November 20, 2000
'Culture quake' warnings issued
___By Greg Warner
___Associated Baptist Press
___SAVANNAH, Ga. (ABP)--Baptists should not fear the "culture quake" that is rearranging the modern world but should respond with Jesus-like compassion, said ethicist Robert Parham.
___Parham, founder and executive director of the Baptist Center for Ethics, based in Nashville, Tenn., was one of three preachers at the fall convocation of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Georgia, held in Savannah Nov. 12-13, prior to the Georgia Baptist Convention.
___Parham described the "culture quake" as the shift from modernism to postmodernism. While the modern worldview was about head-knowledge, skepticism and scientific certainty, the postmodern world is about heart-knowledge, the supernatural and spirituality, he explained.
___Modernism has so shaped contemporary Christian faith, he said, that many Christians are fearful of the coming changes.
___"Within Southern Baptist life, many believe faith is cerebral assent. Faith is a creedal statement. Faith is saying the right words the right way to the right group. These Baptists view the culture quake with near panic. They see postmodernism as the replacement for communism and liberalism--something else to fear and hate."
___Their response to postmodernism, Parham said, is to "tighten up doctrine" and retreat into "a 19th century cultural castle of conformity," hurling "dogma over the castle walls" at those outside--an apparent reference to the new statement of faith adopted in June by the Southern Baptist Convention.
___What is needed today, Parham said, are "Baptists like the tribe of Issacher," whom the Bible says in 1 Chronicles 12 "had an understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do."
___"In the midst of this culture quake, we need Baptists who can understand the times and know what to do," who are relational Christians, not confrontational ones, he said.
___Understanding the times will prompt Christians to respond like Jesus did--with compassion, he said. "When he saw a need, he did not meet it with a creed. He did not see a crowd and serve up dogma."
___"In the postmodern world, people are going to be moved more by who we are than what we say we believe. In the postmodern world, people will be moved more by meeting needs than reading creeds."
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