartime Journals” about the momentous day in Oxford when Trevor-Roper’s realization that he no longer needed to concern himself with metaphysics lifted a burden as surely as the mist rose from Christ Church meadow that morning . . .

Yes, exactly. The sentiment described strikes me a typifying what we’re up against. It’s not all that hard to imagine what a relief it is to decide that life has no meaning other than what we give to it. Nihilism lightens life nicely, and therein is it’s appeal in the present age.

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