Modernity as a Barrier to Belief - Conclusion

I am convinced that modernity and its attendant philosophy of modernism have had a devastating impact upon the contemporary Church. While postmodernism may have raised legitimate challenges to modernism it nonetheless can only do so within the context of modernity. The result, I believe, is that the criticisms raised by postmodernism remain academic and the world rolls on in the grip of modernistic thinking. We still trust in the ingenuity of man as evidenced by the fact that we have only increased expectations from our government or the enigmatic "they" to solve everything from affordable healthcare to obesity. The solution to every problem is &"education" and any temporary deviation from the expectation of perpetual prosperity is an aberration and must be "fixed." Of course this expectation is absolute because any impediment to personal affluence is considered "unnatural" in America.

How many of us actually live by faith even in the slightest sense? When was the last time any of us, living in America, were compelled to utterly trust in the Lord for our daily bread? Do any of us stand on the brink of starvation? Do we risk our lives in the exercise of faith in Jesus Christ? Don't we claim "social persecution" as if that is to be compared with real persecution? Honestly, don't we really trust first in our jobs, the power company, modern medicine, the order insured by government, technology, (the tools of modernity) etc. and this is what produces such great fear in us when these fail us? When was the last time we responded to a call upon our hearts to do something so irrational and contrary to "normalcy" in obedience to God? I am not suggesting that God no longer calls us to the same level of obedience described in Hebrews chapter 11; I am saying that we no longer expect, or perhaps more accurately want, this "kind" of call and thus we do not listen.

Modernity appears to have met all of our physical needs for security and thus produced a standard by which we then measure everything including God's expectations of us. We think He works exclusively through what we perceive to be the normal state of things; jobs, medicine, housing, modern conveniences, etc. We simply no longer expect the supernatural and therefore we find ourselves mostly independent of God until something goes awry.

Where this impact may be most damaging is in the Church itself. This may be best exemplified in some, not all, churches who are caught up in church growth movements and strategies with an unhealthy reliance upon methodologies and not the Holy Spirit. Here again Os Guinness is helpful. "In today's convenient, climate-controlled spiritual world created by the managerial and therapeutic revolutions, nothing is easier than living apart from God. ...Modernity creates the illusion that, when God commanded us not to live by bread alone but by every word that comes from His mouth, He was not aware of the twentieth century. The very success of modernity may undercut the authority and driving power of faith until religion becomes merely religious rhetoric or organizational growth without spiritual reality."

Our reliance on the tools and resources of modernity can and often does maintain our dependence upon the things of this world; those things we have trusted in all along. We rarely come to experience or seek after radical dependence upon Christ. I think this condition is central to maintaining the all too common "sacred / secular" distinction among many professing Christians.

Thankfully there are others who recognize that the contemporary Church in America is in desperate need of renewal. These rightly recognize that what passes for Christianity in America today is a mere shadow of historic faith in Jesus Christ. In addition, there are a multitude of causes for this condition, I have only addressed one but one which I believe is significant and due to its inherent subtlety is difficult to discern and root out.

However, I am concerned that some Christian's efforts at "renewing the Church" rely solely upon the very paradigm that I am addressing. These "modernistic" reformers seek renewal through the development of measurable metrics and strategies such as those common to business. Their arguments are based upon the premise that we can through certain processes produce "spiritual growth" that is both quantifiable and duplicatable. The "problem" in their minds is not theological or spiritual in origin but rather a problem of leadership and techniques. The language is often managerial in nature appealing to paradigms, trends, and best practices. The dependence upon processes is defended in the name of doing all things in excellence to the glory of God but in the process of doing this we often eliminate God himself from the very process.

In conclusion, I am not denouncing progress or the benefits of modern technologies. Nor am I advocating that we dress our kids like Pilgrims and start churning our own butter! Clearly the last three hundred years have produced extraordinary advances in science, technology, and the general quality of life. The irony is that the resultant "spirit" of these advances that now threaten the Gospel were largely fostered by and developed as a result of the Reformed Christian life and world view. These advances have proven beneficial in many respects and serve to fulfill God's longstanding commandment to "subdue the earth." I applaud such creativity committed to improving the human condition to the glory of God. I am simply warning that these very things can replace our dependence upon God. Therefore the condition of modernity and its inherent benefits and tools demand careful and critical scrutiny so that they maintain their proper place in our lives.

May it be our sincere prayer that the Lord would deliver us from dependence upon the things of this world and render us utterly dependent upon Him! May He be the King to whom I give my heart, my mind, my life.

[This article appears in the Reformation & Revival Journal - 4th Quarter 2005