paganization of the west and the global challenge to Christian truth

It was a true privilege to have Dr. Peter R. Jones who visited Singapore on his way to the World Reformed Fellowship Meetings in Jakarta. Dr. Peter R. Jones is Scholar at Large for World Reformed Fellowship (WRF). He is also an ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church in America. Dr. Jones also serves as Director of Christian Witness to a Pagan Planet (CWIPP), now truthXchange. He brought forward the topic of “Paganization in the West and the Global Challenge to Christian Truth.” I would like to share some of the points that he brought forward during the seminar.

The Rise of Paganism in the West

"Easter thought, Western mysticism. I really dig the whole Hindu pantheon. And I just pull from all kinds of different things.” – Meg Ryan

There has been a rise in religious paganism in the last century, or with a term also coined by Dr. Jones, a “pagan revival” in the west. What are the other evidences? Aravind Adiga, Indian journalist and author, observed the trend of re-arrival of paganism in the west, in which mystics and psychic has more and more becoming parts of life. As he wrote in the article titled “Mystical Mischief in New York” (Time, 16 July 2008):

"I am coming back to New York after five years, and it seems that psychics are taking over the city. From their center in the East Village, where there are more places to have your palm read than to check your e-mail, they have radiated all over New York, which teems with "Eastern" medicinal and future-telling establishments of every kind, ranging from the dubious (reiki, scented-candle therapy, acupuncture) to the bogus (palmistry, psychic reading.) Greenwich Village always had its share of mind readers, but there are many more these days, and they seem to have moved closer to the mainstream of life in the city. What was crazy 10 years ago is now respectable, even among the best-educated New Yorkers. I find that an old friend of mine in the city, once a strident atheist and rationalist, is getting absorbed in Jewish mysticism; he tells me approvingly that his wife has rejected "Western" medicine and now goes to a medicine man in Chinatown for roots and crystals."

The Bible itself, in 1 Timothy 4: 1-6, also gives a very vivid testimony about this recent tendency, on how men will one day abandon their faith and follow the path of demons. The passage shows how the biblical thought itself is at the very antithesis of all of these thoughts:

“The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer. If you point these things out to the brothers, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, brought up in the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed.”

So, alongside with this “pagan revival”, what is happening right now?

1. Redefinition of God. While it’s not trying to undermine the faith in God, it challenges the faith in the Bible.
2. Demise of Secular Humanism. Many predict that the world is now moving in the direction of secular humanism, or in other words, they world will become more and more secular. However, if we observed, the 21^st century is the most “religious” century in all time, in contrary to Sigmund Freud’s statement who predicted the demise of religion in this century. Postmodernism, the rampant movement and world view in this current century, doesn’t only critique Christianity, but also secular humanism through its deconstructionist view. Postmodern critique has undermined the assumption of secular humanism, as it’s only a presupposing truth, while not the truth in itself.
3. Collapse of Christianity. This happened not because the west has become fundamentally secular, it is not the free-thinkers who will “win”, but the “religionist”. Secular humanism has prepared the fertile ground for spiritual and mythical religion. Secular humanism fails simply because people can’t live without any form of religion. There are many questions which only religion can answer. Now for the Christian generation living in this age, there are two main problems for the rising Christian generation:
   

• The problem of Christian uniqueness. All the Christian truths are being questioned or judged as “foolish.” Many Christian freshmen in the United States lost their faith after a year or so in the campus. There is a powerful ideological pressure on campus, a multi-cultural reality, nothing is unique. Therefore, it is important for this generation to know why the Bible says what it says by understanding the Biblical Worldview.
• The problem of homosexuality. Does it fit with the notion of the image of God or just expression of sexuality which can be easily tolerated? If we looked deeply into it, the idea of all religion is one (or are all true) is related with the idea of homosexuality (INTERFAITH == INTERSEX)

to be continued...