Bob Dylan is older and continues to practice his musical craft, and his classic
song from three decades ago remains true – the times, they still are “a-changing.”
However, in the view of many Christians, those changes are none too welcome.
Culture is in decay. The moral climate is chilling.Christianity is losing ground
fast.
Or is it?
Bob Dylan is older and continues to practice his musical craft, and his classic
song from three decades ago remains true – the times, they still are “a-changing.”
However, in the view of many Christians, those changes are none too welcome.
Culture is in decay. The moral climate is chilling.Christianity is losing ground
fast.
Or is it?
Noted evangelical commentator Charles Colson is not as pessimistic as some
on that question. Indeed, he recently suggested that the cultural decay of the
past 30 years has begun to come full circle. Colson was a political figure in
the 1970s and has become a popular author and speaker since his conversion during
the days of the Watergate scandal.
In comments at a recent Southern Baptist conference, Colson acknowledged that
Christians often appear to be losing ground in society at large. At the same
time, he stressed that the worst thing they
can do is retreat into the churches and stop engaging the culture.
Colson cited a range of statistics that indicate the first
signs of improvement in the nation’s moral climate.
Teenage pregnancies are at the lowest level since accounting
began 40 years ago.
Crime is at the lowest level since 1973.
Welfare rolls have been cut in half.
Divorce is down 19 percent during the past 20 years –
and the number of abortions has declined 15 percent in that time.
Why the reversal?
Colson cited the “modernist impasse” – the realization
that the ideals of the 1960s ultimately result in societal decay.
“The ’60s culture became mainstream, and we see the
quintessential expressions of the ’60s today: ‘Do your own thing.
Live for the moment. Overcome the nothingness of life. God is dead,’ ”
he said.
“(But) It leads to moral chaos, and people can’t
live with that. And they’re suddenly waking up to the fact that you simply
can’t survive in the moral jungle and can’t live without rules,”
Colson said.
That shift in thinking reached a critical point in April 1999
with the massacre at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., Colson suggested.
“I think Columbine was the Pearl Harbor of the culture war in this country.
I think people were forced to look at two diametrically-opposed world views.”
On one side was the nihilism of shooters, who were bathed in
popular culture and were “disciples of Nietzsche, the one who said ‘God
is dead,’ ” Colson said.
On the other side were the “incredible” worship services
in the aftermath of the shootings that celebrated Christ and highlighted the
faith of those killed, he noted.
“People watching those two world views … had to make
that choice, and all of a sudden, since Columbine, we’ve been seeing some
things change.”
Indeed, a recent Wall Street Journal poll showed “84 percent
of conservatives and 33 percent of liberals said the number one priority was
to restore respect for traditional values,” Colson said. “A short
while ago that was a pejorative term used against the religious.”
In another recent poll, a majority of Americans said the country
is on the wrong track. When asked why that was so, 75 percent said because of
the moral failures in American life, Colson reported. Meanwhile, 58 percent
said they wanted more religion in American life – and 68 percent wanted
creation taught alongside evolution in schools, Colson pointed out.
“That’s after 75 years of being told that you are
a know-nothing … if you thought that anything other than evolution is the
true scientific answer.”
In light of such trends, the task for Christians is not just
to plant more churches, but to “plant more churches that are truly the
church,” Colson stressed.
Too often, evangelical Christians “are simply as confused
as the world around us” when it comes to understanding and holding basic
biblical doctrines, he said.
“We’ve got to get it right inside our churches before
we can give it away outside our churches. … If we’re going to go to war
for God in this culture, we’ve got to understand what we believe.”
In order to confront the culture effectively, Christians also
must understand the full biblical revelation – not just the basics of the
gospel, Colson stressed.
“(Without such understanding) You’ll never make a
case for Christianity among people who are doubters and skeptics. Yes, the Word
of God will convict, but you are going to have to be able to understand its
fullness and how it applies in all of life.”
Finally, Christians must be willing to live out and defend
their faith in every area of life, Colson counseled. He told of one family that
protested the teaching of evolution as the only theory of origins in schools.
They not only were successful in seeing change, but the student’s mother
even was offered a seat on a curriculum review board.
“Let me tell you folks – we Christians have been
intimidated,” Colson concluded.
“We think we can’t win those battles, but yes, you
can – because truth is on
your side.” (BP)