Mold # 10: Antichristianity.
In 1 John the Apostle no sooner warns his readers not to love the world than he warns them of the Antichrist and Antichristianity (cf. 1 John 2:18). G. K. Chesterton has observed how Christianity is today attacked “on all sides and for all contradictory reasons.”89 Some condemn Christianity for being too pessimistic, others for being too optimistic. Christianity is attacked by some for stressing sin, judgment, and austerity, and for being inhuman and bleak; others reject it for its pie-in-the-sky comforts. Belief in a caring God hides the bleakness and meaninglessness of life. The Christian church is ridiculed for being antifemale; yet it is also ridiculed in Europe because there only women go to church. It is attacked because it lacks unity (“None of the churches agree with each other”) and for being unified (“They don’t allow differences of opinion”). The followers of Karl Marx charge Christianity with suppressing the poor; the followers of Ayn Rand condemn Christianity for helping them. In a history class a professor blames Christianity that Edward the Confessor was mild and ineffective; yet he blames Richard the Lion Hearted for being warlike. A science teacher will snipe at Christianity for suppressing modern knowledge in the name of outdated superstition; down the hall an anthropology professor will attack missionaries for introducing modern technology and health care to primitive cultures.
This “age” is passing away (2 Cor. 2:6; cf. 7:31). We belong to the “age to come.” What a tragedy to conform to this perishing world.90 As someone has written, “What madness it is to join in this puppet show which is displayed on a tottering stage.”91
