The Dilemma of Christianity in America

I think that there is a major dilemma in Christianity in America right now. It has actually been brewing for quite a long time. Many of the people in the baby boomer generation have either dropped out of church, and as a result, the following generation has never been part of church tradition. Additionally, many of the people who are finding themselves in churches are in churches that have Worship that bears little resemblance to historic Christian Worship and often have a theological vantage point that is actually rather new in a 2000 year old institution.

Part of the problem has been the Christian Church itself. Christianity seems hell-bent on fighting within itself with massive theological and ideological debates that generally succeed in tearing apart the fabric of the movement. Most of the debate is often projected as a liberal/conservative debate. Some interesting points about that.

If you read the Bible, the words 'liberal' and 'conservative' are nowhere to be found. Presuming that there is divine intervention in the Bible, and presuming that God uses the Bible to share what God sees as important, the idea of being 'liberal' or 'conservative' don't rank high on God's hit parade.

Second point in this. If you read church history and theology and go back a bit (recognizing that people of different eras had some profound insights), you'll note that the words 'liberal' and 'conservative' are not part of theological works until the latter part of the 19th century, beginning part of the 20th century. The words are political words, not theological words, and Christianity, it seems, swallowed these words whole.

There are some root issues.

The first root issue is how we approach the Bible. A classic perspective on the Bible that came to root mostly in the Middle Ages and has been a part of the theological scene is this. The Bible is inspired by God and totally correct on all matters of salvation history. Salvation history is simply stating that the Bible is totally accurate in teaching us the nature of God, the nature of human beings, the nature of the relationship of people with God, and on the subject of salvation.

This generally views the Bible in sweeping terms. The Book of Genesis'
creation story is not viewed as a literal, scientific perspective on how God created the universe in 7 days. This narrative would make the earth and universe 6000 years old and have dinosaurs and people living together. It's something of the Flintstone model.

Science, obviously, has taught us that the earth and universe are far older than this and that people and dinosaurs lived at nowhere near the same time.

Classic theology has no major issue with evolution. There's a theological viewpoint of God as a creator, and as a creator God created a universe in motion, in process, and in evolutionary terms. The French Philosopher/Theologian Pierre Teilhard de Chardin wrote that to think of God other than a Creator who created an evolving creation to to diminish the Creator into little more than a cartoon character.

The problem right now is this. People are teaching that Genesis is a scientific fact. Other people are teaching that Genesis is a fairy tale with no meaning.

Sadly, right now, the major push is that the only way to approach Genesis is from either polemic, with no attempt to begin at the middle. There in lies the genesis of the dilemma of Christianity in America.