The Cultural Chaos in Which We Preach

As I approach preaching to our congregation on the subject of  The Reliability of The Resurrection tomorrow, a crowd undoubtedly containing a number of modern unbelievers, I struggle with the knowledge that my hearers will come steeped in a stew of suspicion regarding my Gospel. This is because we dwell in a world that has morphed into a hostile place for anyone who claims to be a Divine Truth Teller. To wit, consider the following summary of the situation by the author of Christianity on the Offense:

“Secular humanists believe that all religions were created by people. They consider people, rather than God, supreme in the universe. Their worldview seeks to push religious thought and life to the outer perimeter of human concerns—if not eliminate them altogether.

Contributing secular humanist philosophies include the following.

Evolution. The belief that life came into existence accidentally through natural, random processes over immense periods of time without the aid of a Higher Being. There is no God.

Materialism. The belief that all of reality is material (matter). Nothing spiritual or nonmaterial exists. Immortal souls or spirits do not exist; no mind exists independent of the brain. Even our thoughts can be reduced to chemical and neurological processes. There is no God.

Naturalism. This philosophy asserts that the universe is all there is and ever was and that all within it operate according to eternal, universal, unchanging natural laws. All of reality can be understood in terms of natural processes. There are no supernatural beings or supernatural events such as miracles and answered prayer. There is no God.

Postmodernism. The traditional form of secular humanism is rapidly evolving—especially in academia—into a new worldview that rejects objective truth and reason. In postmodernism, absolute truth is non-existent. “Truth” is subjective in that it is directly related to one’s cultural beliefs and experiences. Pluralism and relativism are the foundational presuppositions of postmodernism.”

The Complete Confidence in Which I Preach

“Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed. ” Acts 13:48-49