In our present age, there is a great deal of confusion. The social fabric of our society and culture is being torn apart thread by thread, resulting in a whole host of challenges to long-held beliefs about what it means to live together in a society, what is the nature and limitation of personal freedom, and what it means to be a Christian in today’s world.

A common thread running through all of these issues is the current confusion over what it means to be a human being. As human beings, we all have a vision of what it means to be human and to live a fulfilling life. We often take it for granted that others share our assumptions of what it means to be human and what is the purpose of human life. Sadly, it’s a faulty assumption that everyone else shares our understanding of what it means to be human. [Read more…]

You ever notice how fast things are changing these days? I believe we have front row seats to one of the most significant cultural shifts our world has ever seen. One of my jobs as a pastor is to think about such things, and how they might affect the Church. To some extent, it’s necessary for all of us to think about it.

Since the 1300s, there have been certain historical events and developments that have brought us where we are today. Last month, we left off with the sixteenth century and the birth of the Reformation of the Church. Things would never be the same.

In the Seventeenth century, the divisions of Europe and the monarchies and the Roman Empire led to the Wars of Religion. Although the last official Holy Roman Emperor was Francis II (1768-1845), the 1600s saw the Empire begin to fall apart in ways that were not reparable. It was in this century that we start to see the modern nation-states become popular, and with it, less unity of religious belief throughout Europe. On top of this, the Scientific Revolution hit its stride, and the still popular idea of the universe as an ordered machine took over. Instead of mankind being intimately and divinely connected to the natural world as part of God’s creation, people commonly began to think of themselves as separate, distinct, and “above” creation. It’s not hard to see the effect of this. If man is “above” creation, God is not needed.

The Eighteenth century developed this “godless” way of thinking into a way of living. Once God was removed from science, now we needed a way of removing God from the conscience and society. “Reason” would be God’s replacement. [Read more…]