The controversy surrounding Christmas is a prime example of the ecumenical monoculture at work. By removing the more blatantly “Christian” symbols surrounding Christmas the resulting, religious strife free, homogeneous culture can peacefully enjoy the holidays.

The fight for Christmas, and the backlash against all things Christian, is merely a symptom of a deeper, older, and more serious problem, the failure to reach America for Christ. This is a result of decades of the embedding of the “American Dream” into Christian culture; thus resulting in the institutionalizing of Christianity. American Christianity is no longer a movement empowered by the Holy Spirit, driven by a passion for Christ, and founded upon the inerrant Word of God.

Modern American Christianity is more like the pharisaic religion that Christ stood against. Its finance committees are driven by business strategy and more concerned with what can be done rather than what must be done. Its preaching is more akin to pop psychology and self-help books than the words of the Sovereign Universal Ruler. Its god is lacking in righteousness, limited power, and blasphemous mockery of the Infinitely Righteous, Immeasurably Beautiful, and Unfathomably Powerful God that IS. This is not true of all Christians in America, not all churches in America, it is however the prevailing norm.

Today I read an Associated Press article entitled; Group fights Wal-Mart on ‘happy holidays’. The article reported, “Controversy over the secularization of Christmas is nothing new, but this year religious groups are publicly taking on retailers who have decided to tone down the religious aspects of the holiday in their store decorations and promotional material.”

The New York Times also ran an article entitled, Good Will Took a Holiday, Whatever You Call It. The New York Times reports; “At a Christmas tree lighting ceremony recently in Manhasset, N.Y., a crowd of 200 gasped at the intemperate words uttered by a public official who was angry at a priest for an invocation the official considered too religious.” Town Supervisor Jon Kaiman is quoted as saying “This is inappropriate, I just want to make it clear that this is in no way a religious ceremony.” In addition, an elementary school in Dodgeville, Wisconsin modified the lyrics of “Silent Night” “to eliminate religious references.”

The fact remains, and will always remain, that Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ and to claim otherwise is simply ludicrous. The advocates of ecumenism want all the trappings of Christmas without having to acknowledge that it represents the birth of THE KING to which every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every will tongue confess that He is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Now that I have thoroughly profiled the ecumenical monoculture I plan to set forth what a Biblical response to it should be. Once I begin to lay forth a Biblical response to the ecumenical monoculture, my posts will be titled by the verses, which are exposited therein. These posts will be interrupted occasionally by cultural commentary, breaking news, and anything else that I deem of importance. Before I begin addressing a Biblical response to the ecumenical monoculture, I find it necessary to offer an introduction, albeit a lengthy one, to the topic with the following series of posts.

The Danger of the Monoculture: I Timothy 4:15-16

The Threat of the Monoculture: Acts 4:12

The Sin of the Monoculture: Romans 1:18-23

The Reality of the Monoculture: Matthew 7:15-23, II Timothy 4:3, II Peter 2:1-3, and Jude 1:3-4

The Answer to the Monoculture: II Corinthians 10:5, Jude 1:17-25

The Ecumenical Monoculture is Exclusive Part 4

Christianity

“You shall have no other gods before Me.” Exodus 20:3

“I am the LORD; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.” Isaiah 42:8

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

“And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12

So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. Romans 10:17
Biblical Christianity is not, and will never be, tolerated by the ecumenical monoculture. The proponents of the ecumenical monoculture are vigorously opposing the absolute and exclusive truth claim made by Biblical Christianity.

I admit that due to the, anti-Christian, agenda, of the ecumenical monoculture, and rampant drives towards tolerance, in sects of all religions, it is unlikely that the monoculture will come to oppose any who are not conservative or fundamental in their beliefs, namely conservative evangelical Christians. The push towards inclusivism and tolerance can be seen in the following statement made by the Catholic church: “The Church’s relationship with the Muslims. ‘The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind’s judge on the last day.’” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 841) I find it highly unlikely that any faithful Muslim would agree with that statement. The move towards ecumenism is not limited to Catholicism; the postmodern Sirens are even luring those who would call themselves Christian to make shipwreck of their faith.

Does that sound like tolerance? Is the ecumenical monoculture concerned with establishing or promoting unity among churches or religions? Is the ecumenical monoculture supremely tolerant, as it claims? Or is it venomously intolerant and purposed solely to promote moral relativism? The ecumenical monoculture is not tolerant of other beliefs, as shown by Shanafelt’s statement. Postmodernism is only tolerant of those who believe that truth and God are constructs of the human mind. The monoculture will not tolerate any religious belief system that makes an absolute/exclusive claim. Postmodernism and the ecumenical monoculture are only tolerant of those who compromise their beliefs to comply with the monoculture. By claiming, that universal/absolute truth does not exist Postmodernism makes an exclusive and absolute truth claim.

Postmodernism’s Intolerance of its Own Truth Claim

Self-contradiction appears inherent within the postmodern thought process (Please read “Why should you stand against the ecumenical monoculture? Part 1” for further explanation). Its view of tolerance is no exception to this. If “the limit of tolerance is intolerance (1)” and Postmodernism is intolerant (see “Why should you stand against the ecumenical monoculture? Parts 2-5”) then postmodernism cannot tolerate its own beliefs. Because of its venomous intolerance of ALL exclusive/absolute belief systems postmodernism cannot tolerate its own intolerance. This seems obvious but every day more and more people are being enticed by the sweet songs of tolerance sung by the postmodern Sirens.

(1) Shanafelt, R. (2002). Idols of Our Tribes? Relativism, Truth and Falsity in Ethnographic Fieldwork and Cross-cultural Interaction. Critique of Anthropology, Volume 22, Issue 1, 7-29.

Last night at 12:03am I went to see The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and I must say that it is awesome. Any reservations I had about the muting of its allegorical thrust, poor rendering of computer-generated characters, or bad acting were dispelled. The film was great and I recommend it to everyone. For a more in depth review I thoroughly recommend reading Aslan Is On the Move–The Chronicles of Narnia on Film by Dr. Albert Mohler.