Postmodernism: An Opportunity for the Church - Conclusion

Postmodernism destroys healthy pluralism which allows for different ideas, views and perspectives and ultimately such concepts as conversion. Where pluralism exists conversion remains possible. One can, through reason and logic, make their case so to speak, and thus possibly convert a person to embrace his or her way of seeing the matter in question. Conversely postmodernism renders all perspectives moot and meaningless while a healthy pluralism maintains its respect for the varied distinctions and perspectives thereby encouraging a diverse marketplace of ideas in which these ideas can freely compete for supremacy. In essence postmodernism, as a philosophy, is tolerant of every belief except those that make any claim to exclusive truth, such as Christianity. Of course, postmodernism's own claim that all truth is relative and the fact that this claim is made absolutely is not subject to challenge.

Given this philosophical condition, the Church must realize that the psychological context in which many people now think and live and into which we are attempting press the Gospel has changed dramatically. This postmodern context affects how they receive what we are saying. When we approach such people with a Gospel "presentation" apart from any relationship, they are immediately suspicious and will likely categorize our motives as being merely self-motivated. Postmodern people are simply not likely to receive and respond to a random tract or visitation, not to say that the Holy Spirit can't work through these. However these people have been conditioned to be suspect of any claims to truth. The evangelical opportunity created by postmodernism lays in the resultant desire for recovering a "connectedness" to other people and spiritual meaning. The weakness of postmodern assertions, that everything is relative and ultimately nothing can be true, is that this simply conflicts with both the desires of the human heart and reality itself. Our deepest desire is to be truly loved and accepted and when we long for such relationships we know that these desires and the resulting satisfaction is a "good" in the absolute sense. This is rooted in our profound sense of disconnectedness from God. We know we are alienated from God and thus we search in vain to satisfy this need through countless idols and experiences until by God's grace, His Spirit brings to us to saving faith. Additionally, most people have had enough experience with failed love and rejection to know that these feelings are "bad" in the absolute sense as well. We know in our innermost being that these reactions are not mere perspectives resulting from social conditioning but rather universally true characteristics of being human.

To be loved and accepted satisfies us and being rejected hurts us deeply. Every person knows this including the most ardent advocate of philosophical relativism, thus the postmodern opportunity for the Gospel begins with relationship - the simple act of caring about another human being, not for what it does for us but what it does for them. For no other reason than they are valuable, being made in the image of God. When we, as Christians, earnestly endeavor to cooperate with God to meet this deepest most fundamental need in the human heart that is when the illusion of relativism vanishes and the God-given yearnings of the human heart are revealed. I believe that postmodernism's inevitable conclusions: Life is meaninglessness and the prospect of ever connecting to any coherent sense of meaning or purpose is futile, have only brought these yearnings closer to the surface. We must first seek to connect to the heart of people by genuinely caring and investing in their lives before attempting to "sell" the story of Jesus. The postmodern person must experience the authenticity of our faith in Jesus before they will receive it. The postmodern merely demands what Scripture confirms; our faith is authenticated by demonstrating that we love our neighbor. This is what the unbelieving world expects from the Church.

Certainly conversion is ultimately and exclusively dependent upon the work of the Holy Spirit and I am not suggesting that we should only "love" people as a means of creating the necessary preconditions for salvation. We should love people because Christ first loved us and we now see other people as He saw us when we were in our own rebellious state. Understanding that love cannot be reduced to a mere means to an end; in being faithful to love our neighbor as ourselves, I believe that we are directly addressing one of those "false pretensions" spoken of in 2 Corinthians 10:5 that is keeping people from the knowledge of God, particularly in the case of the postmodern. Simply put, the postmodern generation needs more demonstration of the Gospel and less expression apart from love. In the words of the apostle John, "Let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth." When the Church in America repents of its conformity, abandons its willful ignorance of God, and lays down their lives for others, like Christ, then this nation will once again see the Truth of Christ and His Kingdom.

Copyright S. Michael Craven 2006

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S. Michael Craven is the Founding Director of the Center for Christ & Culture, a ministry of the National Coalition for the Protection of Children & Families. The Center for Christ & Culture is dedicated to renewal within the Church and works to equip Christians with an intelligent and thoroughly Christian approach to matters of culture in order to recapture and demonstrate the relevance of Christianity to all of life. For more information on the Center for Christ & Culture, additional resources and other works by S. Michael Craven visit: www.battlefortruth.org