The Greatest Threat to Christianity - Shallowness

What do you consider to be the greatest threat to Orthodox (biblical) Christianity today?

Michael Horton, professor of apologetics and systematic theology at Westminster Seminary California, answered:

“Shallowness. It is far worse than heresy. At least heretics take the gospel seriously enough to distort and deny it. And heresy always makes the church think more deeply about what it believes and why it believes it. However, shallowness is deadly for the Christian Faith.

If you just need some helpful advice, encouragement, inspiration, and uplift from your religion… a few slogans and insights will suffice. But Christianity bets all its chips on certain events that happened in history.

…we [however] are channel-surfers. We like to create our own soothing sampler of New Age mysticism, self-help lingo, conservative ideas about virtue, and maybe something to help us keep our kids sober and celibate. Accommodating to this shallow narcissism, churches have largely abandoned their responsibility to teach the rising generations even the basics of the Faith.

If we are only looking for whatever "works"…for what's entertaining, fun, or affirming, we will always be spiritual infants, if Christians at all.”

Do we not see this shallowness throughout our churches? Pastors riding motorcycles in church. Clown communion. “I Love the 80’s” sermon series. And, locally, the recent mega-church pastor’s shenanigans that I won’t even link to. Silliness.

We see this on a smaller scale also. There may not be motorcycles in the church or clowns leading communion but it is apparent in so many subtle ways. Sermon series from the pulpit covering popular, or even Christian, books rather than Scripture. The promotion of the social gospel, or “Jesus met their physical needs first, then their spiritual needs”. What may seem like small issues, if seen on a consistent basis, develop into a shallow understanding of the Scripture, and, most importantly, the character of God.

Examples from recent, personal experience include the promotion of books or videos by popular authors that bring to light the shallow beliefs of so much of the church.

Next week: A shallow, and heretical, view of the Trinity.