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Intro
20 years ago there started to be a change in the church
Right and wrong were under attack
Postmodern thought took over and what was right became more about feelings than truth
It was most manifested in the Emerging church
Teaching, sacrifice, and discipline was switched out for community, feelings, and happiness
Judging became frowned upon and there was a push to discover multiple paths to God
What it showed was a shifting in the values between the church and our country
It caught a lot of people off guard
Most people assumed that the United States was a Christian nation
When in reality we were always a secular nation that had values that were similar to the church
Now the values were shifting away
It was a new landscape to navigate
The church has become the minority and people are being less guided by Christian values and more by those that opposed the word of God
In the process it exposed a lot of people in the church for what they really believed… and it wasn’t pretty
It showed that very few in the church believed what the Bible says and even fewer live by it
Tonight, we are going to look at
the State of the Church
How secularism has impacted it
Cultivating a Biblical Worldview
The State of the Church
Let’s first paint a picture of the state of the church
It’s not pretty
Three organizations have conducted extensive studies
Pew Research (Most respected secular firm)
Barna (Longest running research)
Arizona Christian U (Most conclusive)
Pew’s Religious Landscape Studies is conducted every seven years.
These studies were national surveys involving more than 35,000 people
According to the 2019 data, 65 percent of Americans identify themselves as Christians.
We have to define what they mean by that
1. someone who says they’re a Christian simply because they were raised in a Christian home (even though they no longer have an active faith in Jesus);
2. someone who generally agrees with Christian values but rejects core doctrinal tenets of Christianity, such as the resurrection;
3. someone who rejects the authority of the Bible but considers themself a “Jesus follower”;
4. someone who considers themself a Christian but also holds various beliefs that are in significant conflict with a biblical worldview (such as reincarnation);
5.someone who holds to the tenets of the historic Christian faith and is an active follower of Jesus.
Self-identifications tell us little about how people actually function in culture and in their personal lives because they tell us nothing about what people believe.
Just 39 percent of Americans are “highly religious”—seriously committed to any faith.
The other two groups (“somewhat religious” and “nonreligious”) are characterized by beliefs that aren’t consistent with a biblical worldview
Barna found that only 17 percent of Christians who consider their faith important and attend church regularly hold to a biblical worldview.
Arizona Christian U says:
In 2020, they found that only 6 percent of all American adults have a biblical worldview.
Among 18- to 29-year-olds, the number drops to 2 percent.
What do they mean by Biblical World View?
absolute moral truth exists;
the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches;
Satan is a real being or force, not merely symbolic; •
a person cannot earn their way into heaven by trying to be good or doing good works;
Jesus lived a sinless life on earth;
God is the all-knowing, all-powerful creator of the world who still rules the universe today.
What do Christians believe who don’t buy into the Biblical worldview
You would think it would be New Ageism, Agnosticism, or even Atheism but its not
The view that most take is called secular humanism
This is the biggest threat to the church and it is what is eating away at the attendance of every church
Secularism
Secularism means “Needs of this age”
What is secular humanism?
Concerned only with the material realm.
(Materialism)
Secular Humanism.
Marxism.
Utilitarianism.
Existentialism.
For all these, the extent of reality is the Physical universe.
There’s no God, or God is irrelevant.
There’s no objective truth; just subjective preference.
And if no truth, then no objective right or wrong, good or evil.
We see this played out in our time with the massive shift in morality.
Things that for centuries were regarded as taboo, wrong, abhorrent
Are now, not only being reframed as okay –
They’re called good and worthy of honor.
History of Secularism
There are two important dates
Thomas Jefferson & Ben Franklin were secular Humanists before the term was coined
They were deists, which means they believed in God, but not Jesus being the son of God or in miraculous works
That’s important because they wrote the constitution
They wanted a gentlemen’s religion that was civilized with good values but without any interference from the Church of England or Roman Catholic church
Secularism really started gaining momentum in the 1930s
A group of atheist and agnostic college professors got together and coined the phrase secular humanism and the produced the Humanist Manifesto
This manifesto was to develop a new religion based on science
The original manifesto was updated 40 years later in 1973 and signed by hundreds of prominent scholars and dozen of secular ministers
It’s stated purpose and stated goal was to advance humanity (humanism) rather concern with God
As you can imagine there was alot of alarm by the anti-Christian stance and it produced a lot of backlash
Many Secularists downplay the authority these documents
They love the light these documents has provided but they fear being burned by it’s heat
The secular worldview by which we’re surrounded is fundamentally at odds with a biblical worldview, and that has extensive implications for our daily lives.
It is so influential because it speaks to the things that we as humans, by our very nature, want to hear most.
A major reason secularism is so influential is that it appeals directly to our desired authority of the self.
What impact has Secularism had on society?
33% of 18-29 year olds claim no religious affiliation
In reality a lot of people who identify as Christians are probably secularists
Christians are often living more as an extension of the secular world today than as a distinct light to it.
Some of the messages of secularism
“You be you” instead of be who God made you to be.
“You got this” instead of God is in control.
“Live your best life” instead of live to give glory to God.
“You’re so strong” instead of God is strong in our weakness.
There are four guiding principles of Secularism
4 Tenants of Secularism
Feelings are the ultimate guide
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