To the Rescue?
In her seminal work, How the West Really lost God, Mary Eberstadt wrestles with the reasons for “trickle down secularism” that have eroded western civilization. She makes some interesting assertions in the book.
In one chapter she wrestles with Fredrick Nietzsche’s postulates about the death of God.
As she does so she develops one of the most important theses of the book: The privatization of religion always leads to its erosion.
Religion in and of itself demands community. The more individualistic we become, the less Christian we conversely are.
She likens this to how we learn language. Language itself demands community. We learn language from others and any meaningful interaction we have with others presupposes a vehicle of communication. Then she asks this question: “What if Christianity (like all other religions) is like language- something that can really only be practiced in groups?
What if, just as people enhance their language skills by exposure to other people, those who are most connected to other people are more likely to develop “religious skills” too?”
So what does this observation have to do with anything? I’m glad you asked: everything!
The constraints of the pandemic that we have been living through in the last year has heightened our individualistic, isolationist tendencies like never before and pushed people into islands of existence that are fragmenting and tearing people apart at the very core of their existence.
People have been cut off from others like never before- and this is not a healthy sociological experiment. Just ask yourself why solitary confinement is seen as such a horrible punishment.
Won’t streaming be a good enough substitute? Can’t social media make up the difference? Actually, no it won’t.
Virtual reality isn’t reality, it’s a cheap substitute that causes us to fool ourselves into thinking we are having meaningful interaction with people, all the while it insulates us from the messiness and joys of real living.
It may be a good tool in our arsenal of mass communication but it can never replace the essential elements of connectedness that defines the body of Christ.
Think about this. When God wanted to save his ruined world; He didn’t Zoom in to the rescue- He came in flesh and blood.
Because of grace,
Tim
