A Goody From Woody

GOODY FROM WOODY

A friend asked me recently, “Woody, what is the biggest threat, philosophically, to Christianity in our society?”

My answer was brief at the time of my conversation. So let me try to answer the question in a larger version.

Years ago I read from R. C. Sproul, that every culture has to have something that unites it, some kind of viewpoint that brings it together. He said if you study all the civilizations of history, you will see that each one had some dominant philosophical or religious idea that tied the people together. That unifying concept can be religious, or philosophical or even a mythology. But there has to be some idea that ties it together. Scholars, social scientists, missionaries, evangelists and pastors understand this. Ideas shape a culture, so they are of first importance.

As I look at our Western world and culture now, it is up for grabs. There is not one dominant philosophy or religion or theology that has a consensus. In the middle ages the Judeo-Christian faith dominated people’s understanding of the world. Now, as great numbers of people turn away from the Judeo-Christian understanding of man and the world, there have been all kinds of philosophical ideas fighting for dominance in our void-filled world. The battle is on! (David A. Noebel wrote a book on this problem: The Battle for Truth—I recommend it.)

Back to the main points. If there is one overreaching concept in our culture gaining momentum, it is secular humanism. Secularism means simply: This time, this world, is all there is. Humanism is simply the whole focus on man. God is totally out of the picture (practical atheism). There is no eternal dimension to secular humanism. They say this world is all there is, there is no heaven, no hell, no moral code (unless they make it up as they go along). Everything is here and now.

William S. Lind writing in the Marine Corps Gazette, December 1994, p 37, wrote, “In the United States of America, our traditional, Western, Judeo-Christian culture is collapsing. It is not collapsing because it failed. On the contrary it has given us the freest and most prosperous society in human history. Rather, it is collapsing because we are abandoning it. Starting in the mid-1960’s, we have thrown away the values, morals, and standards that define traditional Western culture. In part, this has been driven by cultural radicals, people who hate our Judeo-Christian culture. Dominant in the elite, especially in the universities, the media, and the entertainment industry, the cultural radicals have successfully pushed an agenda of moral relativism, militant secularism, and sexual and social liberation.”

Chuck Colson and Nancy Pearcey have part of the answer to this growing problem in their book, How Now Shall We Live? (p 329). They say, “Nowhere has the secular (humanist) worldview gained a firmer foothold than in our nation’s schools, and since the education of our children shapes that future, we must begin to take our redemptive message right into the classroom.”

St. Paul stated, “Where is the philosophy? Where is the scholar? Where is the debater of this age? Hasn’t God made the world’s wisdom foolish?” (1 Cor 1:20, Holman Christian Standard)

Read on your own how Paul appeals to those of us that are not brilliant or exceptional but says, “God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of the message preached.” (1 Cor 1:21)

God Bless and Keep telling the Truth!!!

Woody

P.S. Parents of young people in High School: One great way to teach a Biblical Worldview to your kids is a two-week camp at Summit. (Go to: summitministries.org for more information.) Great environment and great preparation for life!