Christianity, the Challenge of a Changing World

What is happening to Christianity? Is worldwide Christianity in decline or is it entering a period of change and growth? Has religious belief been transformed by the popular ideas of Darwin, Freud, Hugh Hefner and others? How are we personally affected by increasing cultural change, and, most importantly, does Christ continue to make a difference in the modern world? This well researched book explores both modern culture and science and shows how they impact our thinking and Christianity. It describes the influence of television and our media driven world and illustrates the spectacular growth of Christianity in other countries. The book provides insights that may enable us to act with greater freedom. It may even change the way we think about God. An enlightening read.

Preface       Polls show declining attendance at Christian churches in Europe. In America, many young adults are not part of any Christian congregation. Church schools close each year, and some of the great cathedrals of Europe exist more as museums than places of worship. Yet in other places, in other countries, Christianity is strong and growing. What is the state of Christianity today, the two thousand year old faith tradition of Europe and the Americas?
      Our society is changing and so is religion. Culture has been transformed. The pattern of human life, though never simple, has been altered, probably forever. For thousands of years, most people went to bed soon after the sun went down and rose when the sun came up. Then, late in the nineteenth century, and more commonly in the twentieth, major changes began to affect our lives. These changes have become ever more pervasive in recent years.
      It all started with the magic of electricity. Besides lighting our homes, electricity runs our computers, televisions, charges our automobiles, cell phones and changes our life dramatically. No one could have guessed that human life would be so transformed in less than 100 years.
      Does the message of the man from Galilee resonate with the current world? Are his words timeless? Faithful Christians would answer in the affirmative. Certainly, people of different religious persuasions consciously feel a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Prayer is far from dead. Nevertheless, in religion as in everything else, there is little doubt that the new age has changed our way of thinking, affecting us far more than we realize.
     The future stands before each of us. We make choices as individuals, families, and nations. However, our choices are never entirely free. We are affected by our family, our environment, and by our civilization. This book will examine the impact of the new culture on our beliefs. It will also look at how some remarkable scientific discoveries are beginning to change how we view the world. An appreciation of the powerful forces acting upon us may very well enable us to act with greater freedom. It may change the way we think about God. At the very least, it will give us a better understanding of how we are personally influenced by the changing world in which we live.

Chapters

1. The rise of faith and the decline of belief. 2. The coming of the modern era. 3.Five concepts that changed Western thought. a) Popular secular attempts to explain the world. b) Major religious world views. 4. Has Christianity changed our way of life? 5. Did Christianity civilize society? a) Killing for God? 5. Is TV influencing our beliefs? 6. Where Christianity is rapidly growing. 7. Unanswered questions. 8. Belief in God and science.