Too Christian Too Pagan How to Love the World Without Falling for It

CHAPTER 1Too Christian, Too PaganIn an age of unparalleled material prosperity, our world is unraveling. As a talk show host I observed this by reading five newspapers and skimming nine hundred select articles daily, as well as perusing an average of twenty review copies of new books each week. Emerging from this rubble of information is a portrait of the modern world as "an uncomfortable, unfulfilling place to live" as a 1995 Time magazine cover story titled "Twentieth Century Blues" once concluded. The rapid spread of societal decay into our everyday lives seems indisputable, inevitable, and even more pervasive now that we''re in the twenty-first century.For followers of Jesus, this volatile world poses a grave threat. When living counter to culture, Christians are despised and hated by the world. When conforming to culture, Christians risk succumbing to the seductive desires of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of riches (see 1 John 2:16). Most of us know people who jettisoned their faith for the momentary pleasures of this age, and all of us experience and sometimes give in to the kinds of temptations that, if unchecked, lead to the contamination of our spirit.Today, Christian responses to the world include de facto withdrawal into a protective cocoon, combat in the culture war, or a widespread, chameleonlike conformity. Our instincts for personal spiritual survival warn us to stay clear of this alternatingly inhospitable and enticing place. Yet ironically, this soul-threatening society also offers our greatest opportunity for influence, because an unraveling society produces a spiritually restless people needing Jesus'' transforming good news.The Spirituality CrazeAnd so it is that in today''s uncertain and anxious hour, "spirituality," once a taboo subject, is now mainstreamed, an acceptable topic for everyday conversation. "The spiritual" permeates film, music, and best-selling books. In her book God-Talk in America, Publisher Weekly''s former religion editor Phyllis Tickle concludes, "More theology is conveyed in, and probably retained from one hour of popular television, than from all the sermons that are also delivered on any given weekend in America''s synagogues, churches, and mosques."On television in a three-week span Larry King interviewed the Dalai Lama, Benny Hinn, and Billy Graham. On the fortieth anniversary celebration of King''s broadcasting career, Bryant Gumble asked, "Larry, if you could interview God, what would your first question be?" King responded quickly, "I''d ask God-do you have a son?"Today''s spiritual journey is increasingly carried on outside organized religion. This is especially true for the next generation. A survey from the University of Chicago''s National Opinion Research Center reveals that in 1998, among eighteen- to twenty-two-year-olds, only 16 percent had any contact with organized religion. Yet they have a higher interest in spiritual issues than the same generation twenty years earlier, with 82 percent of them asking questions about life after death compared to only 69 percent in 1978. They are more likely to seek answers to their questions in a Barnes and Noble bookstore, or in discussions about recently released movies or music, than they are in a church. Because today''s spiritual conversation has moved outside the church and into everyday life, it is more essential than ever that you and I engage people where they are in the rough and tumble world.Too Christian, Too PaganThis poses a problem. Most of us want to make a positive difference in our circle of influence, yet we feel woefully inadequate to take Jesus into our world. There are two equal and opposite reasons for this. In my observation most Christians are either too Christian or too pagan. The Christians who are "too Christian" are very comfortable within the Christian subculture but are ill at ease when in the world. On the other hand, Christians who are too pagan are at ease with the world but fail to integrateStaub, Dick is the author of 'Too Christian Too Pagan How to Love the World Without Falling for It', published 2000 under ISBN 9780310233152 and ISBN 0310233151.