Henry Van Til, a Professor of Bible at Calvin College, Michigan, died in 1961 and is best known for a single thing he once said: “Culture is religion externalized.”
It’s a truism, on a par with “What you say and do reveals your personality.” There’s no way to deny it.
If our Western culture today is our religion externalized, our Christianity is in deep trouble. Look at our culture–rampant lawlessness among our supposed lawmakers, same-sex pseudomarriage, transgenderism, lies heaped upon lies, ultra-violent video games, sex robots: I could make a longer list, but it’s starting to depress me. No wonder radical Muslims think Western culture is like ripe fruit on the tree, ready to fall into their laps if they keep on shaking the tree.
This is why I spend so much time reporting on culture developments–culture rot and culture collapse, if you will. Because if we can’t maintain our culture, nothing we can do politically will make the slightest difference. Kill the culture, and the culture will kill you right back.
For a thoughtful essay on this subject, courtesy of George Grant, see https://christianculture.com/discover/what-is-culture-religion-externalized/
For the time being, and to come, it’s something to think about.