What is the World Coming to? Part 2

Thank you for coming back for another week. We are in the middle of a three-part series, unpacking some of the themes from the Big Think video, What Will Replace Religion? If you missed part 1 where I talked about the end of religion and the standard for “good” in this world, you can read it here. 

Now I want to look at the idea of inclusion. Jamie Wheal’s belief is that the new “meaning” for life has to be inclusive. In his world, meaning is going to blend traditional religion and modern liberalism: salvation and inclusion. He also says that it needs to be open source: anyone can get it, it has to be scalable, and it must be anti-fragile. 

I hear this and can’t help but think he wants the Gospel. 

Good News For Everybody

Jamie Wheal gives three prerequisites for the new meaning: anyone can get it, it has to be scalable, and it must be anti-fragile. 

Anyone can get it: This is core to the message of the Gospel. God has not placed any barriers or restrictions on who can make it into the kingdom of heaven. Paul puts it succinctly in Galatians 3:27-29: For those of you who were baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ. There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female; since you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to the promise. 

There is no entry fee, no ethnic stipulation, or anything else we can think of. Salvation in Christ is available to all. 

Scalable: What is more scalable than the Gospel? Over the last 2,000 years we have seen the Church reach nearly every corner of the Earth. While many people seem to think of White men when they hear the word, Christian, in actuality, the average Christian is a poor, Brown, woman, in the developing world.  

I don’t think it’s an accident that Christianity has grown to be the largest religion in the world, accessibility plays a large part in that. I also don’t think the American decline in Christianity is an accident either (but more on that another day). I understand why people feel Christianity has not been inclusive but if we’re taking Scripture at face value, that couldn’t be further from the truth. 

Anti-fragile: Despite what Youtube debaters may want us to believe, Christianity is not fragile. There is a reason it has stood the test of time as many other systems of thought have come and gone. There is a reason people from every single walk of life have professed faith in Jesus, there is no special group who has questions Jesus can’t answer. 

Certainly there are questions that can be asked about our faith and we probably won’t have every single answer but I have yet to see a “got ya” moment. Christianity is not some ball of yarn easily unraveled by a loose string. If it was then it would have happened a long time ago and we would not be standing here today. 

The Actual Problem With Christianity

I think Jamie Wheal wants everything the Gospel promises without everything the Gospel demands. It is indeed for everybody, scalable, and anti-fragile but it does place some requirements on us. 

In Luke 9:23 Jesus said: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. This is what many take issue with, denying ourselves. In Wheal’s world, we get all the Gospel benefits while still being in supreme control of our lives. 

But the Bible is very clear: There is a way that seems right to a man that in the end leads to death (Prov. 14:12). Wheal’s plan for a “new meaning” in life is one of those ways. Ultimately, his promises won’t be able to stand the test of time. We know this because every 20-30 years there is a new system of thought that promises to save us all. From postmodernism to secular humanism to scientific realism and now meaning 3.0, they never seem to do the job. 

The Gospel provides what we are looking for, salvation and inclusion. This means we have to find the answer outside of ourselves and be willing to submit to the authority of Jesus because as C.S. Lewis said, he is either Lord or lunatic. 

This is the hurdle we have to overcome but there is good on the other side of that hurdle. That’s what we’ll look at in part 3, happily ever after.