When a cultural compass has no “north,” it will point in the direction it is pointed. In the absence of “the” truth, we are left with “your” truth and “my” truth. And when your truth disadvantages my truth, I will do what it takes to ensure that my truth wins. In fact, however, we both lose.
Recent surveys show that millennials are “leading the shift away from organized religion” as they seek truth that seems more relevant to their personal lives and challenges. At the same time, studies demonstrate that young people value giving back to their communities in practical and relevant ways. As a result, every problem Christians meet through intercession and personal engagement is an opportunity to show others the relevance of Jesus’ love and grace to our broken world.
History will view corporations such as Mars, Incorporated as the leading advocates of the current moral revolution that is blurring the lines on the definitions of male and female, says theologian and seminary president Albert Mohler.
If all Christians were more like Christ, could our post-Christian and even anti-Christian culture remain the same?
CNN reports that the percentage of Americans who strongly dislike the opposition party has risen by 400 percent in the last two decades. Social media plays an outsized role here as well. Christianity Today public theologian Russell Moore recently pointed readers to a relevant article by Robert Wright, who in turn quoted psychologist Leon Festinger: “People who make public commitments to a position are going to be motivated to bolster it. They’re going to become better and better at generating reasons why they’re right and their would-be critics are wrong.”
As the Wall Street Journal notes, quoting historian Tom Holland, “What’s happening with #MeToo is essentially an attempt to reimpose…Christian sexual morality.” Having witnessed the destruction of unrestrained sexual impulses, many are now more open to the idea that sex belongs within boundaries. The boundaries Christianity proposes, such as lifelong marriage and chastity, will seem quaint, traditional, and unrealistic. But short of these crisp, solid lines, are bad ideas bound to have victims—victims who will be asking, like Ratajkowski, “Why am I so unhappy?”
It is conventional wisdom today that all truth is personal and subjective. As a result, sharing Christ in public is viewed as the imposition of our beliefs on others. This view of truth extends especially to the claim that non-Christians need to trust Christ to escape hell for heaven (Acts 4:12). Such a claim is increasingly seen as intolerant in the extreme, a view that is affecting and infecting Christians as well as the larger secular culture.
According to the 2021 General Society Survey by NORC at the University of Chicago, more American young adults under 35 years of age are having less sex than in past generations, especially among those who are religiously devout.
