Joseph M. Bianchi rightly said:
A walk through your local Christian book store will reveal a vast array of titles whose themes range from self-help to identifying which demon you are afflicted by. In this sorry state of affairs, one has to ask: “Where have all the sound, doctrinal books gone?”.
The real question, however, is, “Where have all the well taught, well discipled Christians gone?” The core of the issue is not the plethora of shallow, theologically unsound books that are flooding the market, but their huge success. It is indeed unmistakable that the church of Jesus Christ in the latter half of the twentieth century has retreated into a superficial, theological ghetto, that mirrors the culture, rather than transforms it.
The directive of Scripture is, “be not conformed – but transformed.” (Rom. 12:2) Yet, the church of late has little, if any, problem adopting the methods, jargon and appearance of the world. It must be noted that the responsibility for this must be shared equally by both individual Christians and church leaders. The time that, years ago, was spent in diligent study of the Word of God is now spent in front of a TV or computer screen and or hustling kids back and forth from soccer practice.
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It’s mostly the fault of the lack of biblical literacy in our culture. We don’t discern the “spirit of truth and the spirit of error” (1st John 4) because don’t spend much time listening to the Spirit of Truth in God’s Word. Therefore, we fall victim to whichever voice “tickles our ears” (2 Tim. 4:3).
In reference to Romans 12:1&2, the sad truth is, that more often the world is shaping the church rather than the other way. Attitudes to worship is only the tip of the iceberg. Families, parenting, consumerism etc. etc. are all shaped by the prevailing culture.