The “-Ism” Du Jour

We live in a world full of “-ism’s.” There are Atheism, Conservatism, Hedonism, and maybe the one which hits closest to home for me – Skepticism, just to name a very few. One which seems to be the “-Ism of the Day” for our culture is a relatively new term – Postmodernism. “Postmodernism is difficult to define, because to define it would violate the postmodernist’s premise that no definite terms, boundaries, or absolute truths exist” (allaboutphilosophy.com).  Simply stated, it’s the belief we cannot know truth, and that my truth may not equal your truth, but we’ll call them both “truth” nonetheless. (For a very thorough explanation of this thinking, see www.apologeticspress.org/apcontent.aspx?category=12&article=269#.)

            How is this thinking affecting the church today? Sadly, I would suggest this thinking is one of our greatest detractors. Postmodernism claims to be the inheritor to the 17th century Enlightenment, which is the home of another “ism” – Progressivism, promoting and defending a New Age way of theorizing and justifying human life and progress. Postmodernists are typically atheistic or agnostic while some choose to follow eastern religion views and practices. However, it’s not always that clear.

            Many of you probably have heard me say I believe Satan’s greatest victory in our time is not tempting Christians into blatant and wanton sin. It’s convincing us – specifically our younger generations – everyone is spiritually ok as long as they basically believe in God. From where does this thinking originate? It’s certainly not found in Scripture. God plainly states throughout the Bible He expects obedience to Him and to him alone, and that this obedience follows a pattern He set forth (Rom 6:17; Heb 12:1). This religious “I’m ok, you’re ok” thinking comes from postmodernism.  We have been so bombarded by naturalistic and humanistic thinking – that is, thinking which doesn’t follow God’s teaching – we have been all but cornered into thinking we really can’t know the truth!

Christian, we cannot accept this thinking! We cannot tolerate this thinking in our families, and certainly not in the Lord’s church. Col 2:8 says, “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ” (NKJV). We have to be people who think! Just because the world around us tells us one thing and the majority accepts it doesn’t make it right. In Rom 12:2, Paul writes, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…” The world is desperately trying to conform Christianity to its way of thinking – “No one can know what is and isn’t right or wrong. It’s up to the individual!” We must be people who continually renew our minds. This doesn’t mean we follow God’s Word with an ignorant uneducated faith. It means we renew our minds by looking at His Word and the evidence to support (or refute) the things we believe.

The apostle whom Jesus loved, our brother John, writes in 1 John 5:13, “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God” (bold mine – LCD). There is no better refutation for the idea that we can’t know God and His truth. God has provided the evidence for us to know Him and to keep on believing in Him and obeying Him…even if the “ism’s” of our day say otherwise.