In a nutshell...
Mainstream Christian evangelism used to confront peoples' sinful behavior and foster a general environment of repentance and intolerance towards sin. These were sins based on the moral framework of the Bible, e.g. divorce, sexual indecency, homosexuality, neglect of one's children or parents, drunkenness, and other vices of excess. In these environments, the average unbeliever was always having to face up to a world of good and evil that flows from the pages of the New Testament. The average person was daily thrust into this ordered world based on a restraint from sin, and pre-1950's societies generally reflected this order.
Post-1950's a new religion syncretized with Christianity and gradually eclipsed it towards the end of the century. This was the religion of "anti-racism", and has completely reframed all of morality around the question of whether one is a racist or not. The only real "sin" in the world is a rejection of multiculturalism.
As a result, actual sinful behavior has been allowed to flourish in society. You can celebrate all sorts of indecency and degeneracy but you are basically a "good" person just as long as you are not a "racist". That is the new language of the 20th century religion, that Christian churches have more or less adopted.
The ultimate 'telos' or purpose of society is no longer a Christian society restrained from sin, but instead the telos is now a multicultural "open society". Christianity itself, and the particularism of Jesus Christ, does not fit very well with this new worldview. The only good Christian is one who is accepting of all other faiths and belief systems.
The only real evil in the world are people with ethnic preferences, or people who have doubts about the gospel of multiculturalism. Those are the only real heretics. Classical forms of sin and degeneracy are now openly celebrated as freedom and liberty.
The Devil is not some ancient foe of humanity, always stalking us and tempting us away from God. The Devil was actually Hitler and we defeated him. We're good.
This has diluted the reality of the Gospel. As a society we have indoctrinated people into thinking that the only real evil in the world is anything resembling an ethnic preference, anything that falls short of the ideal of total multiculturalism.
For almost 2000 years, the church did not think this way at all. But in the 20th century, Christians completely reframed all morality around this "open-society" creed.
As a result, the only worthwhile things in the Gospel are cherry-picked verses where Jesus or the apostles talked about being charitable towards outsiders. But everything else is basically thrown in the dustbin.
The church generally seems to reflect this new morality of 20th century religion. That our streets are covered in flags celebrating homosexuality is just not a big deal at all. (something any pre-1960's Christian would have found horrifying) ... but if there was a whiff of "racism" happening somewhere, the church hierarchy would be mobilized against it just like the old church used to go after heretics.
The 20th century is a new religious message for the whole world, and the NT Gospel doesn't have a very important place in it. One doesn't become pure by surrendering to Jesus. One becomes pure by spiritually integrating themselves with all other ethnicities, cultures, and religions of the world and by renouncing any feelings of ethnocentrism, by fully embracing the Open Society.
That being said, Thank God this religion of the 20th century is dying fast! Hallelujah!
Mainstream Christian evangelism used to confront peoples' sinful behavior and foster a general environment of repentance and intolerance towards sin. These were sins based on the moral framework of the Bible, e.g. divorce, sexual indecency, homosexuality, neglect of one's children or parents, drunkenness, and other vices of excess. In these environments, the average unbeliever was always having to face up to a world of good and evil that flows from the pages of the New Testament. The average person was daily thrust into this ordered world based on a restraint from sin, and pre-1950's societies generally reflected this order.
Post-1950's a new religion syncretized with Christianity and gradually eclipsed it towards the end of the century. This was the religion of "anti-racism", and has completely reframed all of morality around the question of whether one is a racist or not. The only real "sin" in the world is a rejection of multiculturalism.
As a result, actual sinful behavior has been allowed to flourish in society. You can celebrate all sorts of indecency and degeneracy but you are basically a "good" person just as long as you are not a "racist". That is the new language of the 20th century religion, that Christian churches have more or less adopted.
The ultimate 'telos' or purpose of society is no longer a Christian society restrained from sin, but instead the telos is now a multicultural "open society". Christianity itself, and the particularism of Jesus Christ, does not fit very well with this new worldview. The only good Christian is one who is accepting of all other faiths and belief systems.
The only real evil in the world are people with ethnic preferences, or people who have doubts about the gospel of multiculturalism. Those are the only real heretics. Classical forms of sin and degeneracy are now openly celebrated as freedom and liberty.
The Devil is not some ancient foe of humanity, always stalking us and tempting us away from God. The Devil was actually Hitler and we defeated him. We're good.
This has diluted the reality of the Gospel. As a society we have indoctrinated people into thinking that the only real evil in the world is anything resembling an ethnic preference, anything that falls short of the ideal of total multiculturalism.
For almost 2000 years, the church did not think this way at all. But in the 20th century, Christians completely reframed all morality around this "open-society" creed.
As a result, the only worthwhile things in the Gospel are cherry-picked verses where Jesus or the apostles talked about being charitable towards outsiders. But everything else is basically thrown in the dustbin.
The church generally seems to reflect this new morality of 20th century religion. That our streets are covered in flags celebrating homosexuality is just not a big deal at all. (something any pre-1960's Christian would have found horrifying) ... but if there was a whiff of "racism" happening somewhere, the church hierarchy would be mobilized against it just like the old church used to go after heretics.
The 20th century is a new religious message for the whole world, and the NT Gospel doesn't have a very important place in it. One doesn't become pure by surrendering to Jesus. One becomes pure by spiritually integrating themselves with all other ethnicities, cultures, and religions of the world and by renouncing any feelings of ethnocentrism, by fully embracing the Open Society.
That being said, Thank God this religion of the 20th century is dying fast! Hallelujah!