Worldliness

“Ironically, the intellectual heft of historic Catholicism and its enviable aesthetic achievements seem to be the very things that the pope regards with indifference. And both of these seem to connect to that telltale sign that always presages trouble in Christian circles: a loss of the transcendent in favor of the immanent.” - Carl Trueman

“Trueman is correct that moral sensibilities have profoundly shifted both within the church and without in recent decades. The church is generally ill-equipped even to begin formulating rationale to address the complex ethical questions it is confronted with.” - Mere Orthodoxy

“Something is seriously wrong when Christians crave cultural popularity and acceptance. That’s why I greatly appreciated the points made in this article by Brett McCracken” - Randy Alcorn

“Now that I look back on that way of life, I’m not ashamed of it. Our legalism and separation from all ‘worldliness’ kept me from falling into many dangers.” - Olson

The Fundamentals of Sanctification and Cultural Fundamentalism - Don Johnson

“What I am asking is if the concept of ‘separation from the world’ … has meaning anymore—among doctrinally conservative, spiritually evangelical Protestant Christians. Are there really no boundaries of behavior? If so, why do I almost never hear about them?” - Roger Olson

“What are Christians to do with practices, symbols, parties, and customs we find in a culture? Here are three options when it comes to how we treat and respond to something in the culture.” - Geiger

“Terms like ‘seeker’ and ‘emergent’ and ‘missional’ and ‘relevant’ and ‘contemporary’ have all at various times found their way into the evangelical lexicon….they all grapple with a perennial matter namely: How does the church relate to the culture?” - Ken Brown

“… David Well’s famous definition: worldliness is whatever makes righteousness look strange and sin look normal. Here’s the reality facing every Christian in the West: the money, power, and prestige of the mainstream media, big time sports, big business, big tech, and almost all the institutions of education and entertainment are invested in making sin look normal.

“In general, with many exceptions, of course (and I am not including here real fundamentalist churches), American evangelical churches have allowed biblical and traditional virtues, values and rules to fall away. Individualism has become the norm; each church member’s lifestyle and conduct is solely between him/her and God.” - Roger Olson