Op-Ed: Will Liberty Outlast This Generation?
Will liberty outlast this generation?
The answer will be decided by the current generation. We cannot escape it or pass it off to another. Not to decide is to decide. Failure to respond is to respond.
The immediate answer is another question: What lens do you look through to interpret events and human behavior?
According to veteran researcher George Barna, America is in moral, political and cultural “free fall” with respect to a biblical worldview.
Regardless of how Barna reached this conclusion, as followers of Jesus Christ, we ought to wonder what that means for our society, both now and in the future.
More importantly, as we busy ourselves with the work of the church, what does it augur for the next generation and the future of Christianity here and abroad?
“Free fall” is a state of downward motion affected only by the force of gravity. It is falling without an impeding force, save for atmospheric resistance. In common parlance, it is a state of accelerating out of control. The analogy with respect to American society is obvious.
America is facing a threat more pernicious and deadly than the coronavirus, which if left untreated is invariably fatal to its host. Once it spreads throughout a nation, it can bring down an entire civilization. What is this novel threat?
The groundbreaking inaugural American Worldview Inventory 2020 conducted by Barna in his role as director of research for Arizona Christian University’s Cultural Research Center found that an unprecedented and perilously low percentage of Americans hold a biblical worldview.
Obviously leaving acquisition of these foundational truths to a prevailing platonic relationship with the Bible has not done the job. Acquiring a biblical worldview requires intentional, systematic interaction with sacred Scripture.
The study also revealed that calling oneself “a Christian” means very little, particularly when seven out of 10 Americans claim to be Christian, but only 6 percent actually hold a biblical worldview!
The results of the CRC study should be a wake-up call for anyone who has a stake in the future of America.
As Barna explains, “[t]he fact that fewer than one out of five born-again adults hold a biblical worldview highlights the extensive decline of core Christian principles in America.”
Church leaders should know that interest in evangelical Christianity will continue to decline in America unless and until this deficiency is reversed.
This is the main reason America’s Black Robe Regiment has invited Barna to be keynote speaker at our May 28-29 National Worldview Summit for Pastors at Fairview Baptist Church in Edmond, Oklahoma, which will be simulcast online as a webinar. It is the same reason that we’ve made “Building a Biblical Worldview” the main thrust of our efforts for at least the remainder of 2020.
We believe God is calling pastors to the battle for the heart and soul of America.
Assuming that America is “too far gone” or that our moral disintegration is a fait accompli is irresponsible and shows an unwillingness to put forth the effort necessary to turn the country around. The human cost of this misguided belief will be immeasurable and incur divine judgment.
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