OUR CHANGING CULTURE
My wife and I were in SW Florida for the first time recently, and we were both amazed at the population density, growth, and heavy traffic. But we were also amazed to find very few churches, and this just reminded us again of the radical moral and spiritual shifts that are taking place in our country and throughout the western world today. They are dramatic, and they are not yet over. In fact, if they were still living, our entire cultural landscape would be largely unrecognizable to most of our parents and grandparents. And you can be certain that moral and spiritual confusion and chaos will follow.
Although you may not realize it at first, this sad state of affairs will present a great opportunity for those who can articulate a biblical world-view. You see, at no other point in our history have Christians in this country had more of an opportunity to differentiate ourselves so clearly from our surrounding culture. In other words, we can offer a wonderful alternative to our humanistic, atheistic, secularistic mindset. And then in the market place of ideas, commerce, industry, and education, we will have an opportunity to see who can produce the brighter, more creative, more industrious, more trustworthy, and more disciplined citizens.
But this is no time to hunker down and be silent. Rather, we must be ready to open our mouths and speak the truth in love to a culture that is increasingly hostile to that truth. And we must face this challenge with courage, thoughtfulness, and charity.
Devotedly your pastor,
Bill Blanchard