Modern Culture
The Empty Self

Last week I opined that our modern culture was being made over for the individual which is unworkable because it renders no culture at all. Each one is doing what is right in his own eyes as Judges announces is the conduct of post-Joshua Israel. But, there is also the vacant or empty self that results from only looking within self to define what is believed and performed.

JP Moreland recently proposed in a post entitled “Christianity as Knowledge Tradition” that this condition of the self without substance, hope and character is the product the secularization of culture. He says:

The pervasive denial of truth, knowledge and rationality outside the hard sciences has left people without hope that true, knowable forms of wisdom can be discovered as guides to a flourishing life.

This has further resulted, he opines, in the “empty self” which he defines as:

…narcissistic, inordinately individualistic, self-absorbed, infantile, passive, and motivated by instant gratification. The empty self experiences a loss of personal significance and worth, as well as a chronic emotional hunger and emptiness. The empty self satiates itself with consumer goods, calories, experiences, politicians, romantic partners, and empathetic therapists. The empty self does not value learning for its own sake, is unwilling to defer gratification under the demands of discipline, and prefers visual stimulation to abstract thought. Applied to education, a classroom of empty selves will reinforce a view of education in which learning exists to make the student happy, to satisfy his/her emotional hunger, and to fulfill his/her own plans for success.Moreover, with the secular relativization of truth, knowledge and reason outside the hard sciences, secularism has contributed to the absolutization of desire satisfaction. With truth and reason dethroned as guides for life, something had to take its place. And the heir to the throne is the absolute importance of satisfying one’s desire. Secularism helps to prop up this value in the culture by its denial of truth and reason in matters of worldview, along with its promulgation of a naïve and destructive notion of tolerance.

Wow! A perfect description of the men and women we encounter everyday. While I may not agree with Dr. Moreland about the exact reason we are where we are, he has the diagnosis right. Without truth and reason that is the basis of culture, there are nothing but unsolvable issues and no hope for the individual living in that culture. Satisfying individual desires as the highest good eventually leaves one empty. Just look around and we see the destructiveness of secularism and the therapeutic culture it has spawned. What a wonderful opportunity for the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ the only hope of all men living as empty selves in modern culture.

[The entire piece of Dr. Moreland is worth reading and can be found at www.scriptoriumdaily.com ]

Election 2008
Conservative Breakup

Mike Huckabee has caused a bit of a firestorm. As a Baptist minister he has solid cultural conservative convictions, but some are questioning his fiscal conservatism. This is in contrast to America’s Mayor who is viewed as a solid fiscal conservative, but cultural conservative he ain’t. And them there’s Mitt who…ah…ah…ah…well he can’t really be explained. Then the “new Reagan”, the TV prosecutor, who just seems a little too…well…old, tired and kind of disinterested.

It is going to be a darn interesting election for the GOP. The cultural conservatives have always been around to help get a President elected but then for four years their priorities seem to disappear for the radar of governance. So, now there is an array of candidates who do not fit a mold that can be parlayed into a winning candidate. Could be we will see a third party run, which would be deadly to the GOP. Also, an unusual combination of Pres/VP nominees who try to deliver something to everyone, which, of course, means the party stands for nothing except “getting elected.” There is a conservative breakup on the way and it promises not to accomplish anything but electing Hill, BO or Mr. $$$$haircut.

Evangelicalism
What is its meaning today?

At a recent meeting of Reformation For Today [RFT] we discussed the article in Touchstone about the state of Evangelicalism as assessed by six self-proclaimed Evangelicals. There are many today who believe the term is archaic having died the death of 1000 modifications so that it has no coherent meaning today.

In our discussion we examined 11 questions arising from the article. They are as follows:

1.Is evangelicalism a term you use? If so, how do you define it?
2. John Franke says: It [evangelicalism] does not reflect a specific confessional commitment so much as it indicates a general outlook of the Christian faith that can be situated in a broad range of church traditions." Do you agree with his statement?
3. D. Hart says evangelicalism is a symptom of "anti-formalism" that is the prevailing notion in the Christian community. Agree or disagree?
4. Do you see evangelicalism as a "mellow" fundamentalism?
5. Has political involvement watered down evangelicalism by requiring a "bigger tent" mentality?
6. Is religious pluralism, feminism and Open Theism properly part of evangelicalism?
7. D. Hart asserts evangelicalism is least common denominator Christianity that fails to do justice to the fullness of Biblical truth. Agree or disagree?
8. M. Horton believes evangelicalism is reaching the lost but losing the reached. Agree or disagree?
9. Is evangelicalism an aid or detriment to the Church?
10. The contributors outline the "best of evangelicalism". Which positions do you see as its best? Do you see a different best?
11. Is evangelicalism a term without meaning that should be relegated to at the ash heap of history? Why or why not?

The conclusion of our discussion was that the term “evangelical” is not an issue for the basic believer in a local parish. It is not a term of identification for orthodox, Bible believing folks. The group concluded that the term had been co-opted by the media and political types to identify blocks of voters who bought into a particular agenda. It is salt that has lost its flavor, so should be disregarded and placed underfoot. Today, evangelicalism has little to do with the “evangel”, the Gospel or good news, and any set of coherent, identifiable beliefs. Its context is not associated with the church or Scripture today.

One other conclusion seems to be that no “new” term is needed. Christian, or more particularly Biblical Christian, seems to be sufficient for identification purposes. The lesson learned is that any term must be defined with affirmations and denials. The latter are so unpopular today that we can only be categorized by what we agree upon and that leads to such broad categories as to be useless. There is no distinctive in evangelicalism, ergo, there can be no distinctions in any other term today.

What do you think? The Touchstone web site is www.touchstonemag.com to access the article which is from the November, 2007, issue.

Thanksgiving 2007
It’s been two years.

It’s been two years. I finally mustered up the courage to go through Dad’s personal belongings. I knew it would be difficult, and it was. He did not have much. But, when I sorted through his clothes, I cried. I could see him in the shirts and pants. And, I remember when Mom bought him some of the clothing. It’s been two years, but I still remember. I kept some of his flannels for Lucas and me to help insulate us from the chill of the seasons. That was his outerwear of choice for the last 30 years. I am sure he would be pleased to know we will be wearing them now. I kept his last pair of shoes. They were brown ankle high boots that had a strap over. Brown, that was Dad’s color; he was an earth tone guy. I never saw him wear a black pair of shoes except rented ones for Bob’s wedding and mine. I’ll take those old shoes next spring and dig them in the ground and plant flowers in them. That would please Dad even more than wearing his flannels because he was a man of the soil.

Included in his personnel things were the last greeting cards he ever received. I looked at them all…birthday, Easter, Christmas, thinking of your, Father’s Day. People had such kind and compassionate words for Dad. In the fog of Alzheimer’s, I am sure he understood very little of what was written. But, of course, that is not the point. Expressions of love are just that, whether understood or not. During the card reading, I cried again.

It’s been two years but there are still tears. Spring and fall are the most difficult times. Spring because when the earth comes alive, Dad came out of his winter cocoon charging into cultivating and planting. In that way he participated with the Creator awakening the earth and His creatures to a new season of growth. When I spade and plant my own little garden, I remember Dad and I cry. Fall is equally nostalgic. Summer’s harvest is in with corn boils, tomatoes in all manner of preparation, apples and other fruits gathered, potatoes and carrots dug and all foods preserved for winter eating. Fall was synonymous with football, a sport Dad loved. And, then came deer season, Dad’s real passion…spotting deer, shooting in the rifle and going to camp. When the garden is gleaned, the leaves fall from the trees, when Squaw Winter appears and men start wearing blaze orange, I remember Dad and I cry.

Two years have passed since Dad went to be with his Maker and it is not becoming any easier. And, I suspect it will not. I continue to remember, which is good. I cry, which is not bad. I miss Dad, and Mom too. But, by remembering them I remember their impact on my life. Next to a godly wife a man can have no better earthly influence than godly parents. I remember that and seek to impact my biological and spiritual issue as they did me. And, I remember the day is coming when I will be with them again where there will be no past or tears. This Thanksgiving I remember Christian parents who made me memories but also introduced me to the God Who makes a permanent, joyful place for all those who put their trust in Him for their eternal home. I am thankful.

After Thanksgiving, Susan and I will make the trip to the Union Cemetery in Luthersburg. There we will place a wreath in front of the tombstone of Mom and Dad. It is the evergreen of the eternal Christ and the unbroken circle of His everlasting, eternal love for His. I’ll pray and then wipe away the tears of remembrance and thanksgiving…again.

Modern Culture
Reformulated for Disaster

It used to be a person sought to discover how to fit in to his society. In you place, time and according to your talents, how can you bring yourself to be a contributor to your society? And, part of living well in your space and time included a large dose of self-restraint and self discipline. Living life was not all about you but how your piece of the puzzle helped to formulate the common good for the community in which you lived. C.S. Lewis saw this as conforming your soul to reality. Boy, have things changed!

Today, modern man sees the task at hand in his/her life as molding reality to them. Out with restraint, finding place and discipline for the good of community. Now, the task is to change reality to meet my desires and wants. It is not about changing us for the common good, it is changing the world for us! So, we have You Tube, My Space and other such internet ventures where individuals can trumpet their beliefs, talents [or not] and physical bodies to the world. This can be done without place, time and community. You establish your community of one without restraint or discipline.

In the older pattern, as created beings we found meaning in the image of the Creator. That was all part of the order of time, space and matter. Now, in a culture where there is no Creator, we must create ourselves as special and worthwhile. When creation and our part in it was accepted, living in a community with a complex of responsibilities and obligations was paramount. History, institutions of society and orderly living was important. Today, self-seeking that is allowable because of wealth and technology dispense with the former order. In fact, history, structures, order and obligations are all seen today as stifling and oppressive.

So, we are busy creating ourselves. And, it is in a vacuum that this is done without concern for others, communities or institutions. This has lead to autonomy without responsibility. Can a society exist very long in such a situation? In the attempt to create a non-dependant culture what resulted is an epidemic of irresponsibility. The barricades have been broken and we are living in the light of Romans 1. Man has been turned over to his own depravity.

We now have a reformulated culture. It is no longer about how we fit in to the created order. It is all about how we create our own disorder. So, in the new culture, we have individual cultural monarchy. All the old convictions and standards have been jettisoned. Each of us is culturally sovereign. In this new world we can choose a Garmin or TomTom or we can choose hetero or homo-sexuality. And, no cultural institution, ideal or commonly held principle can countermand our autonomous decision. We are shaping the culture as each of us wants and desires it to be. This view of modern freedom cannot last long. It is a recipe for cultural disaster.

Hunting Season 2007
Really Big Game Country

Hunting has be a staple of life in the area of the Eastern Continental Divide for as long a man has been here. The indigenous people were hunters and gatherers as well as small scale agriculturists. Because of the rugged terrain, agriculture never became the only source of food. Early white settlers also hunted game for food purposes. And, even when hunting was no longer needed for subsistence, it was a supplement foodstuff for residents. Now, it is primarily a sport but many still enjoy eating rabbit, squirrel, venison and even bear meat. Deer season is just around the corner. That is a time when the influx of hunters can double the population of Clearfield County.

When I was growing up in Clearfield County, DuBois was known at the “Gateway City”. It was the gateway to big game country. In those days “big game” referred to white tail deer and black bear. Now, because of phenomenal comeback of the elk population, it has a new meaning. The Pennsylvania Game Commission just released their statistics on the 2007 Elk hunt. Thirty five elk were harvested in the two season hunt. The largest was taken in Covington Township, Clearfield County. It was a bull weighing 792 pounds with an 8 X 7 rack of horns! Although the majority of the Elk herd is in Elk and Cameron Counties, this “big bull” reinforces Clearfield County’s claim as Big Game County…REALLY Big Game country!

The New Atheism
How Evangelicals Aid and Abet

There are many who subscribe to the position that the rise of science has made atheism a plausible belief system for modern man. The arguments goes as follows: Science has eliminated much of the unknowns of the world, the suspicions that permitted religion to flourish. Man no longer requires religion to explain away the mysteries of life. Science is the domain of real knowledge. Religion is relegated to the private domain because it is about belief not facts. The atheist needs not God or any god to explain his world.

This was also the root of theological liberalism. Science has shown that the supernatural [miracles] are not possible. Religion must adapt to that, so religion is reduced to the worldly…what we can do on this earth to make it a better place of all. There is still truth but it is empirical, that which is explained by facts. Faith is in science and not in God. That has been borne out in the rapid technological advance that has made our lives easier and better on earth. Liberal religion made unbelief an alternative for right thinking folk, those who marginalized God to the private sphere of life.

But, we must not underestimate the contribution of evangelical faith to the rise of atheism. How, you may ask can that be? The evangelical was for many years one who believed in justification by faith alone and the inerrancy of Scripture. That has changed a great deal in the last 10-15 years. Many who do not believe in justification as the article upon which the church stands or falls today call themselves evangelicals. In addition, there are many more who question the Bible as inerrant or as the full Truth of God who call themselves evangelicals. Because there is no real binding definition of who and what is evangelical today, the evangelical has been reduced to a process, not a set of beliefs.

And that process is the salvation of the lost, a worthy goal, but not the end of the story. Because the evangelical process has reduced God’s role to salvation, the door is left wide open to atheism. The evangelical has abandoned God’s creation to science. There is no real interest in things of this world except as it facilitates salvation for the lost. Evangelicals left the culture room and turned out the lights; the atheist moved in and decorated the culture in the anti-God way it is portrayed today.

Evangelicals have a diminished view of the importance of creation with one exception: arguing for a literal six day creation. That in itself is a problem. The focus comes again on the process: how creation came into existence. And, much time, effort and funds are expended in this area to no avail. It is a matter of belief…did God create or not? The Bible says so. Richard Dawkins says no. Who will you believe? This side of heaven we will not know. Only God knows the scientific parameters because only the Triune God existed at the time of creation. As Ken Hamm says: “Were you there?”

Regardless of how creation came into existence, how are we impacting it? It was created good and will be redeemed. Should not evangelicals spend more time on cultural issues, along with their evangelism? If so, they would develop an expanded view of the church, the sacraments, and the nurturing of the saints at it occurs in the here and now. That would allow the world to see that matters of culture are not individually driven but that the Church has something to say about it.

When I was practicing environmental law [representing industrial clients], I was amazed at the overwhelming amount of pantheists that inhabited government regulators. Christians were almost non-existent. I pondered that for a long while. I came to realize that Christians were not seen as those who had an interest in creation. They were interested in individual souls and seeing that those souls came to know God as Savior. But, how about God as Creator? This is not an appeal for “Christian environmentalism”, whatever that is. This appeal is to put Jesus back in the public square and get him out of private.

When all that is important is to save “Fred” but not prepare him to make an impact in his created order for his Savior, we marginalize God. We privatize the faith as much as a scientist or a liberal Christian. Committed Christians need a high view of God, including Him as Creator, Redeemer and King. We need to proclaim the Gospel to the lost and allow Him to call His own to Himself. Then, with the Word, the sacraments and teaching we need to prepare these saints to make a difference for His Kingdom, for His Kingdom has come and He is King of all NOW!

The Culture of Celebrity and Entertainment
In the Church!?

The second OJ Trial is in full swing in the form of a preliminary hearing. Does anyone doubt we will be bombarded with this “caper” for months, years, to come? Who can forget the time, money and energy expended by the media and the common folk who watched the televised “Trial of the Century”. O.J. outdistanced the Scopes trial because there was no TV back “in the day”.
And, now there is a new OJ crime that is transfixing the media and therefore the public who takes their cue from the media. And, what a run it had been on celebrities and the law---Anna Nicole, Paris, Brittany, Duane “Dog” Chapman, the bounty hunter, ad nauseam!

Christianity is not immune from this celebrity fascination. Benny Hinn, Joyce Meyer and Joel Osteen are prominent names in Christian circles. Some of these folk are suddenly coming under scrutiny of the federal government. Sen. Grassley, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee is launching an investigation of six “health and wealth” gospel proponents on television. The government does not seem to be the organ for sorting out the charlatans of the church, but the investigation is to determine compliance with federal tax laws. What is interesting is that the secular and spiritual celebrities are linked together by the same underlying enterprise: entertainment.

The secular celeb issue is an easy one to assess. All media is tabloid media now. Even the “hard news” is about making money not reporting events. And, media is a fast paced business…the latest and the sensational had precedence over the long, played out story. So, what Brit does today is of far greater media significance that the arduous process of re-building Iraq. So successes in Iraq that do not involve maiming, killing or mis-steps by the US, are not newsworthy anymore. The viewer wants to be entertained.

Sadly, in this frenzied world, you have to be doing something new and catchy to stay in the news. Therefore, the celeb has to have a problem that keeps them in the public eye. Most viewers care little about the celebrity, they just are interested in their lives and what outrageous thing they are now doing. Oh, we know they need help, but if they were “cured” they would be out of the news because they would be regular folk like the viewers. Neither the viewer nor the media are much interested in repentance and the soul of the celluloid personality.

In the Christian community, this phenomenon is a bit more difficult to understand. We all recognize the foolishness of the idle babbling promoted by the entertainment culture in which we live. Yet, what do we do? We mimic the culture with our own celebrities, contemporary Christian music, Christian theme parks, Christian cartoons like Veggie Tales, etc. Are we not just adding fuel to the cultural fires burning? To use a term of Ken Myers, are we not just adding to the “cultural disorder”? Do we need an alternative “entertainment culture”? Why should the Christian community have any celebrities? Should not our lives be cultivated into sharing and suffering for the Gospel? Should not our emphasis be the emulation of Jesus Christ, the production of the fruit of the spirit and living a virtuous life?

The church is, or should be, about discipling. When entertainment takes over, it is about having fun, fulfilling our desires, going from one experience to another. There is no longer an emphasis on restraining desires, mortifying the flesh, becoming less and less while Christ in us becomes more and more. One of the real problems in the contemporary church is the failure to take discipleship seriously thereby negating creation and culture. When culture is only used as a method to get folks “saved” and not taken seriously, celebrity and entertainment become part of the Christian community. And, making disciples is not longer the mission of the church, contrary to the Lord’s Commission to His Church.

The New Atheism
What and Why?

Dawkins, Harris, Dennett, and Hitchens are the names associated with the new atheism. They have all written recent books which ratchet up the rhetoric against Christianity. Christians are no longer misguided, they are dangerous and demented. Religion should be eliminated, and that would be a good thing. This is a radical and aggressive position that is vogue today.

According to John Lennox of Oxford, who had debated Dawkins, this new atheism has three theses: 1] religion poisons everything; 2] there can be morality without God and 3] science [especially genetics] is the answer to all the problems of life.

Much of the hostility toward “intelligent design” as funky science is because the new atheists see it as smuggled in creation. That is clearly not the case, but the concern about the first eleven chapters of Genesis drives much of the hostility. In The God Delusion, Dawkins aims his guns at the idea of a Creator: If there was a Creator, who created the Creator? Of course that is a huge straw man. For a Christian believes in self-existent Creator Who spoke all things into existence. He is without beginning. Atheists believe in eternal matter and energy, just not an eternal Person. So, how did the matter and energy emerge?

It seems the new atheists were deeply affected by 9/11. Radical Islam lead to the destruction of that day and the war on terror that ensued. For these new atheists all religions are the same, and it is devotion to your religion that leads to acts of violence. The new atheism is a result of the new religious pluralism that has a foothold on western culture. There is a failure to discern that not all religions are alike. Jesus was not a terrorist, and He was acquitted by Pilate of that charge. While Islam has spread by the point of a sword, that was not the case for Christianity. God’s Kingdom is not of this world. We, as Christians, must do a better job of distinguishing true religious belief and practice. Furthermore, what about the atheistic regimes, such as Stalin and Pol Pot? Millions were slaughtered. Atheism poisoned everything for people subjected to atheistic tyrants!

The new atheists ground all their positions in a simple to complex progression, whether it is biology or morality. The new atheists insist they are moral folk because they have developed into moral folk. For them morality is not top down…morality from a moral lawgiver. But, to ague for an “ought” [what you should do] from an “is” [how I behave] is exactly why there is a widely divergent view of what is moral behavior. This fits nicely into the post-modern view of the autonomous individual and that all attempts at universal standards is an exercise in oppression and control. The secular view of this is: Anything Goes; the Biblical: “The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord” [Judges 3: 7, 12; 4:1; 6:1; 10:6; 13:1].

We are faced with new challenges. Christians must live authentic Christian lives and espouse true Christian doctrine and belief. We must make it clear that Christianity is different from all other man made religions. We must make it clear that the Gospel is the Gospel of life, not death. We must make it clear that how we live is because of how we believe and in Whom we believe. And, we must make clear that our hope lies not in any secular pursuit but in the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Christ, our Lord and Savior. Clarity by what we say and how we live. That is the apologetic for the new atheism.

Election 2008
Do not forget to Vote Today

No, that is not a typo. Election 2008 will be a blog topic over the next 12 months. It seems like the 2008 Presidential campaign has already gone on for the entire four years of GWB's second term. But, it is another year until the electorate makes their choice for President of the United States. This upcoming election is one that presents issues for Christian voters since there seems to be no clear cut candidate Christians can embrace. So, there are many challenges. Can a Christian vote for a candidate who believes “another Gospel”? We often hear attributed to Luther that he would rather be ruled by a competent Turk than and incompetent Christian? But, what if all the Turks are incompetent too? Can a Christian vote for a candidate who is not in line with the “right to life”? Is that not being a single issue voter? Is that good or bad? What is someone has all his/her positions right except the “right to life”? Can anyone have anything right without holding to a “right to life”? What must a Christian expect the role of government to be? Is it not the Church that reforms culture through the proclamation of the Gospel? How can a Christian have any expectation that an elected official must promote the Gospel as part of his/her governing agenda? There will be many questions to answer in the coming year for Christian voters. In the meantime, do not forget to vote today!