Our Time

In the omniscient providence of God, we were born to this age, and not to another. We were divinely appointed to the peculiar time and place in which we find ourselves. Mordecai had to remind Esther that she was born “for just such a time as this,” and no less were we.

To my contemporaries who mourn a bygone era, I say, This age is what we make it. We are the visionaries, we are the proponents of ideas, we are the actors on the present stage; the burden rests squarely on our shoulders. If the surrounding culture labors under false ideals and attending problems, we must blame no one but ourselves. Those who would go back to a Victorian era dread the work of influencing our own. They forget that previous cultures were shaped by the “tireless minority” spoken of by Samuel Adams.

At times those who put forth those endeavors are frustrated by an apparent lack of results. Think of the long effort to dismantle slavery in the United States. This paradigm shift required much time to take effect, and yet now those who fought that battle of ideals are hailed as heroes.

Therefore our responsibility is clear; we cannot afford to accept the status quo and pretend that all is well. As Christians, we must exert our powers of influence if we wish to make the culture more hospitable toward us and our views. Let us labor to make the case for Christ, for the Church, for Biblical directive, for the majesty of tradition, for reverence.

The Apostle Paul often busied himself in the public square, persuading people to consider the claims of Christ. Surely this is the work of Christ’s Great Commission, in whose fulfillment we find the presence of Christ Himself, “even unto the end of the age.”

Faith Trends

This just in from the Patriot Post:

A new survey by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life came up with
some interesting figures when asking whether people believe in God. The sad fact
is, the number among Christians was not 100 percent, but was anywhere from 99
percent for evangelical and black churches to 97 percent for Catholic and
Mainline Protestant churches. The numbers for other monotheistic religions were
even lower—83 percent of Jews believe in God compared to 92 percent of Muslims.

That left us wondering, isn’t the whole point of these religions that there
is a God? But even that’s not what left us completely puzzled. Among
self-described atheists, an astounding 21 percent actually believe there is a
God. Twelve percent believe in heaven and 10 percent pray at least once a week.
So, are these folks really atheists? Apparently, the next step is to set up a
church for God-believing atheists to gather for fellowship. Of course, if they
did that, other people might start to question their atheist, um, faith.