Posted on 05/23/2006 6:34:22 PM PDT by sionnsar
A lot of people I run into seem to be angsting these days about the imminent failure of what used to be called Christendom. On the one hand, the repaganization of Western Civilization seems to be progressing steadily. (On CSI: Miami the other day, some character told another that Thats between you and your own personal god. I found that to be a rather telling statement. It can only be between you and your own personal god if your own personal god really exists! Otherwise its the same as saying its between you and your imaginary friend Skippy. The concept of my personal god lies at the heart of classical paganism, not at the heart of religious tolerance.)
Anyway, you have homegrown paganism on the one hand and you have the pressure of militant Islam on the other, taking down a former Christendom that, in the case of Europe, is no longer even capable of rustling up either the virility or the maternal instinct to replace itself.
Is Christendom disappearing? Well, that may depend on what we mean. Are the Dark Forces of Satan about to throw us all to the lions? That particular fear would seem to be a bit paranoid at the moment. Atheist bumper stickers and The DaVinci Code do not a persecution make. In terms of having a Christian-based civilization that is an effective presence in the world, however, Id have to say yes Christendom has pretty much vanished before our eyes. We can argue about that until the cows come home, but I think most readers here would buy the claim. The fact itself is not what I find interesting. We can also ask whether the process is irreversible. (My response: theoretically, no; practically, probably yes.) But thats not what interests me either.
The question I do find interesting is, why is Christendom disappearing? Not why in the political or sociological or even theological sense, but why in the teleological sense. We claim to believe in the God of Providence, the one who works through history to establish His Kingdom and Whose purposes cannot be thwarted. If we actually mean what we say, then Christendom cant be disappearing because Gods suddenly losing the war with Satan its failure must have been calculated into the grand scheme of things just as much as Adam munching the apple and Jerusalem falling to Nebuchadnezzar the Great.
If Christian Western civilization really is going the way of the dodo bird, then it must have served out its purpose, at least for the present time. Which then leads to the question, why did it come into existence in the first place? There may be an analogy with the history of Israel, the nation state. Israel was the place where monotheistic faith could be developed and preserved until the coming of the Messiah. Once Jesus had come and the gospel was being preached throughout the Empire, Israel (as a national culture) didnt last very long. The Second Temple was destroyed in the Jewish War in A.D. 70, and the city of Jerusalem was plowed with oxen after the Bar Kochba revolt in A.D. 136.
Christendom really came into existence with the Emperor (St.) Constantine. Through the Romans, Europe was Christianized and remained a sanctuary for believers during the Muslim conquests of the seventh through the seventeenth centuries. It was through the rise of imperial Europe that the church was able to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. There are still a few unreached people groups in the world, but the likelihood is that within a few years there will be no races, tribes, or nations where the gospel hasnt been heard. I suspect weve served our purpose. The rest of the world can take it from here, and its time for us to pay our bill.
Israel presumed that their chosen status would protect them from destruction no matter what they did. Havent we pretty much presumed the same thing? Spreading the gospel was certainly a Very Good Thing, but a lot of really bad stuff went along with it. I dont think theres any shortage of unrepented sin in the Western world; there sure isnt in my house.
Jesus promised to be with us to the end of the age pretty much the same thing thats been promised to the Jews. The promise made to the Jews was made to those who chose to follow Yahweh, not to the nation-state. The promise of Christ wasnt made to us as a Christian culture; it was made to us as a church. Its the remnant against whom the gates of hell will not prevail sometimes that remnant is 95% of the population, and sometimes its 1%. Weve gotten used to the idea that were the majority; like the Jews, we may have to get used to minority status. The Promise never changes, but the comfort level that goes with establishment status may be in for some pretty rude revisions.
That was a lot more long winded than I intended when I started out, but hey I am a professor, at least part-time. Long-winded is my business. Wind me up and I automatically go on for at least an hour, and I dont have a reset button.
"Clearly God "knew" we would screw up and considered it to be worth it anyway..."
To which (as usual) I forgot to add "And for which I am all-too-occasionally grateful!" :-)
Miketheworstofsinners (aka Miketheprof)
Ah, yes. The mirror.
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