answersforthefaith.com
by Dr. D ~ May 30th, 2012
I always wondered how the Anti-Christ would do it when it came to forming some kind of new one-world religion to replace all of the rest. After all, it would seem to me that most Christians and Muslims in particular would object and rebel if they were forced to give up their religion all at once and exchange it for a new one.
However if you view what is going on lately in Europe one can see a possible answer in the current syncretistic accommodation going on between European Christians and Muslims.
The Archbishop of Canterbury is constantly calling for greater accommodation for the Muslim religion in British society. Schools and public places are constantly being challenged to remove crosses in order not to offend the growing Muslim population and to make places for Muslim prayers.
This is not an isolated incident but representative of what is going on all over Europe. Schools and public cafeterias have long since stopped serving pork and Muslim holidays are now recognized along with the Christian observances.
Christianity in Europe has been in decline for the last 50 years and most of Europeans are far more secular than religious. So when Muslim immigrants demand that their religion be accommodated there are very few objections from a European population who substantially couldn’t care less when it comes to religion. Even the European Christian clergy is more than compliant to the accommodations since very few really believe in the traditional teachings of Christianity. Today, most of the state church clergy are more like social workers and less than true believers. Most no longer believe that Jesus is the only way to salvation but are far more into the so-called ‘social gospel.’ In some cases, even admitted atheists and agnostics have been tolerated as pastors and priests in some state churches.
So on one hand you have a Muslim immigrant population which takes their beliefs and religion seriously in the midst of European societies that are substantially secular and post-Christian. Yet Christianity is still the official state religion in European countries and crosses and churches are everywhere. Yet you have Christian leaders and clergy who themselves are weak in the faith and in some instances no longer believe.
For the last 50 years or so, Christian seminaries in Europe have been teaching a watered down form of Christianity which ‘de-mythologizes’ Christ and the New Testament. The fact is, very few of those state priests and clergy still believe that the Bible is the ‘word of God’ or in the miracles of the New testament including the virgin birth and the Resurrection.
I can remember taking a class from a major European New Testament scholar in 1980 who made fun of the miracles of Jesus and claimed that no major Christian scholar in Europe still believed in the resurrection and that was over 30 years ago. So an entire generation of clergy in Europe have been taught to question the truth of the Bible and even the divinity of Jesus.
My point is this, in that context of unbelief it is easy to see why the clergy in Europe is so accommodating to the Muslim faith. After all, they do not see their own faith as the one true religion. Not only that, a syncretistic one-world religion that accommodates some of the teachings of Christianity and Islam would be a small step to take for many of these unbelieving European preachers. A belief in one God with Jesus as merely a great prophet or teacher is far closer to their current personal faith as it stands right now.
It is easy to see how the current European churches could be persuaded to gradually morph into some form of ‘Chrislam’ –a monotheistic religion that recognizes the traditions of both Christianity and Islam but de-emphasizes the role of Christ and the Bible.
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
However if you view what is going on lately in Europe one can see a possible answer in the current syncretistic accommodation going on between European Christians and Muslims.
The Archbishop of Canterbury is constantly calling for greater accommodation for the Muslim religion in British society. Schools and public places are constantly being challenged to remove crosses in order not to offend the growing Muslim population and to make places for Muslim prayers.
This is not an isolated incident but representative of what is going on all over Europe. Schools and public cafeterias have long since stopped serving pork and Muslim holidays are now recognized along with the Christian observances.
Christianity in Europe has been in decline for the last 50 years and most of Europeans are far more secular than religious. So when Muslim immigrants demand that their religion be accommodated there are very few objections from a European population who substantially couldn’t care less when it comes to religion. Even the European Christian clergy is more than compliant to the accommodations since very few really believe in the traditional teachings of Christianity. Today, most of the state church clergy are more like social workers and less than true believers. Most no longer believe that Jesus is the only way to salvation but are far more into the so-called ‘social gospel.’ In some cases, even admitted atheists and agnostics have been tolerated as pastors and priests in some state churches.
So on one hand you have a Muslim immigrant population which takes their beliefs and religion seriously in the midst of European societies that are substantially secular and post-Christian. Yet Christianity is still the official state religion in European countries and crosses and churches are everywhere. Yet you have Christian leaders and clergy who themselves are weak in the faith and in some instances no longer believe.
For the last 50 years or so, Christian seminaries in Europe have been teaching a watered down form of Christianity which ‘de-mythologizes’ Christ and the New Testament. The fact is, very few of those state priests and clergy still believe that the Bible is the ‘word of God’ or in the miracles of the New testament including the virgin birth and the Resurrection.
I can remember taking a class from a major European New Testament scholar in 1980 who made fun of the miracles of Jesus and claimed that no major Christian scholar in Europe still believed in the resurrection and that was over 30 years ago. So an entire generation of clergy in Europe have been taught to question the truth of the Bible and even the divinity of Jesus.
My point is this, in that context of unbelief it is easy to see why the clergy in Europe is so accommodating to the Muslim faith. After all, they do not see their own faith as the one true religion. Not only that, a syncretistic one-world religion that accommodates some of the teachings of Christianity and Islam would be a small step to take for many of these unbelieving European preachers. A belief in one God with Jesus as merely a great prophet or teacher is far closer to their current personal faith as it stands right now.
It is easy to see how the current European churches could be persuaded to gradually morph into some form of ‘Chrislam’ –a monotheistic religion that recognizes the traditions of both Christianity and Islam but de-emphasizes the role of Christ and the Bible.
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