Other Voices—
From the Senior Pastor of Oakwood Church, exclusive to Saline Journal. [1-3]
I am a Christian.
I live in a culture that has changed so much in the last twenty years that I hardly recognize it. As a pastor, I find myself, almost on a daily basis, having to answer the question “Is Christianity still relevant for today?” The answer was just assumed many years ago.
But somewhere down the path my generation came to a fork in the road. Personal opinion became the rule of the day. Good old down-to-earth Christian wisdom which guided all of our previous generations came into question. We no longer look at functioning in this world by what is moral, ethical, practical, or virtuous.
It has now become what is right for me. Morality has become relative.
Therefore, the rule of the day, the main rule, has become tolerance.
It is preached to us from every venue in our society. Tolerance is so front and center in our culture that if you are accused of not showing it, you are automatically labeled judgmental and unloving.
So, where have we gone? The communities that we live in, large or small, have to accept anything that somebody does. Case in point, I suspect there are some who might be concerned with what “anything” refers to here.
I bring up this point because I am convinced that something is not working.
Anxiety is at an all-time high. Drugs have become a normal part of our society. Almost everyone knows someone that has overdosed.
One hundred, twenty-nine Americans die by suicide every day. Twenty-two of those are veterans.
Alcohol claims thirty lives a day in accidents and six more from alcohol related poisonings.
Anger rules.
There is no such thing as a civil coming together of ideas. Get on Facebook. Watch the news. Talking heads always wind up in a yelling match. Go stand on the floor of our government or any townhall meeting. We are split down the middle. You can’t bring up religion, politics, or morality without running the risk of getting yelled at or mean-mugged by somebody.
As I said in the beginning, I am a Christian and a pastor. I spend my life trying to study the subjects that involve the really important questions of meaning in life. Why are we here? What is our purpose? How does our faith affect (truly affect) ourselves and those around us? Is it real?
I believe that Christianity is a viewpoint that through time has shown itself to be powerful. I have watched the Christ that we follow change lives.
However, I have also watched our faith criticized, diminished, and dismissed as irrelevant. Why? Because in this age of tolerance, Christ makes a claim that goes against the flow. He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through Me.”
I believe that His word is not some anachronistic thought process. I believe that it is as real today as when He called us many years ago. Not just the part where He died for our sins. But also, the part where He told us how to live.
The question that arises: “Is it true?”
Well?
References
- Oakwood Church (home page).
- “Jamail Aikens shares thoughts about ongoing community need as his tenure with Saline Area Social Service winds down” Dell Deaton (February 20, 2019) Saline Journal.
- “After decades of giving freely throughout Saline community, Oakwood Church now needs help to buy a building” Janet Deaton (January 22, 2019) Saline Journal.