Swimming upstream in a downstream world

Christians in this brave, new world are in a conundrum. We have a 2,000 year old faith that is increasingly pushed to irrelevancy by well-funded skepticism, unprecedented sensual freedom, and a growing tide of dispassionate boredom with anything that doesn’t immediately satisfy.

Do you feel out of the mainstream?

The Christian message of original sin, the need for a Savior and an eternal destination seems so dated when compared to an entertainment-fueled pop culture that does its very best to make us seem tired and out of touch.

How hard should we try to fit into the culture so that the Jesus of the first century is applicable to the modern age? How much of our message — especially the “uncomfortable” parts like sin nature, eternal damnation, and a God of both love and justice — do we conveniently leave out? How much of our faith do we sacrifice, just to try to keep pace?

Our music, our churches, our writings and our worship all have hints of modernism – of a subtle attempt to try to fit in. Is it so hard to stick to our principles, hold to our truths and live by our creed?

Westmininster Theological Seminary professor Vern Poythress in World Magazine believes that this rush to lead the culture is really about power. But he says we shouldn’t fret over our lack of cultural impact, because “the power of the Christian faith is the power of the cross, power in human weakness, the power of God’s love.”

Our power is supposed to seem silly to the world.

If we are despised by men, then let it be.
If we are mocked and scorned by the media, then let it be.
If we are deemed irrelevant by the elite, then let it be.
If we are not understood by the proud, then let it be.

Let it be in my home, my neighborhood, my workplace and my church.