Church history reveals that over the centuries, the Western church has experienced and developed a pattern in which the church is moving away from God. What I have noticed from my research is that the subtle but fatal enemy to the existence of the Church has always been “compromise” and her attitude towards the inevitable and ever changing culture in the West. It is interesting that:
- What was considered liberal and ungodly, first:
- became a part of the moderate conservative scholarship (in a desperate attempt to bridge the gap and meet in the middle)
- and eventually became a part of the conservative belief, especially when culture experienced a new and more intense wave of liberal thinking.
- One can observe this pattern over and over again in the history of the Western Church leading up to today’s compromises.
In the United States, another issue with the current cultural shift in the Western Church is its own presupposition in which things must make sense according to the American theological understanding (interpretation). This leaves little or no room for the supernatural power to function freely. Trapped in the strict boundaries of theology, reasoning, and rationale, it is hard for a person to grow in faith and exercise certain attributes that make the faith of a believer a living faith, thus resulting in a new theological understanding which might be relevant to the social culture depending on what each individual experiences through the power of the Holy Spirit.
