3If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which accords with godliness,4he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions,5useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From such withdraw yourself.
And, then the apostle Paul lays out for us the characteristics of a Godly life beginning in verse 11:11But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness.12Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
In an increasingly secular culture, it is so critical that we hold on to God's principles and attempt, as the Holy Spirit gives us strength, to display the characteristics that are consistent with the presence of Jesus Christ in our hearts. He came to earth to model the behavior that is desirable to Him, and to give us clear direction about how our lives are to be lived. But, He didn't just set the standard and leave us on our own, He died to defeat the power of sin and to enable us to experience the life-giving presence of the Holy Spirit, so that we could enjoy His life and display it to others.
We are called to live according to the precepts of Scripture, and our lives are to be distinct, to offer a contrast to the ways of those who do not know or follow God. We see that contrast highlighted in Ephesians 4:
17This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind,18having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart;19who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.20But you have not so learned Christ,
Cathy Lynn Grossman is the former religion writer and blogger at USA Today and has now joined the staff at Religion News Service. I have followed some of her work in the past, and her blog at RNS encourages reader response to a potentially controversial, or at least thought-provoking question. So, one of those questions I came across was, "Is secularism working?" Here's the backstory:
The question was asked by the President of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, Michele Dillon at its recent gathering of sociologists, political scientists and other academics. In light of that ever-present statistic that 1 in 5 people claim no religious identity in the US, she asked four experts.
Their responses:
Roger Finke of Penn State said that it depends on how you define “working,." He said that, “Secularism is working when it preserves the collective peace without infringing on the civil rights of others.” He did say that cutting religious ideas and symbols out of the larger culture offers no assurances of peace or respect for religious rights.
Pippa Norris of Harvard pointed out that, "Affluent countries are increasingly secular” but “the world as a whole has more people with traditional religious values than ever before.” She said that religion functions to relieve anxiety and stress and support, providing a basis for psychological well-being. The more “existentially insecure” people feel, the higher their rates of prayer and worship attendance. “If your country is more secure, you need less of what religion offers.”
Genevieve Zubrzycki, of the University of Michigan, took a close look at Poland and Quebec where, she concluded “secularism is not working” because it is not creating peace or safeguarding individual rights.
And Wade Clark Roof, of University of California Santa Barbara, saw a problem with Dillon’s question. He sees American culture is a dynamic interplay between an enlightenment emphasis on reason, tolerance, nature and progress and the dominant evangelical Protestant emphasis on the experience of Jesus, the authority of biblical truth and salvation through faith. And he said that both secularism and religion are working in individual lives.
What I gather from this conversation is that there was not a definitive "yes" to the question, "Is secularism working?" If you were to evaluate their answers on a 10-point scale, I think you'd come out somewhere around 20 at best, if 40 is the top. The answers are exactly what you might expect from those who study religion from a more social science or political science point of view.
I think that the takeaways are many for believers in light of these answers. First of all, "working" is a really, really subjective term. And, there are individual and collective implications. For the individual, I believe the Bible is clear that a reliance on anything or anyone other than God is an inferior and ineffective way to live our lives. You may encounter short-term perceived success, but if you are looking for secure and reliable answers, then you have to turn to the God of the Scriptures.
For society as a whole, we don't have to look far to see the destructive activities that have proliferated as we have become a more secular society. And, in light of yesterday's comments, this transcends religious symbols and their display - we are seeing an absolute decline in the indicators for a functioning society. Over the last 50 years, look at crime rate, divorce rate, teen pregnancy, suicide, abortion, now a redefinition of marriage - can anyone honestly say that abandoning God's principles is "working"? It's not that we need religion as some sort of psychological balm, it's that we need God to direct our lives individually and for His principles to guide our cultural collectively.
For the scientists, there is an attempt to understand "religion" and "secularism". And, those are terms to describe systems of belief and their application. And, the analysis will always fall short, because you miss the component of a personal relationship with God. Sure, following His principles will produce positive results, but absent an experience of the presence of God, we are merely walking in human strength and understanding. Trying to attain the peace we seek and the security we crave without knowing Jesus Christ is an empty and futile pursuit. The Bible promises that secularism, involving a system of self-reliance, will not work. We have to make sure that we are living in the light of Christ in our culture daily, not pursuing the ways of darkness, but offering a clear alternative to the secular wisdom and activities that are so prevalent.
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