America has been shaped profoundly by Christianity. I don’t think anyone can successfully argue otherwise. Even though many of the Founding Fathers were not believers, they still drew up a morality that was consistent with Biblical morality. And even though many didn’t really believe the Bible, they believed the morality taught in it was good. And so, they framed the morality of America after the morality found in Scripture.
But the culture of America seems to have become even more Christian many years later. Various revivals and Christian movements led to an intense Christianization of American culture. It was at this point that the Christianization of culture was nationally recognized by having things like “one nation under God” added to the Pledge of Allegiance in 1954. This is the culture that our grandparents remember as “the good ol’ days”.
The problem is that this is not how things are anymore. We don’t live in a culture that looks to the Bible for their morality. We don’t live in a culture where it is just assumed that a Christian pastor has the right answers. We don’t live in a culture where the Christian perspective is even liked. This adds difficulties that did not exist even just a generation ago. And these differences mean that our local churches have to behave differently in this culture.
Evangelism Is More Than Putting A Sign In Front Of Your Church
I have heard it said that 50 years ago all a church had to do to draw a crowd was put a sign out in front of the church that said “First Baptist Church” and the people would come. It is not that way today. Our culture has changed and so must our methods.
Evangelism is now much different than it was then. We have to go with the message of Christ to a lost world. We attempt to live our lives faithful to Christ and deliver the message that we have been commissioned to deliver. We actually have to be proactive in sharing the gospel with our neighbors.
One good thing about this is that we are being forced to be more faithful to the work we are called to do in the world. We were never called to sit back and watch the people come to us. We are called to go to a lost world with the message of Christ.
Christianity Is One Perspective Of Many
Even though Christianity has been the dominant religion in America since its inception, the advent of national news and the internet have allowed people to see what is going on halfway around the globe. This is a good thing. It is good for us to be able to understand other cultures. But, it has had the affect of people seeing that Christianity is not the only religion in the world.
This means that Christians have to know what they believe and why the believe it. It is no longer just assumed that we have all the answers. We really do have to have the answers to the questions that our culture has for us. In fact,
The point is that Christianity is thought to be antiquated and something that has no bearing on our society today. Even more than that, the world suspects it to be false. But the reality is that Christianity really does hold the answers to life’s questions. It has the right answers, because it is the truth. The world just doesn’t know it. We need to be people who are capable of bearing witness to that fact.
Christian Morality Is Oftentimes Thought To Be Immoral
Hot button topics today show this more than others. The morality of things like abortion and homosexual marriage reveal to Christians that the morality that has held sway for so long is now considered immoral by a large portion of the American population. The culture, for a long time, at least held that Christian morality was correct and the nation was ordered in that manner. It is not so today.
So, Christians have to be people who are loving and caring, but will stand with courage upon the morality of God’s Word. We have to love people and live the morality that we find in Scripture. I believe this will make us look like very odd people. But if you want to be anything more than peculiar people in this world then you want something that God doesn’t want for you. You will be thought of as strange. You will be thought of as bigoted in this new morality.
What Has Not Changed?
The one thing that has not changed is that Jesus Christ is still “the way, the truth, and the life”. His words are still true. It is still true that no one can be in a right relationship with God but through Him (John 14:6). It is still true that those who come to Christ are a Kingdom of priests delivering a message of hope to a lost and dying world (1 Peter 2:9). And, even though things seem harder, we are still the people of God with a mission from God to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:16-20).
Conclusion
Though the culture of America has changed, it has not fundamentally changed what believers are supposed to be doing. The culture that we work in is more difficult oftentimes to negotiate, but we are to negotiate it nonetheless. It is not assumed that we know what we are talking about anymore. It is not assumed that we have all the answers anymore. But this does not mean that we quit. No! We go. We live lives that put Christ on display everyday and we make disciples. Though things have changed, they haven’t really changed at all.
R. Dwain Minor
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