Turning Points in
World History
The “Global South” vs. the Liberal West
M
any are familiar with the tremendous impact of professing Christian evangelism in spreading the Bible and Judeo-Christian values around the globe. Such efforts have influenced developing cultures for over four centuries. Many missionaries and other religious workers even died bringing their message to non-Western societies. However, today’s evangelists and missionaries from developing countries now rebuke and express disappointment in the Western “mother countries” that are drifting ever further from the Bible. What has produced this dramatic turning point in history, and how does it fit with Bible prophecies? Once “Christian” Nations Reject the Bible In The New Faces of Christianity, scholar Philip Jenkins wrote of a growing sense of confrontation that should concern professing Christians everywhere: In recent years [Anglican Communions] have been contentious events. On one occasion, two bishops were participating in a Bible study, one an African Anglican, the other a U.S. Episcopalian. As the hours went by, tempers frayed as the African expressed his confidence in the clear words of scripture, while the American stressed the need to interpret the Bible in light of modern scholarship and contemporary mores. Eventually, the African bishop asked in exasperation, “If you don’t believe the scripture, why did you bring it to us in the first place?” (p. 1, emphasis added).
30 Tomorrow’s World | May-June 2019
This rift is unsurprising. According to a May 15, 2017 Gallup report, only 24 percent of Americans believe the Bible is the literal word of God, though 47 percent believe it was inspired but “should not be taken literally” (Lydia Saad, “Record Few Americans Believe Bible Is Literal Word of God”). This reflects a declining belief that the Bible is “sacred literature, is sufficient as a guide for meaningful living and is reliably accurate”—especially among younger generations (Barna Group, “The Bible in America: 6-Year Trends,” Barna.com, June 15, 2016). Statistics from other Western nations show similar views, even among the clergy: Only 29% of religiously committed people in Canada view evangelism positively.… Among clergy in churches that are shrinking in Southern Ontario, all (100%) disagreed with this statement: “The Bible is the actual word of God and is to be taken literally.” Of the same group of clergy, more than 50% agreed that “The Bible is the product of human thinking about God, so some of its teachings are wrong or misguided” (Wyatt Graham, “Ten Things You Should Know about Religion in Canada,” TheGospelCoalition.org, June 6, 2018). Elsewhere, Jenkins has described the level of religious belief in European countries as remarkably low. The West produced a culture that once boldly stated, “The Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing but the Bible, is the religion of Protestants.” Are four centuries of evangelism coming back to indict the West’s increasingly liberal theology?
TomorrowsWorld.org
