what's wrong today?

James Montgomery Boice, in his book "Whatever Happened to the Gospel of Grace?", identifies what's wrong with so many churches today and what the solution is. He identifies:

"six major cultural trends: secularism, humanism, relativism, materialism, pragmatism, and anti-intellectualism or 'mindlessness.' Secularism is the view that the universe is all there is; God and eternity are exluded. Humanism is the belief that -- in the words of the ancient pagan philosophers -- "Man is the measure of all things." This inevitably leads to worship of self. Relativism teaches that because there is no God, there are no absolutes; truth is relative. Materialism is closely related to secularism. If nothing exists except the here-and-now, then the meaning of life can be found only in personal possessions. Pragmatism measures truth by its practical utility. What is right and true is whatever works. Mindlessness is the overall "dumbing down" of popular culture, the shrinking of the American mind, which television has done a great deal to accelerate."

He goes on to say:

"These are some of the prevailing trends in American culture at the dawn of millenium. If the church has become worldly, then we would expect to find these same attitudes in evangelical churches. And of course that is exactly what we do find.

So, what's the solution. Well, in the words of B.B. Warfield, "The world should realize with increased clearness that Evangelicalism stands or falls with Calvinism." By this he means that we need to understand reformed theology, and our understanding it guards us from these "isms" that are in our society. Let us remember and hold onto the glorious truth of the gospel: of human depravity, God's justice and wrath towards sin, that minkind is saved by the atoning work of Jesus Christ, and that salvation is by grace alone thru faith alone in Christ alone.