Everybody who’s played a down of backyard football knows the value of a good pump fake. Look one way, wind up like you’re going to throw the ball there, get the defender to take the bait, and then throw the ball to your now wide open teammate. It’s a potent trick.
Well… Christianity got pump-faked by postmodernism.
“There’s not really any one truth, it’s all subjective,” they said. “Speak your own truth.” Hard-line stands on any particular belief were viewed as insensitive, unloving, offensive.
In response, churches started to move toward a lowest common denominator faith. What is the least amount of doctrinal essentials we can maintain, thereby letting each member be free to have their own truth on everything else?
The emergent movement grew to the point where they essentially had zero essentials. Others didn’t go quite so far, but opted for a “Gospel-centered” movement that insisted we only push the Gospel. They then defined the Gospel as having to do almost solely with sin and salvation.
The reign of Christ over all of life was lost in the process.
We decided not to push Biblical principles of politics, economics, the household, or anything else that might step on toes. How you want to live your life and run your house is up to you – outside of a couple of basic Christian principles.
Churches of Christ were particularly vulnerable to this since we don’t have our beliefs codified in any creeds, confessions, or catechisms. Postmodernism met little resistance short of our “essentials.”
Now, look around you. Is anybody actually a postmodernist anymore?
“Cancel culture” shows us the world is every bit as dogmatic as the most religious people you know. They have definitive rights and wrongs, inarguable sins and good deeds. They aren’t letting everybody have their own truth. No, they’re deeply religious, advocating for their religion.
Postmodernism was just a short-lived trick – a pump fake. And like a rookie defender, we took the bait. This is not a level playing field in which everybody can bring their own truths. It’s a battlefield with two competing truths – God’s, and man’s.
But now that we understand the play being run, we can respond to it properly.
A “live and let live, least common denominator” faith cannot stand up to a competing faith system. We have to have a robust, complete system of faith of our own. And fortunately, the Bible gives us just that.
So let’s teach it. And let’s stop worrying about who might leave if they’re offended by clear Scriptural teaching. They aren’t allowed to have their own truth. None of us are. Postmodernism was a joke, and it’s time we let it die.
