Culture: Delicious but Dangerous

I agree with David Wells when he writes:

"...it is not possible to live with any degree of authenticity as a Christian unless the modern world is understood to be what, in fact, it is: delicious but dangerous, like the Turkish delight that proved so irresistible and so lethal to one small boy in C.S. Lewis's The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe" (16).

Any church that fails to help their people recognize that we're still pilgrims passing through, that this is not our home, that the concerns of this life are not primary, that life in the West--the Disneyland called America as John Piper calls it--is not our friend.

I especially saw this earlier today (on Al Mohler's blog) when I read these words from Steven Weinberg's (Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Texas) review of Richard Dawkins' book The God Delusion in the London Times where he writes:

"...although most Americans may be sure of the value of religion, as far as I can tell they are not very certain about the truth of what their own religion teaches. According to a recent article in the New York Times, American evangelists are in despair over a poll that showed that only 4 per cent of American teenagers will be “Bible-believing Christians” as adults. The spread of religious toleration provides evidence of the weakening of religious certitude. Most Christian groups have historically taught that there is no salvation without faith in Christ. If you are really sure that anyone without such faith is doomed to an eternity of Hell, then propagating that faith and suppressing disbelief would logically be the most important thing in the world – far more important than any merely secular virtues like religious toleration. Yet religious toleration is rampant in America."

And...

"Even though American atheists might have trouble winning elections, Americans are fairly tolerant of us unbelievers. My many good friends in Texas who are professed Christians do not even try to convert me. This might be taken as evidence that they don’t really mind if I spend eternity in Hell, but I prefer to think (and Baptists and Presbyterians have admitted it to me) that they are not all that certain about Hell and Heaven. I have often heard the remark (once from an American priest) that it is not so important what one believes; the important thing is how we treat each other. Of course, I applaud this sentiment, but imagine trying to explain “not important what one believes” to Luther or Calvin or St Paul. Remarks like this show a massive retreat of Christianity from the ground it once occupied...."

He nails us!!! And, the main reason for his experiences with Christians is not so much that science has destroyed religious certitude (although I do think that's contributed) that we've fallen in love with all the "stuff"--the fun, the values, the thought, the affluence--of our world and greatly fear not fitting in with those in it, forgetting that the world is not the Christian's friend because those who love it are God's enemy (James 4:4; 1 John 2:15).