Merriam-Webster’s on-line
dictionary defines syncretism as “the
combination of different forms of belief or practice.” There is no doubt that syncretism has
occurred within the ranks of Christianity.
Yes, syncretism has been occurring in “Christianity” for
many, many years. It is probably true that it has always be syncretistic, in
the sense that many, many people have sought to mix certain elements of
Biblical Christianity with local pagan customs.
Yes, Christianity is adaptable to all cultures, and at all historical
eras. Christianity is indeed “cross-cultural.” Yes, it is a cause of great concern that more
and more people are not content in Christianity and see the need to supplement
their beliefs by going outside of Christianity.
Biblical Christianity is not syncretistic in any way.
(Culturally adaptable does not equate to syncretism in belief.) It has as its
foundation sacred writings. It has as its tenets established doctrines that
have been upheld throughout the history of Biblical Christianity. These
“fundamentals” of the faith are not negotiable. They were not negotiable during
the first century. They were not negotiable during the preceding nineteen
centuries and they are not negotiable today. Simply because many, if not most, are mutating
Christianity does not mean that all have abandoned the traditional beliefs of
Biblical Christianity.
There are constant attempts to
equate a “falling” away from one’s foundational belief, as being a change in
the original belief. Simply because certain “believers” decide to walk away
from their foundational beliefs does not demand, or even imply, that all adherents
to that belief structure walked away from those foundational beliefs. Nor does
it demand that we view both beliefs as being the same.
Those walking away from the
established beliefs have changed their beliefs. They made a new belief
structure. It may be regarded as an offshoot of the original belief, but
certainly should not be regarded as part of the original belief. Hence, there
are now two different sets of beliefs, with different dogma’s, conflicting
creeds, and opposite outlooks.
(Now none of this implies that
these new beliefs will not become the dominant belief among those professing
“Christianity.” It does not imply that there are no believers in the original
set of beliefs. It simply means that they are in the minority.)
One only needs to glace at the
various news articles listing a variety of syncretistic approaches in America
over the last thirty years. Here are a
few various quotes about the state of Christianity in America.
1. The Detroit News[i] –
1999
“Kendra Kroll said
she believes in God and an afterlife, but she hasn't attended regular church
services in nearly eight years...”
“Kroll's approach to
faith reflects two national trends:
(1) Declining church
attendance at a time when individuals are spending a great deal of time and
money creating their own kind of spirituality.
(2) "I remember
being dragged to church and hated going. I don't want to do that to my kids.
The less you force them to do it, the more likely they are to be interested. It
works for me."
“The reason is that
Americans are constructing their own religious perspectives and practices that
don't necessarily fit with time-honored teachings…”
2. Kirk Diedrich [ii]-
a backsliding Baptist with Buddhist leanings. (On-line testimony)
Tired of dogmatic
doctrines, young people are patching together their own sets of beliefs. With
easy access to the Internet and television from all over the world, today’s
spiritual searcher can look at Christianity, Judaism and Islam in context with
other world religions, thereby picking and choosing in their search for their
own religion.
3. Christianity Today - 1999 -
Religion-less Spirituality[iii]
"Growing
numbers of Americans say they are spiritual but not religious," says
Robert Wuthnow in After Heaven, his assessment of American spiritual
development since 1950. It is a spirituality without truth or authority but
filled with belief in the supernatural. It is a trend born of the modern fears
of religion.
4. Local Philadelphia newspaper -
speaking of online religion
“... anyone with
access to the Internet can click and paste religious and philosophical ideas
into one’s own custom religion.”
This “click and
paste” religious mentality comes without the “benefit of historical religious
doctrine” because people “can create, edit, and recreate God in their own
image.”
5. Why Secularization?"[iv] -
P. Andrew Sandlin - March 29, 2000 - Chalcedon Report
[T]he process of
secularization arises not from the loss of faith but from the loss of social
interest in the world of faith. It begins the moment men feel that religion is
irrelevant to the common way of life and that society as such has nothing to do
with the truths of faith. --
Quoting Christopher
Dawson in Religion and Culture
Atheism and apostasy
are not the deadliest enemies of Christian culture; apathy and irrelevance are.
This, by and large, is the form of Christianity prominent in the West. There
are not fewer Christians; there are fewer Christians who relate the Faith to
all areas of life, thought, and culture.
6. Robert Bork[v] -
Slouching Towards Gomorrah
“... our religion,
while pervasive, seems increasingly unable to affect actual behavior.”
“... religion is
declining because those identified with it do not actually believe in it.”
7. Charles Colson – “Salad-Bar
Christianity”[vi] -
Christianity Today, August 7, 2000
“Too many believers
pick and choose their own truths.”
“With
self-fulfillment their standard, they pick and choose, as if at a salad bar,
from any belief system that provides comfort or meaning.”
8. Thomas Elliff, president of
Council on Family Life; SBC[vii]
“We have put aside
an authentic Christian faith and substituted ... synthetic religion… People
like it because it doesn't call for strong commitment to Biblical principles.''
As Colson pointed out in his
article, there is an “insidious spread of syncretism within the church.”
(Syncretism: the combination of different forms of belief or practice.) As the
above articles points out, “Christians” are:
(1) choos[ing] their own truths
(2) patching together their own
sets of beliefs
(3) creating their own kind of
spirituality
(4) constructing their own
religious perspectives and practices
(5) creat[ing], edit[ing], and
recreat[ing] God in their own image
This “click and paste” mentality
has “created” many different “gods” within the framework of Christianity. “God”
is now being created in our own image, thereby negating the manifestation of
the true God of the Bible.
Colson pointed out that ”[m]uch
of what passes for born-again Christianity may suit the spirit of the age, but
it isn't authentic Christianity.” We may be much more spiritual in America
today, but it is a “spirituality without truth or authority.”
In fact, religion in America may
indeed be “pervasive,” but, unfortunately, it “seems increasingly unable to
affect actual behavior.” Maybe it is because “there are fewer Christians who
relate the Faith to all areas of life, thought, and culture.”
As Mark Dever, pastor of
Washington's Capitol Hill Baptist Church, surmised: "The church has lost
the capacity to judge between good and evil, truth and falsehood,” we have lost
our ability to discern, to judge, to think. In our eagerness to not appear
judgmental, we have sacrificed the one thing that is rightly demanded in our
postmodern culture; the responsibility to discern/judge/discriminate between
opposing truth claims.
Colson is correct when he states:
“[t]o teach believers to be discerning demands a systemic effort to examine how
Christianity stacks up against other claims in every area of life. When
worldviews are honestly compared, the truth of Christianity (and the untruth of
other views) becomes clear… It is vital that Christians become more
discriminating… Most importantly, when we discern what is false we must have
the courage to label it as such.”
Jay Adams, in his book, A Call To
Discernment[viii]
defined discernment as: “In essence it means to separate things from one
another at their points of difference in order to distinguish them. It refers
to the process by which one comes to know or understand God’s thoughts and ways
through separating those things that differ. Discernment is skill in reaching
understanding and knowledge by the use of a process of separation.”
We should not be so afraid of
disagreements that it forces us to accept “all beliefs” as authentic
expressions of Christianity. After all, would that not lead to this very thing;
syncretism? And would that not eventually lead to a “Christianity” without a
firm foundation?
[i] George Bullard,
Fewer find faith in church – More people
study religion at home, create own spirituality, The Detroit News, http://detnews.com/1999/religion/9908/19/08190175.htm
(May 29, 2001).
[ii] Kirk
Diedrich, DIY religion – Tired of
dogmatic doctrines, young people are patching together their own sets of
beliefs, http://www.metrotimes.com/20/07/Features/newDiy.htm
(March 20, 2003).
[iii] Tim Keller,
Religion-less Spirituality, Christianity
Today, http://www.christianitytoday.com/le/9l4/9l4025.html
(March 20, 2003).
[iv] P.
Andrew Sandlin, Why Secularization?,
Chalcedon Foundation, http://www.chalcedon.edu/faith/sandlin_secularization.htm
(May 30, 2001).
[v] Robert
H. Bork, Slouching Toward Gomorrah,
Modern Liberalism and American Decline, (New York, N.Y: HarperCollins,
1996)
[vi] Charles
Colson, Salad-Bar Christianity – Too many
believers pick and choose their own truths, http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2000/009/31.80.html
(December 18, 2001).
[vii] Rachel
Zoll, Southern Baptists Meeting Opens,
Yahoo News, http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010612/us/baptist_convention_4.html
(June 13, 2001).
[viii] Jay
E. Adams, A Call to Discernment,
(Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 1987).
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