After Christendom (pt. 2)
In our last post, we looked at a definition of Christendom: when people are conditioned by “Christian” moral values without being impacted by the Christian gospel. In this post, we’ll take a look at our contemporary situation.
It should go without saying that the times they are a-changing. The moral consensus that used to obtain in the United States is rapidly disintegrating. The debate over issues like abortion and homosexual marriages have deeply divided our country. And over time our culture has grown increasingly morally permissive. Some welcome these changes as a newly enlightened age of tolerance. Some fear and fight them as the greatest threat to civilization in centuries and a sure sign of worse things to come. I’m not writing to take either of these positions, but rather to show that we no longer have a Christendom type consensus on these issues.
To those who are uncritically in favor of the changing moral climate, I would point out that the Bible does take clear positions on some of these issues. To those who take an alarmist stance, I would simply point out that if you read the Bible, you’ll see this is nothing new. A glance at Romans 1, or First Corinthians shows us that while some of these issues are concerning, we shouldn’t freak out as if it’s a strange new thing, or that this is the worst it’s ever been. It’s neither.
So that’s the current situation: the consensus is gone, we’ve reached a much more pluralistic, post-Christendom culture. In our next post, we’ll take a look at how this has happened, and why it’s not such a bad thing after all.
Posted by: Gene Schlesinger
Gene
Thanks for writing on this topic. I think it’s helpful for to realize that Barack is not the anti-christ, but also not American’s saviour.
I like the way you put that, Blake. When the last election cycle was going on, I remember really identifying with this song
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