Neal Pollard
Have you thought about all the advantages and blessings we enjoy these days? We still live in more comfort and ease than the rest of the world here in this nation. Without the stressors of persecution, privation, and peril, we have spawned quite a few philosophers–even in the field of theology.
Certainly, you see the dramatic changes and shifts in our culture brought about by new, succeeding world views and philosophies from modernism (denial of the Bible’s inspiration, miracles, etc.) to situational ethics (course of action depends on the situation and as long as love in the motivation the action is acceptable) to relativism (what’s right for me may not be right for you and vice versa) to pluralism (many paths up the mountain; i.e., many ways to view and follow God) to humanism (essentially, man is the highest authority left to determine his own way) to hedonism (pleasure is god). Today, the post-postmodern thought sometimes called “emergent philosophy” is a direct descendent of these other ancestors.
In the wake of these ideologies, a culture has adopted a thoroughly secular, skeptical, and sensual point of view that affects how they view matters like God, the Bible, “church,” and Christianity. The media normally depicts these in a roundly negative way. Many average people, no longer having any religious affiliation, are traveling the road of life like one in a fast car at night without headlights. They are hurtling toward eternal lostness without the benefit of the light of truth.
How do we reach such a culture? What nuances, innovations, and techniques have the finesse to steer them toward the light? May I respectfully say that while many have tried to ask the question in this way, it misses a timeless, powerful affirmation of scripture. We may not enjoy or appreciate that affirmation, we cannot deny it without denying Scripture. Paul wrote the church at Corinth, steeped in many of the same mindsets we face today thanks to Greek philosophy and Romanic culture, in 1 Corinthians 1:18-31. Paul essentially says that you cannot find God through worldly thinking, whether you want signs of worldly wisdom (22). Then he says, “For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are” (26-28).
What do we have to offer the world? It sees the message of the cross as either stumblingblock or foolishness (23). Only those who hear the clear call of the gospel, who are seeking and hurting and receptive, can see the power and wisdom of God (24). Usually, those folks are found numbered among the wise, mighty, or noble, as the world sees it. The plain and simple message of Christ and Him crucified (1 Cor. 2:2) is enough for the honest-hearted searcher (cf. Lk. 8:15). That must be the drawing power, at the end of the day, and whatever approach we use to do that must not subtract or detract from that message!
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