Os Guinness, international speaker, critic, and author of over twenty books on culture and faith, was featured at a seminar on Sunday hosted at Christ Central of Southern California, located in Cerritos, CA. The seminar, which was titled, "Impossible People – Facing up to the challenges of the advanced modern world," discussed the challenges Christians may face in engaging with others and with culture in modern times.
"The modern world has done greater damage to faith than any form of persecution," Os Guinness said at a seminar at Christ Central of Southern California.
"The modern world has done more damage to faith than any form of persecution," said Guinness to the audience of some 150 people, primarily Korean Americans in their twenties and thirties.
Christians must prepare to engage in what he called "spiritual warfare" on several challenges the modern world presents, Guinness said.
One such challenge is that "everything shifts from authority to preference," he said. "For many, faith is a matter of preference rather than being under the lordship of Jesus."
Another, he said, is that the modern world shifts everything "from the supernatural to the secular." Today, "what is unseen is considered unreal."
Communication is yet another challenge that Christians will have to face, Guinness said.
"It is an incredible day for communication. Communication has never been so free and accessible," he continued. But there are challenges that come with those developments, including "the challenge of inattention."
"Everyone's talking, but no one's listening," he said.
Developments in communication also gave way to an abundance of information that can easily be accessed -- but so much information may lead to a loss of wisdom, Guinness cautioned.
"We lose wisdom in the name of knowledge, and we lose knowledge in the name of information," he said, "and in some ways, in the age of communication, it is the hardest to communicate than ever before."
Os Guinness spoke at a seminar on Sunday, discussing the challenges Christians face in the modern world.
In the midst of such challenges in the modern world, Guinness said, "We need the right tools to engage ... We need the Word of God deeply ingrained in our hearts. The Scripture gives us the truth and discernment to engage with the world."
Guinness further encouraged Christians to "live the lives that are behind what we say," and to be persuasive in their communication, he said, "Abandon all formulaic ways of sharing the gospel, and first listen to the people you are engaging with."
But most importantly, Guinness said, Christians must rely on the Holy Spirit.
"Jesus spoke, healed, discerned, and did everything by the power of the Holy Spirit," he continued. "We need to rely on the power of the Holy Spirit, who does the real work of communication."
During a Q&A at the end of the seminar, one attendee asked for advice on how Christians should engage with others regarding the recent Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage.
"The Bible is unwaveringly opposed to same-sex marriage," Guinness said in response. "A one man, one woman marriage is a picture of Christ and the church." The recent developments in sexuality comes from social constructivism, he explained, which suggests that "there are no rules and no limits." As a result, there are now some 50 different ways to identify sexually, according to Guinness. "Sexual identity has become a subjective thing."
Guinness also emphasized the need for Christians to engage with love and grace regarding the issue.
"We should continue sharing the gospel -- the truth and the grace of the gospel -- and share it with compassion," he said.
Another attendee asked how Christians should engage in debates and discussions on the Internet, which he called "the new public square."
"The Internet is tricky, because when we use anonymous IDs, the discussion becomes a barbaric argument online," Guinness said. "Every person is made in God's image, and every worldview is partly wrong and partly true."
"Don't demonize the enemy. Love them, love the Lord, and engage in a God-honoring way," he added.
The seminar was included as the first of a six-week class at Christ Central called the "Christian Faith & Life," which explores theological roots for the first part of the series, and then discusses how the theology can be applied into everyday life as a Christian. The class has been taking place once every year since 2009, and seminars are usually led by pastors in Christ Central.
