Joseph Bottum, an editor at First Things, recently published an article called “The Death of Protestant America.” Here are a few of his observations that give meaning to the title.

• By “Protestant America” he means the America that was once defined by the mainline churches—the more liberal expressions of the Northern Baptists, United Church of Christ, Episcopalians, Lutherans, Methodists, and Presbyterians. Take a deep breath and consider: In 1965 50% of the American population was in these churches. But today 8% of Americans belong to these churches.
• “The death of the Mainline is the central historical fact of our time: the event that distinguishes the past several decades from every other period in American history. Almost every one of our current political and cultural oddities, our contradictions and obscurities, derives from this fact: The Mainline…has lost the capacity to set, or even significantly influence, the national vocabulary or the national self-understanding.”
• Lutheran theologian Carl Braaten is quoted to explain why scholars leave the ELCA. Among the reasons he gives is this: “They are saying that the Roman Catholic Church is now more hospitable to confessional Lutheran teaching than the church in which they were baptized and confirmed.”
• Quoting a 1993 article in First Things, “The Real Reason for Decline”: “The single best predictor of church participation turned out to be belief—orthodox Christian belief, and especially the teaching that a person can be saved only through Jesus Christ…. Amazingly enough, fully 68 % of those who are still active Presbyterians don’t believe it.”

What happened?

• “The churches’ desperate hunger to mean more in politics and economics had the perverse effect of making them less effective opponents of the political and economic pressures on the nation. They mattered more when they wanted to matter less.”

I pray that the younger evangelicals who are pondering where to put their energies will learn from history that doctrinal accommodation brings larger audiences in the short run but death and irrelevance in the long run.

And God forbid that any should say with Hezekiah: Who cares if the death comes in 80 years as long as I have crowds and influence in my day (2 Kings 20:19).

HT: James Grant

8 topics that can naturally connect to the Christian faith.

1. Corruption, evil and sin.
Conversations about corruption and evil are pretty common in my experience. Murderer’s go unpunished, children are exploited, racism continues on in more polite forms, mayors are busted smoking crack, etc. These conversations can naturally connect to the biblical issues of justice, judgment, forgiveness and redemption.

Transitions examples: “Even when the unrighteous escape justice in the courts, God says he will not let sin go unpunished…”

“My personal desire for vengeance is often quited by God’s assurance of justice…”

“In the end, I find that though I am guilty of different sins, I am just as guilty as…”

2. Community.
This is a great conversation to have in the suburbs. Everyone wants it, but many are at a loss how to build it. Zoning laws have essentially destroyed the development of real, workable, walkable, communities. Conversations about community naturally lend themselves to the reality that we are made for community, that God himself dwells in eternal community (Father, Son and Holy Spirit), and that a central component of God’s saving work is the establishment of a community, a family, made up of every tribe, tongue and nation.

Transition example: “Part of why I am so passionate about the development of authentic community is because of how the Bible portrays the need for it. We are created by God to live in real community…”

3. Politics.
In “my suburbia” it’s 49% Republican and 51% Democrat. We’re split down the middle, and yet I often hear and have political discussions with practical strangers. Political discussions are a great opportunity to relate the second greatest commandment (love for neighbor) to the management of power.

Transition example: “I regret that Christians are often seen as a voting block of the Republican party. The truth is, the command to love God and our neighbors points to a way that is not entirely in line with any political party…”

4. Environment.
People around my neighborhood are much more likely to talk about the environment now than 10 years ago. This too is an easy topic to connect to the Christian faith. God as creator and the cultural mandate in Genesis can make the leap shorter.

Transition example: “Our dependence on automobiles, especially in the suburbs, is a concern of mine not only because it only perpetuates the breakdown of localism, but also because of the negative effect it has on the environment, and ultimately because I believe God has given us a wonderful gift (creation) as well as us the responsibility to care for it…”

5. War.
At the moment there is a lot of discussion about the War in Iraq, the war on terror, and the potential conflict with other countries. Just-war theory, pacifism and warmongering are topics that all connect with the issues of justice, judgment, sin and the hope we have for true peace. The topic of war can allow for a truly unique voice to be heard when we speak with both conviction and humility.

“War is a terrible thing, but if we are going to seek to the good of others and protect the innocent, sometimes war is an unfortunate necessity. That doesn’t make the issue easy. In fact it makes it more difficult. And my concern for justice is rooted in God’s love of it…

6. Family.
We have a lot of families here in Saint Charles, IL. On many levels family, children and marriage are valued, and yet many seem to be looking for answers concerning the very nature of what it means to be a dad, mom, husband and wife. Directing people to move beyond mere cultural expectations of these roles to see the biblical perspective can be a provocative and challenging dialog, but it’s a conversation many are willing to have. It is a shared interest between our church and culture, so this point of connection can serve as an opportunity to move right into the Christian faith - and even the gospel itself as we emphasize grace-based parenting that aims at the heart, not just behavior.

7. Church.
We live in a very Catholic area so having conversations about church is not uncommon or unnatural. Anytime I find out someone goes to church we have a great discussion about their faith, the differences between Roman Catholicism and Evangelicalism, the words of Christ vs church/religion in general. Obviously, once this conversation is underway there is virtually no leap to make.

8. Art/pop-culture
Everyone watches television, goes to the movies and listens to music. Many of the forms of art in pop-culture provide excellent entry points to get to the greater themes that the gospel addresses. This is often an easy connecting point that gets to the issues of sin, justice, forgiveness, redemption, etc.

Transition example: “…the protagonist’s search for redemption is reflective of humanity’s serach. The fact that he doesn’t find it is the common frustration of man…”

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Other Ways to Refuse the Postmodern World

1. Attend local live concerts.

2. Go to a local museum.

3. Treat your checker at the supermarket like a real human being.

4. Don’t worry about fashion in clothes.

5. Drive your car into the ground before getting another one.

6. Give a significant amount of your money to Kingdom causes.

7. Read books that are over your head.

8. Listen to music you don’t understand until you do.

9. Memorize parts of the Bible.

10. Read about Christians from other counties, such as Brother Yun from China.

11. Object when your church wants to spend thousands on a food court (or the equivalent

), but won’t use that money for missions.

12. Do not interrupt others when they are speaking.

13. Turn off as many TVs as possible.

14. Don’t say, “I’ll pray for yo

u” unless you will.

15. Listen to what people from other countries have to say about America and about their own countries.

16. Care more about your soul than your lawn.

17. Speak in complete sentences.

The Constructive Curmudgeon: Other Ways to Refuse the Postmodern World

This is a very helpful article on the differences between systematic and biblical theology and how they should interact.  If you’ve ever wondered, “ok, how does this all get put together?”  This articlle will give you a brief overview of the ways this is done.

Having listened to parts of this message, it’s well worth listening to.

Data Smog and the Christian Life :: personal, technology :: A Reformed, Christian Blog.

First, let’s notice what Piper says about gratitude and faith.

A definition: “We easily forget
that gratitude exists because sometimes things come to us
“gratis”—without price or payment. When that happens, we
should feel a pleasant sense of the worth of what we’ve received and the
goodwill behind it. This pleasant sense is what we call gratitude.”  (Future Grace [FG], 31)

“God meant gratitude to be a spontaneous
expression of pleasure in the gift and the good will of another.” (FG, 32)

Piper’s main concern at first is to show that gratitude should not result in what he calls the debtor’s ethic.

The debtor’s ethic says, “Because you have done something good for me,
I feel indebted to do something good for you.” (FG, 32)

This is good because we can all easily slip into trying to pay God back for all the good He does us.  This, however, violates a true picture of who God is.  Paul explicitly asks in somewhat of an echo of Is. 40, ‘who can give to God that he should be repaid?’   We cannot repay God for any good we do is ultimately from His grace (Eph. 2:8-10).

Piper explains, “In the debtor’s ethic the Christian life is pictured as an effort to pay back
the debt we owe to God. Usually the concession is made that we can never
fully pay it off. But “gratitude” demands that we work at it. Good deeds and
religious acts are the installment payments we make on the unending debt
we owe God. This debtor’s ethic often lies, perhaps unintentionally, beneath
the words, ‘We should obey Christ out of gratitude.’”  (FG, 33)

Is then gratitude a vital part of a sanctifying faith and growth in Christ?

Here’s how Piper explains it: “As I said before, this is not nit-picking or incidental; it is amazing. Gratitude is not set forth in the Bible as a primary motive for Christian living.
Gratitude is a beautiful thing. There is no Christianity without it. It is at the
heart of worship. It should fill the heart of every believer. But when it comes
to spelling out the spiritual dynamics of how practical Christian obedience
happens, the Bible does not say that it comes from the backward gaze of
gratitude, but that it comes from the forward gaze of faith.”

Here than we see a final part to Piper’s perspective on gratitude.  It is oriented toward the past and not the future.  Piper does not see gratitude as a primary motive for Christian living.  Is he correct?  I want to lookat that in part 2.    But, before we analyze that, some practical questions:  is gratitude a part of your worship? Are you daily grateful for the gift of eternal life?  Do you regularly look at God’s blessings to you?  These questions are vital because they reflect a heart of biblical worship.

However, we also should not slip into a debtor’s ethic.  Trying to repay God for what He has done.  It is very easy to conceive of our relationship to God based on things he gives us and things we owe to him in return. This ultimately is a perversion of grace because it conceives of grace as coming with strings attached.  It also subtly conceives of God as not able to do what we think needs to be done without us doing something.  How easy is it to slip into the debtor’s ethic?  What do you think?