Paul Brownback’s writes a blog at www.hopethatsreal.com. His Twitter page is @paul_brownback.
America Needs Saving
Pres. Trump has stated repeatedly that Barack Obama left him
with a mess. That constitutes the ultimate understatement. Our economy,
international relations, military, healthcare system, and immigration policies
are in shambles…and so the list could go on ad
infinitum. In seeking to resolve these problems, Pres. Trump is confronted
by an overwhelming set of obstacles: the “Deep State” with Obama lurking in the
shadows, Democrats and RINOs in Congress, a cadre of liberal judges, and a
hostile and dishonest media. In addition, Obama has booby trapped our
government so as to make undoing his destructive policies very difficult.
Even more significant, our nation is beset by moral and
spiritual bankruptcy, It has become the divorce capital of the world, functions
as the number one smut peddler, and uses its resources to promote abortion and
homosexuality worldwide.
What Made America Great in the First Place
Making America great again requires that we identify what
made America great previously. My book, Counterattack: Why Evangelicals Are Losingthe Culture War and How They Can Win, makes the case that the society’s
culture determines its success or failure and that America’s Christian culture
produced its success.
At the heart of Christian culture we find agape love, which
is not predominantly a feelings-oriented entity, but rather consists of
intention and action designed to benefit others. Those who have received Christ
and are filled by God’s Spirit become salt and light in a society by
propagating agape. A culture characterized by agape engenders success. This
type of Christian culture produced American greatness.
Beginning with the 60s, America entered a post-Christian
era, replacing our previous Christian culture with a secular one. Consequently,
America has fallen prey to the woes listed above and more. Making America great
again mandates America’s rejection of this 60s cultural orientation and the
restoration of our Christian culture.
Though Pres. Trump may succeed in solving many of the
political problems facing our nation, we cannot expect him to restore Christian
culture. Only the church can achieve that. And if that is not achieved, any
political victories will be short-lived. Recall that despite the substantive
political gains of the Reagan administration, only a few decades later America reached
its national nadir under Barack Obama. Political victories are not sufficient
to reinstate American greatness. Restoration of America’s Christian culture
comprises the indispensable foundation.
What America Needs to Be Saved From
The problems listed above resulted from our entrance into a
post-Christian culture, which is philosophically rooted in the hippie culture
of the 60s. The philosophy of that movement can be summarized in its two
predominant slogans: “You have a right to do your own thing,” and “If it feels
good, do it.”
The first mantra assigns to the individual total autonomy.
He should be able to do whatever he chooses with impunity. That assertion
manifested itself not only in the sexual promiscuity endemic in that movement
but also in its general anti-authoritarian orientation.
Granting autonomy to the individual might not be too
devastating if the autonomous person is encouraged to function rationally and
responsibly. The second slogan cited above, however, does just the opposite. Instructing
the individual to follow his feelings eliminates the reason and will as the
human guidance system. Since God designed human beings to guide their lives
predominantly by their reason and will, the 60s worldview undermines and
diametrically opposes a biblical approach to life. This arrangement is
especially destructive because feelings are the worst human guidance system.
They almost invariably lead us in destructive directions, promoting selfish
objectives. Consequently, this approach to life is antithetical to the
Christian agape-oriented, other-centered lifestyle.
Though the hippie movement only lasted about five years, its
philosophical orientation took root in the American culture, migrating from hippies
to yippies to yuppies, from the back of Volkswagen buses to board rooms of
corporations such as Google, Amazon, and Apple, arriving at the White House in
the person of Bill Clinton, and imposed on America in the form of Barack
Obama’s fundamental transformation. It represents the orientation driving the
news and entertainment media, public and higher education, and a substantial
segment of Congress, the judiciary, and the “deep state.”
This worldview put down especially deep roots in the soil of
American culture via the psychology of Carl Rogers. At the heart of his
personality theory resides the belief that human beings possess a subjective
internal guidance system Rogers referred to as the Self-Actualizing Tendency.
Following this subjective guidance leads to success. Notice that this
perspective validates the second hippie principle above, following our feelings.
Rogers also taught that human beings need unconditional
acceptance, which will enable them to accept themselves unconditionally.
Failure to receive it results in psychological sickness, and granting it
provides the cure.
Though at first blush this appears to constitute a wholesome
and magnanimous approach to relationships, further consideration reveals that
unconditional acceptance assigns autonomy to human beings, making it compatible
with the first hippie principle described above. As noted there, autonomy gives
the individual license to do whatever he pleases with impunity, which usually
results in selfishness.
This theory is of practical importance because it purports
to provide psychological (read scientific) justification for the hippie
philosophy. Reasonable individuals might conclude that granting the individual
the right to do his own thing, especially that which feels good, will lead to societal
meltdown. Rogers’ theory contends that human beings were designed to live this
way. Therefore as individuals are accepted unconditionally and follow their
Self-Actualizing Tendency, the result will be healthy human beings, a healthy
society, and even a healthy world.
I demonstrate in my book, however, that even Rogers’ own
research graphically demonstrates that his theory is seriously misguided.
Nonetheless, it remains a dominant force in American post-Christian culture,
dominating our perspective on morality and the American lifestyle.
How the Church Must Change to Save America
Eradicating this cultural orientation and replacing it with
our historic Christian one will require that the evangelical church in America
exercise its full capacities as salt and light.
Since the American church, especially its evangelical
contingent, probably possesses greater size and more resources than the church
in any other nation, one wonders why it failed to block America’s embrace of
the 60s culture and why it is currently losing the culture war.
Two factors are responsible for these failures.
First, the American evangelical church has become
infiltrated by the 60s philosophy, which has resulted in its contributing to
the problem rather than advancing the solution.
Evangelicals have adopted a Christianized version of Rogers’
psychology, which asserts that God accepts us unconditionally and that
consequently we should accept ourselves and each other unconditionally. This
teaching in essence gives the believer autonomy, allowing him to live as he
pleases with God’s blessing. It asserts that our performance has no impact on
our relationship with the Lord, i.e. His attitudes or actions toward us.
We are assured, however, that this license will not lead to
promiscuous living by a second contemporary evangelical concept, the insurance that
we will live godly lives not because we have to, which is viewed as legalism,
but because we want to. We are told that as believers experience God’s
unconditional acceptance they will desire to display the love of Christ.
My book demonstrates that these perspectives are not
compatible with Scripture nor do they work in real life. For example, the
believer is not told what to do when he does not feel like obeying Scripture,
an inclination experienced by most of us many times a day, e.g. eating a second
helping of tiramisu that we don’t need.
These erroneous contemporary evangelical concepts have
resulted in spiritual sickness and loss of power that is preventing the church
from fighting the culture war effectively. Saving America requires that the
church again teach biblical perspectives, which in turn will restore
evangelical vitality.
What the Church Must Do to Save America
The American evangelical church is also losing the culture
war because its approach is ineffective. Though many Christians are fighting
hard to save America, these initiatives are not coordinated and therefore unsuccessful.
Principles of war teach that engaging resources piecemeal will result in loss.
Evangelicals can only win if they are unified in fighting the culture war. An umbrella
organization must be formed to coordinate evangelical initiatives.
This organization must identify a leader. People tend to
follow human beings; not organizations. Only as the evangelical cultural war
effort is spearheaded by a qualified individual will it succeed.
Lack of unity has left evangelicals without a comprehensive
strategy. To my knowledge, no evangelical group has developed a master plan for
victory. Without one we are sure to lose. Such a strategy needs to be
formulated by the best evangelical minds in all of the salient disciplines such
as theology, politics, marketing, media, messaging, management, etc. I believe
God has given His church sufficient power to restore America’s Christian
culture, and therefore, if it fights strategically, as just described,
possesses the potential to make America great again.
What I have written here represents an inadequate discussion
on how to save America. My book, Counterattack: Why Evangelicals Are Losingthe Culture War and How They Can Win, offers necessary additional detail.
For example, missing in this description, but highlighted in my book, are the
salient roles that must be assigned to the local church and prayer. I suspect
you might struggle with some of my analysis of the contemporary evangelical
church. I believe that if you would read the detailed assessment in my book,
you would better understand the basis for my conclusions.
We cannot afford to miss this chance that God has given us
to save America. I believe that Donald Trump is doing all he can to fight the political
forces assailing him in his efforts to make America great again. The question
is whether the church in America will do its part in restoring our previous
Christian culture. This may be our last opportunity.
Paul Brownback’s writes a blog at www.hopethatsreal.com. His Twitter page is @paul_brownback.
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