The Church in a Post-Christian

Culture(part II)

How Shall We Now Live?

How Shall We Now Live?

1. Recognize that history is moving towards its pre-ordained end and God is in control. - Matthew 24: 3-14- 2 Timothy 3: 1-17

How Shall We Now Live?

2. Repent of our own failings as the church.Misguided worship (false idols- affluence,

comfort)Misguided focus on numerical growth over

discipleshipMisguided embrace of Liberal theology & a

social gospelMisguided motivation for political influence

“If we put first things first, we get second things thrown in, but if we

put second things first, we lose both the first and second things.”

- C.S. Lewis

God is either the main thing or He is nothing.

Matthew 6: 33

How Shall We Now Live?

3. Recommit to living Gospel-oriented lives.1 Peter - 3 Admonitions:

Holiness… as opposed to enculturation, 1 Peter 1: 14-19

“Where does Christianity destroy itself in a given generation? It destroys itself by not living in the light, by professing

a truth it does not obey.”- A.W. Tozer

How Shall We Now Live?

3. Recommit to living Gospel-oriented lives.1 Peter - 3 Admonitions:

Holiness… as opposed to enculturation, 1 Peter 1: 14-19Humility… as opposed to confrontation, 1 Peter 3: 9-17

Hope… as opposed to desperation, 1 Peter 5: 6-11

The Church in a Post-Christian

CultureHow Shall We Now Contend?

Acts 1:8 - Jude 3 – 1 Peter 3:15 – 2 Corinthians 10:3-5

Remember:

You can win the intellectual battle yet lose the war for a person’s heart!

How you do apologetics is as important as the words expressed (1 Peter 3:15).

The primary apologetic challenges in today’s Post-Christian America: • Naturalism

- Has science made God irrelevant?- If there is a God, has He spoken?

• Postmodernism- The nature of truth- The new tolerance- Religious pluralism & universalism

Naturalism: “There is no supernatural; Science is adequate to explain all Reality.”

Humanism: “There is no God; man is a product of evolution; man is inherently good and can create a Utopia on earth.” Man

God

“God Is Dead”

* All that exists is the finite, three dimensional,

natural world.

Both Naturalistic Evolutionists & the advocates of I.D. have the same

scientific evidence The question is:• How do you interpret the evidence?

• Does the evidence better fit the I.D. model or the model of Naturalism?

• Is it more logical, rational, and scientific to believe in Naturalistic evolution or I.D.?

In the Beginning ?

“naturalism is on hard times in cosmology; the deeper you get into it, the harder it is to get rid of the God hypothesis. Taken together, the Big

Bang and general relativity provide a scientific description of what

Christians call creation ex nihilo- creation out of nothing.”

- Stephen Meyer, PhD CambridgeSenior Fellow at the Discovery

Institute

“The best data we have are exactly what I would have

predicted had I nothing to go on but the first five books of Moses,

the Psalms and the Bible as a whole.”

- Arno Penzias, PHD in Astrophysics and Nobel Prize winner speaking on the origin of

the universe

The Origin of Life?Spontaneous Generation

vs.BIOGENESIS:

Life only arises from life-A basic Law of Biology

Richard Hutton, producer of the PBS series “Evolution”, on the fundamental flaw of

Naturalistic Evolution…

“There are open questions and controversies, and the fights can be fierce. Just a few of them: The origin of life. There is no consensus at all here- lots of theories, little science. That’s one of the reasons we didn’t cover it in the series. The evidence

wasn’t very good.”

- Washington Post Online Forum 9/01/01

“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities- his eternal power and divine nature- have been clearly seen, being understood from

what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”

- Romans 1:20

Has God Spoken?The Bible (Canon of Scripture):• 66 books• 40 different authors• Written over 1500 years• 3 languages• 3 continents

The Incredible Unity of Scripture!

• Genesis to Revelation- One Common Theme -

God’s love & redemptive plan for us• No Contradictions• No Historical Errors

“All Scripture is inspired by God”

- 2 Timothy 3:16

What can we as Christians say in response to Postmodernism?

1. Point out that the Postmodern view of TRUTH

is self-defeating & inconsistent with reality.

What can we as Christians say in response to Postmodernism?

2. Explain that Postmodern relativism removes any possibility of judgment or condemnation.

Examples… The Nazis or 9/11 hijackers

What can we as Christians say in response to Postmodernism?

3. Clarify the traditional definition of “tolerance” as

opposed to the “new tolerance”.

What can we as Christians say in response to Postmodernism?

4. When asked your position on a controversial topic,

first ask…“Do you consider yourself to be a

tolerant person and are you open-minded towards people who may

think differently than you?”

What can we as Christians say in response to Postmodernism?

5. Explain the ad hominem nature of Postmodern

buzzwords like “exclusive”, “judgmental”, and

“intolerant”.

What can we as Christians say in response to Religious Pluralism &

Universalism? The Law of Non-Contradiction: “A” cannot be “Non-A”

• Every religion makes divine truth claims regarding God, the way to salvation, etc.

• Logically they cannot all be true (Ex. Hinduism vs. Christianity; Islam vs. Buddhism).

• Either one is true and the rest are false, or they are all false, but they cannot all be true.

What can we as Christians say in response to Religious Pluralism &

Universalism? “All roads lead to God… One path is as good as another.”

• Only true if the destination is impersonal (ex. Traveling to CA).

• If the destination is personal then it really matters how you get there (ex. Falling in love).

• If someone in the know tells you the best route, doesn’t it make sense to follow their guidance? (ex. Helicopter traffic reporter)

• “So what path are you following?”