Monday, July 27, 2009

Answer to Rachel's question, part 1

A week or so ago, Rachel posed this question, "Do we live in a post-Christian culture?" and asked me to respond. Before I can answer that, I think I need to answer the question, "What do you mean by 'post-Christian'"?

To say that we live in a Christian culture is not to say that everyone is a Christian. However, for a long period of time, matters such as morality, ethics, virtue, were heavily influenced, if not dominated, in the public square by biblical, Christian values. Thus, even non-Christians knew that societal norms had some level of Christian basis and that in order to "fit in" to society one had to conduct themselves, at least in public, by those norms.

What we are seeing now is a move to post-Christian. Those same biblical, Christian values no longer have the same level of influence. As that influence has waned, people outside the Christian faith have felt less and less of a need to conduct themselves by the old norms. And, sadly, many of those who profess faith in Christ are more and more influenced by worldly ideas than they are by a biblical worldview. Thus, the church in many ways bears little distinction from the prevailing culture. Thus, post-Christian culture is one in which Christian values and ideas no longer hold sway over a significant portion of the culture. That may seem scary to some but it also may be a prelude to needed reformation and revival among God's people.

Look for part 2 later today.

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