Three Operating Conditions of Belief

-

Continuing my reading of the second chapter of Thinking. Loving. Doing. A Call to Glorify God with Heart and Mind, I stumbled again with another brilliant insight written by R. Albert Mohler Jr. This time he is sharing about the "three operating conditions of belief in Western civilization" (p. 62). He took this insight from Charles Taylor's book, A Secular Age. According to the book, the three operating conditions of belief are the impossibility of disbelief in God, the possibility of disbelief in God, and the impossibility of belief in God. 


The impossibility of disbelief in God characterized the pre-modern era. The word atheist at that time didn't exist, because it "was not an available category" (ibid.). The existence of God is the underlying assumption of the age though different concepts of God were recognized.  


With the advent of the modern era, the operating condition of belief shifted from the impossibility of disbelief to the possibility of disbelief in the existence of God.


Now that we are living in the post-modern age, it is necessary for Christians to understand the current operating condition of the unbelieving mind. The current operating condition now is the impossibility of belief in the existence of God. What is surprising in Mohler's observation is that he thinks that most people still remain in the first two categories except those who are involved in higher education. This means that the higher people climb into the ladder of academic pursuit, the greater the tendency for their operating condition of belief to change from the possibility of disbelief to the impossibility of belief in the existence of God. 


What do you think? Is Taylor accurate in his description of the post-modern age? If he is, what can we learn from this insight in relation to Christian witness?       



Mga Komento

Mag-post ng isang Komento

Mga sikat na post sa blog na ito

Five Precepts of the Modern Mind

-
While doing my devotion this morning, I stumbled with an interesting section in the book  Thinking. Loving. Doing. A Call to Glorify God with Heart and Mind. I am now on the 2nd chapter. I am reading the article written by R. Albert Mohler Jr., The Way the World Thinks: Meeting the Natural Mind in the Mirror and in the Marketplace. I just want to share that interesting section on pages 61 to 62.   Here is its excerpt: In order to understand better the modern mind, consider these five precepts. First, the modern mind is characterized by postmodern anti-realism. There are people in American society who are not sure that what we are talking about is even real. They argue that the terms of morality—statements about what is right and wrong—are merely a language game. The second precept is moral relativism . Although most of the people we know do not actually hold to anti-realism, it has filtered down into the culture as moral relativism. Most unregenerate Americans today are...
Magbasa nang higit pa

The Special Duties of Husbands to their Wives

-
Fulfill your duties to your wife in order to avoid the following unhappy results: Failure of your wife to fulfill her duties towards you Such will cause you much affliction She will be bitter towards you in the end Summary of your Duties as Christian Husbands: You are responsible to undertake the government of your family including your wife. This ability consists: In holiness and spiritual wisdom. An ungodly, irreligious man is both a stranger and an enemy to the most important part of family-government. In due acquaintance with the works of your calling. He that is utterly unacquainted with the members of his family, will be very unfit to govern them. He must be acquainted both with the common temper and infirmities of mankind, that he may know how much is to be borne with, and also with the particular temper, and faults, and virtues of those whom he is to govern. And he must have prudence to give them direction in accomplishing their tasks; and justice to deal with every one as they...
Magbasa nang higit pa

No One is Above the Law

-
No one is above the law, and that includes even the government. If you see a government violating the moral law, what do you think will happen? Will the Supreme Lawgiver keep silent as His law is being trampled by human governments? One example of such violation is now being done by the government of Australia by moving hard left . The policymakers are either blinded by their ideology or they intentionally take for granted the long-term destructive consequences of such tax policy. They are not aware that by violating God’s law on private property, they are actually committing economic suicide. How many governments in the world are following the same course? May God forbid that the Philippine government will choose the same path! 
Magbasa nang higit pa