Is God Still Relevant In Today's America?

“Christianity is a statement which, if false, is of no importance, and, if true, of infinite importance. The one thing it cannot be is moderately important.” -CS Lewis

One of my favorite bands from the past is Creed. They had a great jammin sound and their lyrics were thoughtful. In the song, “In America”, Scott Stapp cries out to his audience:

What is right or wrong
I don't know who to believe in
My soul sings a different song
In America

The question, “Is God Relevant in Today's America?” echoes the sentiment of many in today's society.

To determine if God is relevant to todays America, we must establish whether the absence or presence of God is pertinent to the ability for Americans to fulfill their basic and assumed liberties as human beings.

These liberties hinge on at least two principles: Morality, and Purpose.

Before I begin to lay out my argument, I must preface everything I will say with the fact that these questions are not new. Generations upon generations past have been asking these questions, and AA's from these decades past have militantly reacted to faith as they are doing today. The fact that we are asking the question, “Is God Relevant in Today's America?” gives the AA's too much credit. The “free thinkers” of todays' America are held captive to the rusty old ideas put forth by the Stoics and the Gnostics of long ago. I would also like to say that I feel their frustration at times, and feel their need to ask questions. That being said, let's put forth a reasonable response:

I think life is similar to a game of Plinko. Everyone is represented by a disc. The game itself is life. We are each picked up and dumped in without any choice in the matter whatsoever. Each peg the disc bounces off inside the game are different ideas and our choices do make a difference as to how many and which pegs we bounce around. Eventually the object is to get to the bottom where we fit neatly into one of the spaces of belief. There are many ideas that the discs develop on the way down. For example,

Fundamentalism says, “There is only one path down to the bottom.”

Modernism says, “There is only one expedient way down to the bottom.”

Postmodernism says, “What right do you have to say that there is only one way to the bottom?”

Mysticism says, “There is no bottom.”

Today we are plagued by a society that is heavily leaning on the ideas of post-modernism, and Mysticism. The major problem that these two philosophical stances are that they fail a very important test of truth. IS IT LIVABLE.

Morality could be the most important element to creating order from chaos. If we get really honest with ourselves, we will have to acquiesce to this fact. Since we are being honest with ourselves, we will also have to come to grips with the fact that morality does not exist without God. As was once masterfully put by this guy named Fred Wolfe, “Morality exists. In order to have morality, you must have right and wrong, in order to have right and wrong you must acknowledge the distinguishability of good and evil, in order to have good and evil you must have a definition of good, as evil is the absence of good, and that definition of good must be perfect, and since perfection does not exist in this world, it must exist in another world, and the only reasonable explanation for that perfection is God.” Without God, America and the rest of humanity would be purposeless, chaotic, meaningless. God is all too relevant in today's America.

Purpose is connected to morality in that if one has a purpose determined by perfection, then to turn from that perfection and live contrary to our purpose is immoral and creates chaos. Our faith in the perfect purpose giver is the quintessence of existence. It explains the fabric connecting morality, purpose and nature. Without purpose, we are chaotic, meaningless, immoral. Again, God is all too relevant in today's America.

A.W. Tozer once said, “Much of our difficulty as seeking Christians stems from our unwillingness to take God as He is and adjust our lives accordingly. We insist upon trying to modify Him and bring Him nearer to our own image.”

The irrelevance of God fails the “LIVABLE” test. Man cannot live without God!

Labels: Apologetics, History, Theology