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Recently, it has become very clear that many Christians think they are living in the culture that existed in the USA 50 years ago. Then, around 90% of the culture agreed with Christian values and basically understood the Christian worldview. This made evangelism fairly easy, you just had to remind people of the basic values they already held. Public correction of non-Christian actions was accepted and affirmed by the public sense basically everyone believed something positive about Christianity. While outreach was fairly easy, the discipleship programs of churches failed spectacularly. For example, once nearly everyone attended a church on Sunday -- now less than 1/2 of those who call themselves Christians attend any church at all. We can no longer surf along thinking that what has worked in the past will function in this pagan culture. We need to examine the Old Testament and see the behaviors of the prophets during the exile. Notice that they did not spend a lot of time prophesying to the pagans, but more often they spoke to the community, Some rose in power (like Daniel) to influence the culture, and later you will see Esther rise up when the culture had gone so far as to prepare to remove the people of God. We are not there yet, we can still change this pattern but to to do we MUST understand the culture in which we will. Therefore, this blog will be focused on a study of the Pagan Heart of Today's Culture. There will be brief reading, and then some questions at the end of each reading. We suggest you get a notebook and answer the questions so that you can begin to understand the culture in which you live.

Introduction: This series of classes will examine the spiritual heart of our culture through a prism of "isms". Though "ism" words can be daunting, they also can be helpful because they are precise. We will look at three seemingly unrelated worldviews - postmodernism, Gnosticism, and polytheism - that form a constructive lens through which we can understand what is sometimes called the New Spirituality. We may well ask what meaningful connection could exist between the worldwide ancient religion of polytheism, the first-through-fourth-century Christian heresy of Gnosticism, and the contemporary philosophy of postmodernism. To find out, continue with this study! These three ways of thinking have become strangely connected. Together they help explain the nature of today's pagan worldview and its opposition to the gospel. To understand the inconnectedness of the "isms", we must first look at each one separately.

BEFORE WE MOVE ON:

  1. As you begin this study, what do you already know about polytheism, Gnosticism, and postmodernism? Are you aware of any ways in which these ideologies influence you or people with whom you have contact?
  2. What will we be arguing about these three "isms"? Why is this argument important to Christians?