For my wife, Peggy, and me, one of our favorite pastimes is to visit our local Barnes and Noble bookstore. We spend about 60 to 90 minutes perusing the multitude of books throughout the store. I often read and skim a new book to determine if I wish to purchase it. During a recent visit, I read through the new book by religious writer Elaine Pagels, the Harrington Spear Paine (Emeritus) Professor of Religion at Princeton University. She gives focus to practice and tradition, not necessarily specific theological doctrine or content. She has done extensive research into Gnosticism and its connection to Christianity. She has argued that “belief is overrated” and that is what is most important is what we practice. Perhaps her most important book is The Gnostic Gospels.

One of the major themes of Issues in Perspective is that God’s Word gives humanity the insight, discernment, and resources to accurately analyze the human condition. A major conviction of cultural Christianity, which dominates much of evangelical Christianity today, is that politics is the answer to the human condition.

This is Thanksgiving weekend and it is appropriate in this edition of Issues in Perspective, to focus on Thanksgiving.  To that end, I want to concentrate on the Thanksgiving hymn, “We Gather Together.”  Melanie Kirkpatrick of the Wall Street Journal offers an instructive history about this traditional hymn.  The hymn, “We Gather Together” (“Wilt heden
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The clear teaching of the Bible is that all humans are sinners and in need of God?s grace. Historically in the United States, evangelical Christians have agreed with these propositions and have faithfully proclaimed the Gospel. Consistently, evangelicals have been known as people who oppose ?worldliness,? the tendency to adopt and condone the world?s assumptions and its worldview. By its nature, the Gospel is countercultural and evangelicals have adopted that lifestyle and perspective. But as evangelical Christian, William S. Brewbaker III, law professor at the University of Alabama, has so eloquently concluded, ?Today?s evangelicals have mostly abandoned those limitations, but we seem especially blind to other kinds of worldliness. Evangelical politicians fall prey to the allure of money, sex and power at the same rates as just about everyone else . . .?

I have been involved with the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (CBMW) since I took a few post-doctoral classes at what was then Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. One of those classes was taught by Dr. Wayne Grudem, one of America?s foremost theologians and New Testament scholars. He is a founder and leader of CBMW. . . (which) has just released The Nashville Statement, a statement on ?biblical sexuality.? Denny Burk, president of CBMW, declared that ?the aim of The Nashville Statement is to shine a light into the darkness?to declare the goodness of God?s design in our sexuality and in creating us as male and female.?

I recently read Rod Dreher?s somewhat challenging and provocative book, The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation. From my vantage point, Dreher?s analysis of North American culture and specifically the evangelical church is spot on. He writes: ?The most pressing problem Christianity faces is not in politics. It?s in parishes. It?s with the pastors. Most of all, it?s among an increasingly faithless people.? The truth is Christianity is declining in the United States. He makes the following observations, supported by statistical data and other pieces of evidence:

That God is a God of justice is a given. One of my favorite Minor Prophets is Amos, who rails against the injustice of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. His rebukes are scathing, some of which could certainly apply to the North American church today. But the Bible makes clear that God?s perfect justice is always balanced by His grace, mercy and compassion. That, of course, is why He sent Jesus: To die a substitutionary death and thereby satisfy the righteous, just demands of a perfect, holy and righteous God. The Bible also makes clear that we, who have received the free gift of salvation by grace through faith, are to exhibit justice, grace, mercy and compassion to the world. Put another way, the church of Jesus Christ is to manifest justice, grace, mercy and compassion to this broken world.

In 1 Corinthians 2:6-16, the Apostle Paul makes an astonishing argument about the Holy Spirit?s role in enabling the Christian to think, reason and embrace truth. He contrasts the ?wisdom? of the world with the ?wisdom? of God. God?s wisdom is revealed, and human wisdom without God leads to foolishness and the defiant rejection of God?s wisdom. But when we have the Holy Spirit, this changes. Paul utilizes a logical argument:

The Postmodern, Post-Christian nature of Western Civilization reflects a change in how Postmodern people perceive biblical Christianity. For much of the late 20th century, genuine, biblical Christianity was regarded as irrelevant. In the early 21st century, it is regarded as bad for society. A recent study by the Barna Group, which is also reflected in David Kinnaman?s book, Good Faith, examines the perceptions of faith and Christianity in our Postmodern culture. The conclusion is that millions of adults now view biblical Christianity as extremist. Four short statements summarize Kinnaman?s research:

Ligonier Ministries recently released a study entitled its ?2016 State of American Theology Study? conducted by LifeWay Research. Among other things, the study focused on six key doctrinal areas and where Americans differ on each theologically. The results evidence confusion, inconsistency and a superficial understanding of basic doctrinal truths. From the ?Executive Summary? part of the report, here is a brief summary of several salient results of the study: