“Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters;multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.” - (Jeremiah 29:4-7)
Recently Albert Mohler, President of Southern Seminary, (re)published an article entitled “Evangelicalism’s Terminal Generation?” In it he pointed out the looming trends among contemporary American evangelicalism that might be signaling a major shift in the next generation, explaining, “Without doubt, we are facing an unprecedented set of challenges to evangelical identity. The rise of a postmodern culture has produced an intellectual context in which the very concept of truth is held under suspicion, and claims to revealed truth are simply ruled out of order.” He concluded,
“Charles Spurgeon stated it plainly: “We have come to a turning-point in the road. If we turn to the right, mayhap our children and our children’s children will go that way; but if we turn to the left, generations yet unborn will curse our names for having been unfaithful to God and to His Word.” Those words ring with prophetic urgency more than a century after they were written. Evangelicals must regain theological courage and conviction, or we must face the tragic reality that this may be evangelicalism’s terminal generation.”
Interestingly enough, the only mention that President Mohler made of children was found in Spurgeon’s poignant quote.* There is no disagreement here as to the truth of Mohler’s thesis that “we will remain evangelical only insofar as we maintain the integrity of our Gospel witness–if we can keep it. We are truly evangelical only if we keep our testimony to the Gospel without confusion or compromise.” However, we should be intentional about keeping this “evangelical” concept centered in a physical as well as spiritual sense. No doubt, the Gospel must be proclaimed in its entirety and in full doctrinal purity; but the question that lingers in the background is – Who in fact are we preaching this “evangelical” truth to?
Perhaps one reason we are even considering the termination of evangelicalism in America is because far too many American evangelicals themselves have forgotten that generations were not meant to be terminal in the first place. The dual testimonies of both Scripture and nature teach us that God created marriages to be ordered towards fruitfulness. Unfortunately, many in contemporary evangelicalism have taken that Truth for granted. We readily confess we’re called to preach the Word, but we quickly forget that only those who are born can hear it, and only those who are born can preach it! We call on the Church to defend the Truth, and yet we overlook the fact that the Church is made up of “all the living” (Gen. 3:20), that had their own origins in the womb! The earthly ministry of Christ himself began with his own conception in the womb. (Mat. 1:23) Truth be told, the Truth of the Gospel existed long before any of us ever took a breath, but the means of our conversions was not first in the preaching of it, rather it was the glory of God in bringing us into the world to hear it preached in the first place! Apart from generations there would be no “we”, there would be no “us”, there certainly would be no “Church”, and clearly there would be no fulfillment of the “promised seed” that would “crush the head of the serpent.” (Gen 3:15)
The fact of the matter is there never was a man who was born again – who was not born the first time (John 3:3). Nicodemus didn’t understand the second birth, and American evangelicals don’t understand the first. Honestly acknowledging the truth that God uses the means of pro-creation to establish a platform for Christ-centered recreation of the very same souls would shake American evangelicalism all the way to its bedsheets. However, if we continue to ignore the reality that “multiplication” is not merely the conversion of other people’s children, but instead is an issue that finds its roots in our own homes; then it might very well be us evangelicals who foot the bill for “evangelicalism’s terminal generation” — and we’ll do it on the “family plan“.
‘BH
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(*It should be noted that Dr. Mohler often addresses the issue of family planning in-depth through his blog and radio program. One example can be found here: Rethinking Contraception — A Younger Generation Ponders the Question)
